Introduction

Today, we, all the believers, must be in unrest witnessed how the world is filled with immorality and injustice.  In social life, we see how pornography, sex, and drugs rampant have became an extension of the hands of Satan to destroy mankind. In economic life, the system of  usury dominates the world economy, including the Islamic world. World economic institutions such as IMF, World Bank, or WTO  dictate the pace of the economy in the Islamic world. As the result, Islamic world sinks in economic and financial crisis. The rich get richer. The poor get poorer, even their lives are not valued anymore. Wars flare up in various parts of the world, most of the victims are Muslims. Lives of ummah now lay at the feet of the industrialists of war, arms dealers and global oil companies.

For the last 150 years, Muslim thinkers have identified that in order to get out of this situation, Muslims must return to Islamic identity. They are trying to raise awareness of the ummah to to face the challenges in the framework of Islamic movements. Therefore, Islamic awakening movement is defined as a movement to reject all kinds of economic oppression, political, cultural, and military carried out by the enemies of Islam.1  Goals to be achieved through the Islamic awakening movement is the return of the Muslims’ dignity  and the freedom from political, cultural, and military hegemony of the enemies. These goals can only be achieved if the Muslim world join hands and walk together in harmony.2

Since half of moslem population and human resources is comprised of women, the role of women in the Islamic awakening movement is a necessity. In this paper, the authors will describe the importance of political role of women in the context of this movement.

Women in Politics: Comparing Indonesia and Iran

Politics can be defined as an attempt to conflict resolution.3  Human life is never detached from the conflict, because each individual always has the desire and wishes of each. The stronger party would be able to achieve his desire, while the weaker party will tend to be eliminated. This is where politics play a role, which is conducting the negotiations, compromise, and arbitration in order to resolve the conflict without violence.4

Generally, each individual in society has passion for justice or equality. In education field, for example, everyone has desire to achieve equal educational opportunities. However, sometimes in a particular society, education cannot be enjoyed by everyone. In this situation, politics play a role in negotiating the desire of each party. This is what Minogue said, “Politics is endless public disagreement about what justice requires.” 5

From this perspective, the involvement of women in parliament is considered very important. In parliament, legislation drafted, or amended, or canceled because of public demand of equality. So, it is necessity for women to get involved in political and legislation negotiations. Without the efforts of women to access and exercise the politics, their concerns may go unrepresented, underrepresented or misrepresented.  It is called by ‘constitutional politics’, the politics that concerned with the creation, implementation, and maintenance of a framework of governance.7

There are many ways to increase the number of women's representation in parliament. Since 1990s, many countries introduced  a gender quota in parliament.  Since the 2004 election, Indonesia allocates 30%  of parliament seat for women. Currently about 40 countries have introduced gender quotas for legislative elections.8

Unfortunately, the reality shows that in Indonesia, gender quota system and an increasing number of women seat in parliament is not correlated with the increasing of the condition of women in general. If we take a look at the Human Development Report published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), such as  Human Development Index (HDI) or Gender Inequality Index (GII), we can see this situation in general.9

The author would like to compare the HDI and GII between Indonesia and Iran,  since both countries has the same characteristic as a Muslim-majority country. Indonesia is the biggest Muslim country in the world, but still adopt a secular government system. Meanwhile, Muslim majority people of Iran since 1979 has approved a theocratic constitution.

Tabel of Statistic Comparation Indonesia-Iran 10

From this brief data, at least we can conclude that high percentage of women seats in parliament is not always correlating with the improvement of women and society condition.  There is one important thing to be considered more than number of seat, that is the quality of women serving in parliament. 

Unfortunately, in recent times, politics in Indonesia is shocked by the corruption cases involving women politicians. Some of them are now in jail and their cases made headlines in the Indonesian mass-media. In commenting this situation, the Executive Director of the Center for Political Studies University of Indonesia, Sri Budi Eko Wardhani, considered that women politician in Indonesia do not have sufficient ability in politics yet.11   The reality shows that many of women politician in Indonesia were cinema artists or singer or elites without political education background. 

According to election law in Indonesia, the main quality to be possessed by the politician is “a God-fearing and law-abiding people”. This qualification is very relevant with ideal of the Islamic Awakening movement. Devoutness will lead a politician to serve the people in order to serve God. But unfortunately, the political situation in Indonesia is still party-oriented, not God oriented or even nation-oriented.  In many negotiation in parliament, interests of the party is raised, not the interests of the nation, let alone the interests of Islam. Under such conditions, with the low quality of devoutness,  no wonder that women politicians in Indonesia are still “screw” in the big political system. 

Therefore, Muslim woman politician must have a divine ideology, otherwise, they will involved in rational politics.  As wrote by Kheradmandi12, there are three kind of politics. First is natural politics, which is mainly focus on how to resolve the conflict in society, and the two others are rational politics and divine politics. Rational politics rely on logic and pragmatism while divine politics rely on logic and the divine rules (syariat).  Under the divine rules, the politicians draft, amend, or cancel the legislation with the intension to bring the people closer to God and prevents them from evil.

