ideological point of view there is a vast difference
between secular and religious ideologies. Yet the
gendered policies are not simple reflections of these
ideologies. Take Syria as an example of a secular
state with a nationalist ideology. State employees
have the same salary regardless of gender and entry
to the university is based on grades and unrelated
to gender (thus favoring women). But within the
family a Syrian women is still not equal to a man.
Family law is fairly complicated with special provi-
sions for religious minorities. Christians apply the
rules of the various churches for marriage and
divorce and Druzes have no recourse to polygamy.
There is no civil marriage in Syria, and a marriage
between a Christian man and a Muslim woman is
not legally recognized. Although there have been
debates in Syria, just as in Lebanon, about the need
to secularize family law, both the Sunnìmajority
and the various minorities have been staunchly
opposed to this.
Leading Christians have voiced a fear over the
demise of their congregations and for many of the
Sunnìmajority the secularization of family law is
seen as the work of the ethnic and religious minori-
ties. Due to this sensitivity, the Syrian regime,
which is perceived as dominated by non-Sunnì
interests, has been reluctant to push for reforms in
family law. In 2003, however, more than ten thou-
sand Syrians from all walks of life petitioned to
increase the custody rights of mothers. The petition
was presented as a bill in parliament, but instead
the issue was settled by a presidential decree
whereby custody rights were extended but not as
far as the bill had suggested. In this way Syrian
political leaders could show the world their sup-
port for women’s rights while avoiding a sensitive
public debate in parliament and preventing the
conservative opposition from using the bill to make
a religious statement. Hence Syria can be said to be
a secular state but one in which religion plays a very
important role in the gendering of polices.Bibliography
T. Asad, Formations of the secular. Christianity, Islam,
modernism, Stanford 2003.
D. Kandiyoti (ed.), Women, Islam, and the state, Phila-
delphia 1991.
M. L. Meriwether and J. E. Tucker (eds.), Social history
of women and gender in the modern Middle East,
Boulder, Colo. 1999.
J. M. Peteet, Gender in crisis. Women and the Palestinian
resistance movement, New York 1991.
M. Yamani (ed.), Feminism and Islam. Legal and literary
perspectives, Berkshire, U.K. 1996.Annika Rabo726 secularism
IndiaIn India secularism has never been based on the
idea of a wall of separation. Since independence in
1947, almost all discussions of secularism have
been based on the idea of equal respect for all reli-
gions, a concept propounded by Mahatma Gandhi.
This approach to secularism requires an equal
respect for all religions within both the public and
private spheres.
The meaning given to this concept of secularism
depends in large part on the meaning given to
equality. If equality is understood in a formal
sense – treating likes alike – then secularism will
insist on treating India’s various religious commu-
nities alike. By contrast, if equality is understood in
a more substantive sense – of addressing disadvan-
tage – then secularism will allow for an accommo-
dation of difference between religious groups, and
the protection of the rights of religious minorities.
Indian secularism has been based on a substan-
tive approach to the equal respect for all religions,
which has allowed for the protection of religious
minority rights primarily through temporary spe-
cial measures. This includes the right of a religious
minority to be governed by its personal laws.
Women are governed by customary laws that are
seen to infringe on their rights to gender equality.
The progressive groups and the Hindu right (who
are intent on setting up a Hindu state in India) have
called for the adoption of a secular Uniform Civil
Code (UCC) to be applicable to all communities in
the same way. Muslim women fear that such a code
would be based on the norms and values of the
majority community, the Hindus. If the code is
based on a formal notion of equality, then Muslim
women will have to surrender their distinct reli-
gious practices in favor of equality. This forces a
choice between religion and equality, which does
not recognize that women from the minority com-
munity are not just women, or Muslims, they are
Muslim women. Formal equality emphasizes same-
ness in treatment. The Hindu right uses its support
for the UCC to argue that all women must be
treated the same, which means Muslim women
must be treated in the same way as Hindu women.
Any recognition of difference is seen to constitute
a violation of secularism. Any recognition of dif-
ference between women in different religious
communities is seen to violate the constitutional
guarantees of equality, which, the Hindu right states,
require formal equal treatment. There are a few
voices urging that any adoption of a UCC must be
based on a substantive understanding of equality