Female political leaders in Islam and in Muslim-majority countries
Encyclopedia
Women in Islamic societies have held many positions of political significance. The legitimacy of these positions, from a religious and cultural perspective, is debated.
gives women the right to participate in public affairs
as there are examples of women who took part in serious discussions and argued even with Muhammad himself. In addition, during the Caliphate
of Umar
, a woman argued with him in the mosque
, proved her point, and caused him to declare in the presence of many people: "A woman is right and Umar is wrong".
More notability, the daughter of Muhammad known as the mother of believers was sent by her father with her for an interfaith dialogue in the city of Medinah. Aisha, the wife of Muhammad, was also reported to have said: "Never have I seen anyone resembling Prophet of Allah, in his way of speaking and talking, better than Fatimah." Some other Muslims argue that Muhammad's wife
Aisha
, who both took part in politics and served as a major authority on hadith, is an example of possible roles for Muslim women. Other Muslims would strongly disagree. (Aisha is seen in a darker light by Shi'a Muslims because she opposed Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law Ali
.) Other examples of possible roles include Ume Warqa and Samra Binte Wahaib, appointed heads of market committees of Medina
and Mecca
by Umar, the second Sunni caliph
. There are few other historical role models for Muslim women as leaders. Razia Sultana
was the short-lived third major independent Muslim ruler of the Sultanate of Delhi in India
and the Mamluk
queen Shajarat ad-Durr ruled for a few years in Egypt
. One more example of a Muslim female head of state is Soyembika of Kazan
, who ruled the Kazan Khanate in the 16th century.
There are many more contemporary examples of women leading Muslim-majority countries
. The majority of all Muslims in the world live in countries that have, at some time, elected women as their leaders. Indeed, the three most populous Muslim-majority countries have had women as leaders:
Other Muslim- majority nations which have had female political leaders include:
Nearly one-third of the Parliament of Egypt
- the fifth most populous Muslim majority nation- also consists of women.
Women still face many pressures as political leaders.
Some Muslim women hold important positions in some governments, political parties and corporations. A paradoxical example is the banned Islamist party of Morocco
, Al Adl Wa Al Ihssane
(Justice and Charity). Since the leader cannot speak openly, his daughter Nadia Yassine
is the one who publicly defends the opposition to the Mudawana
, government-sponsored reforms on the legal status of Moroccan women.
The circumstances, and the often explicitly non-Islamic ideology of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
, and the Iran-Iraq war
, because of the number of men fighting, led to an increase of the role of women in the public life of the Sahrawi and Iran
ians.
Islamic texts
Some argue that the Qur'anQur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
gives women the right to participate in public affairs
Public policy
Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...
as there are examples of women who took part in serious discussions and argued even with Muhammad himself. In addition, during the Caliphate
Caliphate
The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...
of Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
, a woman argued with him in the mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
, proved her point, and caused him to declare in the presence of many people: "A woman is right and Umar is wrong".
More notability, the daughter of Muhammad known as the mother of believers was sent by her father with her for an interfaith dialogue in the city of Medinah. Aisha, the wife of Muhammad, was also reported to have said: "Never have I seen anyone resembling Prophet of Allah, in his way of speaking and talking, better than Fatimah." Some other Muslims argue that Muhammad's wife
Muhammad's marriages
Muhammad's wives were the eleven or thirteen women married to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Muslims refer to them as Mothers of the Believers . Muslims use the term prominently before or after referring to them as a sign of respect...
Aisha
Aisha
Aisha bint Abu Bakr also transcribed as was Muhammad's favorite wife...
, who both took part in politics and served as a major authority on hadith, is an example of possible roles for Muslim women. Other Muslims would strongly disagree. (Aisha is seen in a darker light by Shi'a Muslims because she opposed Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law Ali
Ali
' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...
.) Other examples of possible roles include Ume Warqa and Samra Binte Wahaib, appointed heads of market committees of Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
and Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
by Umar, the second Sunni caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
. There are few other historical role models for Muslim women as leaders. Razia Sultana
Razia Sultana
Razia al-Din , throne name Jalâlat ud-Dîn Raziyâ , usually referred to in history as Razia Sultan, was the Sultan of Delhi in India from 1236 to May 1240. She was of Seljuq slave ancestry and like some other Muslim princesses of the time, she was trained to lead armies and administer kingdoms if...
was the short-lived third major independent Muslim ruler of the Sultanate of Delhi in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and the Mamluk
Mamluk
A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...
queen Shajarat ad-Durr ruled for a few years in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. One more example of a Muslim female head of state is Soyembika of Kazan
Soyembika of Kazan
Söyembikä was a Tatar ruler, xanbikä....
, who ruled the Kazan Khanate in the 16th century.
Female leaders
Muslim world
The term Muslim world has several meanings. In a religious sense, it refers to those who adhere to the teachings of Islam, referred to as Muslims. In a cultural sense, it refers to Islamic civilization, inclusive of non-Muslims living in that civilization...