And, this divine politics is exercised in Iran. When we read the data of HDI and GII above, it should be noted here that the indicators is based on Western paradigms that measure women's progress in terms of their participation in employment. In fact, in the paradigm of Islam espoused by the Islamic Republic of Iran, an indicator of women's success is her success in building a healthy family. In the paradigm adopted in Iran, women are welcome to actualize her ability outside her household as long as she keeps her main job as a builder of the smallest unit (and most important) in the community, the family.

By embracing this paradigm, government policy of Iran is not creating jobs in the office as many as possible so women and girls go away from their families, but empower women to build a domestic industry. 13

The Divine Politics in Iran dan The Women’s Role 

In 1979, Islamic Revolution led by Imam Khomeini toppled the monarchi Shah Reza Pahlevi and installed an Islamic Republic. Both of the Iranian leader, the late Ayatollah Khomeini and the present leader, Ayatullah Khameni, have the same opinion that women is half of the population and because of that, no revolution or any social movement will be succeed without the participation of women. And both of them, hold on one opinion, that is the key of the succeed of the Revolution is the spirit of Islam. 

As said by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, 

“This was a transformation that a human being could not bring about, this was a divine transformation; He who changes hearts did this. He removed the fear of this regime [Shah Pahlevi], which all the people harboured, from their hearts and put in its place determination and bravery, such that women and children as well as men all rose up to fight. Has there ever been such a time when women rushed into the fray like this, standing fast before tanks and cannons?”14 

When the woman politician had a clear ideology and knew what to strive for, their political role could bring significant results. Shahidian called it as heightened self-worth which empowers women and emancipates them from any barriers such as fear, fragility, or egoism.15  When the women could identify their role in communty, they get the power to expand their activity and responsibility. They do not just think about their household, but far beyond it. In Rommelspacher words, they will “liberate themselves from the constraints of the family and also from a relatively self-referential existence” (ibid).

This is the factor that encourage Iranian women to go to the streets against the Shah. They integrate the principles of Islam, the call of Islamic freedom, and the spirit of ‘jihad’ (serving Islam). With with great courage, they rallied in the streets to protest the Shah. That was why Ayatollah Khomeini said,

“Our uprising is indebted to women. Men took the example of the women into the streets.Women encouraged the men to revolt, and sometimes even led the way. Woman is a wonderful creature. She possesses fiendish, strong [and] passionate capabilities.”16 

Islamic political system encourages the active involvement of women in various sectors. Ayatollah Khamenei has stated,

“In an Islamic society, men and women enjoy sufficient freedom. Islamic works which exist in this regard and the equal social duties which Islam has assigned to men and women bear testimony to this fact. Prophet Muhammad (s.w.a) said: “One who spends a night without caring about the affairs of Muslims is not a Muslim.” What the Holy Prophet (s.w.a) said is not limited to men only. Women should also feel responsible towards the affairs of Muslims, the Islamic society, the world of Islam, and everything that happens in the world. This is an Islamic duty.”

In Islamic view, women and men are having the equality, but not sameness and uniformity. Therefore, Islam opposed Western view of feminism, which seek identity of sexes. Muthahari stated, “Islam outlines equality of rights between men and women, but Islam does not agree on the similarities of rights between the two, but also, Islam does not outlines the similarities of responsibility and punishment between man and women.”17 

With this premise, Islamic Republic of Iran defined and governed the roles of men and women in society. The involvement of women in politics is not solely within the constitutional politics alone, but in a holistic framework. The struggle of women in Islam is not to achieved gender equality, but gender justice. Imam Ali stated that justice is putting something in the right position. Then, where is right the position of women?

In the view of the leaders of Iran, there are two important points regarding position of  women. One, position of women in life and society. Second, position of women in their family. 18

a. Position of Women in Life and Society

About the women’s position in society, Ayatollah Khamenei criticized Western society that puts women in a position as a creature that can be exploited by men. In Western culture, if a woman wants to get a good position in society, she must show sexual attraction. She must come up with clothes that attract attention the public eye. “In my opinion, this is the greatest deprivation that occurs over a woman. In this environment, women are the exploited,” said Ayatollah Khamenei.19 

Ayatollah Khamenei criticized the Western banning of hijab in the name of ‘pluralism’. According to him, the hijab is not a mere religious symbol, but rather an ideology that sees women as being noble. With hijab, women will be recognized as herself, not as a creature that could be exploited for the sake of men. The anti-hijab ideology is an ideology that wants to exploit women. “That is why today we see the fate of women in the world is very bad. Women trafficking is rampant and become the fastest growing businesses today,” said Ayatollah Khamenei.

Therefore, both Leader agree on on the same view: women must return to Islamic values in order to achieve independence, free from exploitation of men, and to have a starring role in building a glorious civilization. “A woman is not a thing, but a great human being who raises and cares for society. Her embrace is the creator of men. She is the nursemaid of humankind, and the source of the people’s compassion and happiness,” said Ayatollah Khomeini.  

b. Position of Women in Family

Ayatollah Khamenei acknowledged that unfortunately, many moslem women are still facing the unfair behavior of their husbands. However, this is not caused by Islamic rules. On the contrary, Islam strongly encourages the noble and affection attitude toward  women. Ayatollah Khamenei quoted some hadiths related to the position of  women in the family. Prophet Muhammad SAW said, “Al mar'atu sayyidatu baytiha” (women are the most noble in her family). Imam Ali said, “Al mar'atu rayhaanah laysat wa bi qahrimaanah” (women are something fragrant and not workers). Prophet Muhammad SAW said, “The best among you is the best reply behavior toward female (wife).”

