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Lindsey FaussAsia-Pacific RegionIntroduction
The recent interest in women and democracy is
premised on women’s increasing access to and con-
trol over representative institutions. Political par-
ticipation is considered the key to the enhancement
of the status of women and the institutionalization
of democracy. Women activists are no longer happy
to see women only vote in elections and sign peti-
tions. For them gender inequality needs to be viewed
from a broader context by focusing on women’s
disadvantaged position in terms of income and
work. Political participation for women is only
meaningful if women are in a position “to elect a
government more responsive to women’s poverty,
one committed to a better programme of equal pay
for equal work, combined with a set of welfare
policies that would cater for women’s needs” (Phil-
lips 1993, 103). The quest for equality for women
in politics has been a continuing concern for both
feminists and the United Nations for the last three
decades. The United Nations organized five major
asia-pacific region 89international conferences on women between 1975
and the present to increase women’s participation
in politics.
The significance of the role of women in politics
in general and in democracy in particular is impor-
tant for several reasons. Issues involved in the
analysis of women in Third World politics are
based on three assumptions that differ substantially
from the case of men (Waylen 1996, 6). These
assumptions are: politics does not have the same
impact on women as it does on men; the political
process often alters gender relations; and women
often participate in political activity as political
subjects. These assumptions show that men and
women participate quite differently in formal
politics in the First as well as the Third World, both
in getting issues onto the political agenda and in
policy-making and implementation (Ackelsberg
1992). One of the outcomes of this difference is
that there is a distinct tendency for women to par-
ticipate less than men in formal politics in higher
echelons of power (Peterson and Runyan 1993).
This entry analyzes the situation of women vis-à-
vis democracy in the Asia-Pacific region. In the
process attempts are made to show differentiation
and interrelationships between the key phrases
“women and Islam” and “women and democracy.”Women and Islam
When Islam emerged in Arabia in the seventh
century C.E. it was not only a new religion but also
a movement of social reform with particular rele-
vance to the status of women (Minces 1980, 15).
Islam gave women a legal status, with rights and
duties. Social responsibility in Islam is derived from
the Qur±àn: “And [as for] the believers both men
and women – they are friends and protectors of one
another: they [all] enjoin the doing of what is right
and forbid the doing of what is wrong” (9:71). This
verse requires women and men to act for the bet-
terment of society. Political involvement is a means
to fulfill obligations to society. The history of Islam
contains examples of women performing political
roles, for example, voting in elections and holding
positions of legislators and judges. But in many
Muslim countries women have been denied some of
their basic rights. This is contrary to Qur±ànic
teaching. The Qur±àn proclaims that all believers
who perform good deeds, whether male or female,
“shall enter the garden and they shall not be dealt
with unjustly” (19:60). From this and other verses
it can be inferred that the Qur±àn intends to main-
tain equality between sexes (Engineer 1994, 51).