. The majority of all Muslims in the world live in countries that have, at some time, elected women as their leaders. Indeed, the three most populous Muslim-majority countries have had women as leaders:
- IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, the most populous Muslim-majority country, elected Megawati SukarnoputriMegawati SukarnoputriIn this Indonesian name, the name "Sukarnoputri" is a patronymic, not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given name "Megawati"....
as president - PakistanPakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, the second most populous Muslim-majority country, twice (non-consecutively) elected Benazir BhuttoBenazir BhuttoBenazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....
as prime minister - BangladeshBangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, the third most populous Muslim-majority country, elected Khaleda ZiaKhaleda ZiaBegum Khaleda Zia is the former First Lady of Bangladesh , and then Prime Minister of Bangladesh, having served from 1991 to 1996, becoming the first woman in the country's history and second in the Muslim world to head a democratic government as prime minister. She served again from 2001 until...
and Sheikh HasinaSheikh HasinaSheikh Hasina is a Bangladeshi politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Awami League, a major political party, since 1981. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh and widow of a reputed nuclear...
as prime ministers.
Other Muslim- majority nations which have had female political leaders include:
- TurkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
elected Tansu ÇillerTansu ÇillerTansu Penbe Çiller is a Turkish economist and politician. She was Turkey's first and only female Prime Minister.- Early career :She is the daughter of a Turkish governor of Bilecik province during the 1950s. She graduated from the School of Economics at Robert College after finishing the American...
, who became prime minister on June 13, 1993
- In the Muslim majority region of KosovoKosovoKosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
, President Atifete JahjagaAtifete JahjagaAtifete Jahjaga is the fourth and current President of Kosovo. She is the first female, the first non-partisan candidate, and the youngest to be elected to the office. She is also the first female head of state in modern Balkans...
was unanimously elected by the Assembly of KosovoAssembly of KosovoThe Assembly of Kosovo was originally established by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo in 2001 to provide 'provisional, democratic self-government'....
on April 7, 2011
- KyrgyzstanKyrgyzstanKyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...
's President Roza OtunbayevaRoza OtunbayevaRoza Isakovna Otunbayeva is a Kyrgyz diplomat and politican who served as the President of Kyrgyzstan from 7 April 2010 until 1 December 2011. She was sworn in on July 3, 2010, after acting as interim leader following the 2010 April revolution which led to the ousting of then President Kurmanbek...
was sworn in on July 3, 2010, after acting as interim leader following the 2010 April revolution.
- SenegalSenegalSenegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
's Mame Madior BoyeMame Madior BoyeMame Madior Boye was Prime Minister of Senegal from 2001 to 2002. She was the first and so far only female holder of that position.Boye was born in Saint-Louis...
was Prime Minister from 2001 to 2002.
Nearly one-third of the Parliament of Egypt
Parliament of Egypt
The Parliament of Egypt is the currently dissolved bicameral legislature of Egypt. The Parliament is located in Cairo, Egypt's capital. As the legislative branch of the Egyptian government, the Parliament enacts laws, approves the general policy of the State, the general plan for economic and...
- the fifth most populous Muslim majority nation- also consists of women.
Women still face many pressures as political leaders.
Some Muslim women hold important positions in some governments, political parties and corporations. A paradoxical example is the banned Islamist party of Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, Al Adl Wa Al Ihssane
Al Adl Wa Al Ihssane
Al Adl wal Ihsane is a Moroccan Islamist association, founded by Cheikh Abdesslam Yassine...
(Justice and Charity). Since the leader cannot speak openly, his daughter Nadia Yassine
Nadia Yassine
Nadia Yassine is the head of the feminine branch of the Moroccan Islamist movement Al Adl Wa Al Ihssane...
is the one who publicly defends the opposition to the Mudawana
Mudawana
The Mudawana is the personal status code, also known as the family code, in Moroccan law. It concerns issues related to the family, including the regulation of marriage, polygamy, divorce, inheritance, and child custody. Originally based on the Maliki school of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence, it was...
, government-sponsored reforms on the legal status of Moroccan women.
The circumstances, and the often explicitly non-Islamic ideology of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is a partially recognised state that claims sovereignty over the entire territory of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony. SADR was proclaimed by the Polisario Front on February 27, 1976, in Bir Lehlu, Western Sahara. The SADR government controls about...
, and the Iran-Iraq war
Iran-Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between the armed forces of Iraq and Iran, lasting from September 1980 to August 1988, making it the longest conventional war of the twentieth century...
, because of the number of men fighting, led to an increase of the role of women in the public life of the Sahrawi and Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ians.
See also
- Sultana (title)Sultana (title)The term Sultana is an Islamic title reserved for a few Muslim women rulers in history. It is sometimes mistaken for the title of the chief wife of a Sultan.-Overview:The most famous Sultana was Razia Sultana of India....
, the female titleTitleA title is a prefix or suffix added to someone's name to signify either veneration, an official position or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may even be inserted between a first and last name...
parallel to a sultanSultanSultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
; a Muslim woman leader - Women in IslamWomen in IslamThe study of women in Islam investigates the role of women within the religion of Islam. The complex relationship between women and Islam is defined by Islamic texts, the history and culture of the Muslim world...
- Sex segregation in IslamSex segregation in IslamIslam discourages free mixing between men and women when they are alone but not all interaction between men and women. Interaction between men and women is prescribed to be maintained at a healthy and modest level, to the extent where they can socialize in order to know each other as ordained by...