Muslim women have been actively pursuing
strategies to attain political representation in legis-
latures throughout Africa. Of the ten countries in
Africa with the lowest representation of women in
the legislature, nine have predominantly or large
Muslim populations. It has therefore been in some
of these countries that women have sought greater
political representation through the introduction of
quotas. Already the largely Muslim countries of
Senegal, Eritrea, Mali, and Djibouti have begun to
meet with success in raising the rates of female rep-
resentation as a result of such pressures. Even in
Somalia, a country that has been torn by civil war
based on clan divisions, the Women’s Association
lobbied the Transnational National Government
to make sure they had 25 seats (10 percent) in the
transitional assembly.
Those organizations working toward increase in
women’s political representation are generally
linked to organizations that are involved in civic
education, leadership training, networking among
women to advance women’s political awareness
and skill, support for women candidates on a non-
partisan basis, and media campaigns and other
efforts to increase public awareness about the need
for women’s leadership.
Thus, in Niger, a predominantly Muslim country,
women activists have worked to change women’s
status on a number of fronts simultaneously and
they have made a series of gains in a relatively very
short period of time. They have succeeded in
obtaining major changes in the Family Code that
protect women’s rights. They achieved the ratifica-
tion of the Convention on the Elimination of Dis-
crimination against Women in 1999. The following
year women activists were able to win a 35 percent
quota for women in the legislature in a country
where previously only one woman had had a par-
liamentary seat. In 2001 the government placed heavy
penalties on people convicted of practicing FGM.
One issue that has been critical for women has
been peace initiatives. Although their role has rarely
been acknowledged or publicized, women have
been involved in peace movements from Senegal’s
Casamance region, to Mali, Sudan, Somalia, and
Sierra Leone.
With the spread of Islamicist movements in coun-
tries such as Niger, Nigeria, Mali, Eritrea, Sudan,
Ghana, and elsewhere, some women activists are
drawing on alternative traditions within Islam to
promote women’s rights and/or leadership. Muslim
women’s organizations have generally taken one of
four general approaches. They have worked within
Islamic discourses to highlight Islamic traditions
that promote women’s rights; adopted secular562 political parties and participation
approaches; pursued pragmatic approaches that
work either within the framework of Islamic law or
by adopting a secular approach depending on the
situation; and finally, sought an approach that
carves out a niche for women within an Islamicist
framework.
For example, the Federation of Muslim Women’s
Associations of Nigeria (FOMWAN) and Women’s
Rights in Moslem Law in Nigeria have tried to open
up the gender discourse within Islam, pressing for a
redefinition of women’s rights, including inheri-
tance and custody rights, equality in education, and
the full participation of women within the bounds
of the Islamic Sharì≠a law that is now followed in
twelve Nigerian states.
Some women’s organizations within majority
Islamic countries have pursued greater secularism
as a way of advancing women’s rights. By calling
for greater gender inclusiveness in politics, Muslim
women have become some of the staunchest forces
for democratization and a secular state in countries
such as Sudan. In the case of Sudan, the regime of
General ≠Umar £asan A™mad al-Bashìr has under-
mined the rights of women by imposing increas-
ingly harsh restrictions since he came to power in- These restrictions include dress regulations,
banning all political and non-political organiza-
tions, restricting travel by women, firing women
from top positions, and institutionalizing physical
and psychological abuse of women accused of being
dissidents. Women’s groups such as the Sudanese
Women Union have been at the forefront of the
movement for a democratic secular state, cam-
paigning against the legal restrictions against women
and arguing for an interpretation of the Qur±àn that
does not discriminate against women and one that
promotes equality, human rights, democracy, and
civil liberties. Secular women have also been con-
cerned about the implications of a “pure” and
“authentic” Islamic state for the non-Muslim and
non-Arab inhabitants of southern Sudan.
Other groups such as BAOBAB in Nigeria seek to
advance the rights of women who live under Islamic
laws through whatever means women locally deem
appropriate, whether it involves taking a secular
stance or using arguments based on Islamic law.
Nigeria became a focus of international attention in
the late 1990s with the expansion of institutional-
ized Islamic law in the northern part of the country
and the imposition of harsh punishments on
women charged with violating the laws, including
imposing the penalty of stoning to death on indi-
vidual women singled out and accused of adultery.
Women lawyers and organizations like BAOBAB
actively appealed against such sentences.