Annotated Bibliography
Books – Muslim Women, Islam and Feminism
Abu-Lughod, Lila. Ed. Remaking Women: Feminism And Modernity In The Middle East. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1998.
This book is a collection of essays on how nationalism, modernity and feminism have transformed family, traditions, politics and women in the Middle East.
Afshar, Haleh. Ed. Women in the Middle East: Perceptions, Realities and Struggles for Liberation. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993.
This is collection of essays that address the problems in the lives of Muslim women and their struggle for gender equality in the Middle East. It compares and contrasts the realities and experiences of women’s lives in many countries in the Middle East with the descriptions found in Western writing about them.
Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender In Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992.
Weaving together historical and literary resources, Ahmad explores the issues and experiences of Muslim women in the Middle Eastern Arab societies and the ways, which they are affected by the broad discourse of gender within their societies.
Al-Hibri, Azizah. Ed. Women and Islam. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1982.
Al-Hibri’s selection of articles that includes Fatima Mernissi, Leila Ahmed, Alya Baffoun and Kathryn Haddad represents the unique modern interaction between the concept of feminism and Islam within the Islamic framework.
Ask, Karin, and Marit Tjomsland. Ed. Women and Islamization: Comtemporary Dimensions of Discourse on Gender Relations. New York: Berg, 1998.
This book discusses how Muslim women in the Middle East contribute to the Islamization and modernization of their societies through gender activism.
Badran, Margot. Feminists, Islam, and Nation: Gender and the Making of Modern Egypt. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1995.
This is a book that covers the history of Egyptian feminism and how feminism functions in the Egyptian society with regard to gender relations, power and equality. It also explores the dynamic gender culture within a rethought of Islam and reconstructed nation.
Baron, Beth. The Women's Awakening in Egypt: Culture, Society, and the Press. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994.
Baron examines the connection between literary culture and social transformation in the Egyptian society.
Bodman, Herbert and Nayereh Tohidi. Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity Within Unity Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1998.
Contributors to this volume explore the diversity in the lives, roles and status of Muslim women based on historical, social, political and cultural factors.
Bulbeck, Chilla. Re-Orienting Western Feminisms: Women’s Diversity In A Postcolonial World. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Bulbeck explores the meaning of global feminism, the diversity of feminism within the feminist movements and focuses on women’s struggles for equality regardless national origin, background, religion and culture.
El Guindi, Fadwa. Veil: Modesty, Privacy and Resistance. New York: Berg, 1999.
This book is a thorough discussion of the history of the veil, various types of veils in the Middle East and the hidden meaning behind women’s adoption of the veil. El Guindi analyzes the meaning of the Islamic dress in relation to the popular culture and gender issues.
El-Saadawi, Nawal. Ed. The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World. United Kingdom: Zed Press, 1980.
El Saadawi discuss the origin of the exploitation and oppression of Arab women in the Middle Eastern societies.
El-Solh, Camillia Fawzi and Judy Mabro. Ed. Muslim Women’s Choices: Religious Belief and Social Reality. Providence, Rhode Island: Berg, 1994.
This collection of articles explores the social condition of Muslim women and the interaction between sex roles, religious aspect, social custom and tradition.
Engineer, Asghar Ali. The Rights of Women in Islam. London: C.Hurst & Co. Ltd, 1992.
This book stresses on the importance of the reassessment of women’s rights in Islam, which has long been misunderstood and misinterpreted by both Muslims and Non-Muslims.
Fernea, Elizabeth Warnock. In Search Of Islamic Feminism: One Woman's Global Journey. New York: Anchor Books, 1998.
This book depicts one woman’s journey through the Middle East to find true meaning of Islamic Feminism. The author realizes that feminism exist in Islam, although not in the same form as it does in the Western world. Fernea also discovers how Muslim women are negotiating within their religion to assert their rights to participate in the public domain.
Fernea, Elizabeth Warnock. Ed Women and the Family in the Middle East: New Voices Of Change. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985.
A collection of articles, which focuses on how the social changes in the Arab world, is affecting women’s social, economic and political rights.
Grob, Leonard, Riffat Hassan and Haim Gordon. Ed. Women's and Men's Liberation: Testimonies Of Spirit. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991.
The authors explore the freedom of one sex (man) in relation to the other sex (woman) to find the possibility of an authentic freedom of a human being.
Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck, and John L. Esposito. Ed. Islam, Gender and Social Change. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
This is the study on the impact of Islamic resurgence on gender issues from North America to Southeast Asia.
Lemu, Aisha B., and Fatima Heeren. Woman in Islam. United Kingdom: The Islamic Foundation, 1976.
Lemu and Heeren discussed the status and rights of women in Islam, including the importance of modesty in Islam.
Macleod, Arlene Elowe. Accommodating Protest: Working Women, the New Veiling, and Change in Cairo. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991.
Macleod examines Muslim women’s symbolic meaning of the new veiling in Egypt and also discusses the ongoing negotiations of power and women’s social, economic and political struggle against their inequality.
Mernissi, Fatima. Beyond The Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in a Modern Muslim Society. Massachusetts: Schenkman Publishing Company, 1975.
Mernissi explores the dynamics of the male-female relationship in the modern and traditional Arab-Muslim society.
Mernissi, Fatima. Women and Islam: An Historical and Theological Enquiry. Trans. Mary Jo Lakeland. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1991.
Mernissi, from a feminist’s point of view, discusses Muslim women’s rights and obligations through the reinterpretation of the Qur’an and Hadiths.
Minai, Naila. Women In Islam: Tradition and Transition in the Middle East.
New York: Seaview Books, 1981.
Minai portrays the lives of Muslim women in the Middle East and Africa pertaining to religion, civilization and revolution.
Nashat, Guity, and Judith E. Tucker. Women In The Middle East and North Africa: Restoring Women To History. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1998.
This book traces the evolution of the role of women in Middle Eastern societies from ancient times through the seventeenth century, surveys women and gender issues in the nineteenth and twentieth-century Middle East, with particular focus on economic, political and cultural life.
Sharma, Arvind and Katherine K. Young. Ed. Feminism and World Religions. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999.
This book reflects the current debate on feminism and world religion and features a collection or articles by R.Hassan, R.Radforf Ruether, E.Umansky and V.Narayanan. All the authors explore the rights of women in their respective religion and traditions to demand feminism a place in each religion.
Tucker, Judith E. Ed. Arab Women: Old Boundaries, New Frontiers. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.
Tucker’s selection of articles explores the discourses on women and gender in the Arab world.