Ayatollah Khamenei said, “Words like these are very much scattered in the traditions of the Prophet and the Imams. However, unfortunately not much practiced. Therefore, its implementation must be supported by legislation, law, and execution. It is this for years, unfortunately not done by Muslims.”

This is the assertion that women are essential to engage in political activity, in order to encourage the establishment and implementation of legislation related to women’s right. As mentioned above, in divine politics, the legislation is drafted with the intension to bring the people closer to God and prevents them from evil. As remindeded by Ayatollah Khamenei, a deficiency in Muslim society is not addressed by seeking a model from the West but by digging back Islamic values and apply them properly. What is lacking in the moslem community does not necessarily indicate the advantages of Western society. On the contrary, data shows that many women in the West are treated badly, experiencing domestic violence, and become victims of women trafficking and neglection. 

Iranian Legislation Related with Women

This is a quite interesting fact: although only one scholar woman involved in the preparation of the Iranian Constitution, but it still gives a great concession to women. In the preambule of the constitution, there are three paragraphs addressed to women:

In the creation of Islamic foundations, all the human forces which had been in the service of general foreign exploitation will recover their true identity and human rights. In doing so, women who have endured more tyranny up till now under the idolatrous order, will naturally vindicate their rights further. 

The family unit is the basis of society, and the true focus for the growth and elevation of mankind. Harmony of beliefs and aspirations in setting up the family is the true foundation of the movement towards the development and growth of mankind. This has been a fundamental principle. Providing the opportunities for these objectives to be reached is one of the duties of the Islamic Government. 

Women were drawn away from the family unit and (put into) the condition of "being a mere thing", or "being a mere tool for work" in the service of consumerism and exploitation. Re-assumption of the task of bringing up religiously-minded men and women, ready to work and fight together in life's fields of activity, is a serious and precious duty of motherhood. And so acceptance of this responsibility as more serious and - from the Islamic point of view -a loftier ground for appreciation (lit: value) status (lit: greatness) will be forthcoming. 20

In the body of Iran’s Constitution, there are two chapters especially related with women:

Article 20

All citizens of the country, both men and women, equally enjoy the protection of the law and enjoy all human, political, economic, social, and cultural rights, in conformity with Islamic criteria. 

Article 21

The government must ensure the rights of women in all respects, in conformity with Islamic criteria, and accomplish the following goals: 

1. Create a favorable environment for the growth of woman's personality and the restoration of her rights, both the material and intellectual;

2. The protection of mothers, particularly during pregnancy and childbearing, and the protection of children without guardians;

3. Establishing competent courts to protect and preserve the family;

4. The provision of special insurance for widows, and aged women and women without support;

5. The awarding of guardianship of children to worthy mothers, in order to protect the interests of the children, in the absence of a legal guardian.

With this paradigm, Iran has been established appropriate  laws. For instance, article 39 and 75 of  Labor Law of Iran stated that:

• for the implementation of the same work under similar circumstances, and in the same workplace, men and women should earn the same salary.

• the job is dangerous and should not be left to the weight of female employees.

The Worker Protection Act mentioned that the main female role and work is in the family. Based on this starting point of the view, some articles in the Law on the Protection of Women Workers give great support to women workers so that they can still perform their function as mothers. Among others, chapters 76 and 78 stated that: 

• Women workers are entitled to maternity leave and childbirth, and are entitled to a childcare facility during working hours

• Workplace that has a female employee, must give a half hour every three hours, to women to breastfeed their children, until the child is aged two years and a half hours of leave should be counted as hours worked.21

In the author opinion, this is the real goals  that moslem politican women should achieve: freedom to defend their rights on the basis of Islamic principles. This is the divine politics that should be carried out  by the moslem politician women. 

Conclusion and Recommendation

1. Because half of the human population is female, women should be involved and actively get involved in development quality of society.

2. For the sake of Islamic Awakening, the political role of women must be based on Islamic ideology. They have to carry out the divine politics, not pragmatism/rational politics.

3. Women must educate themselves in order to have a strong Islamic ideology and sharp political vision so that when they join a non-Islamic system, they are able to give significant positive contributions, instead of being co-opted by the system.

References:

Hoffman, John. 2007. A Glossary of Political Theory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press

Khaz Ali, Ansia. 2010. Iranian Women After The Revolution. Paper presented by Conflict Forum: Beirut. (http://conflictsforum.org/briefings/IranianWomenAfterIslamicRev.pdf)

Khomeini, Imam. 2001. The Position of Woman From the Viewpoint of  Imam Khomeini. (English version). The Institute For Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Works: Tehran.

Kheradmandi, Husain R. 2012. Manajemen Politik: Perspektif Khajeh Nashiruddin. Jakarta: Sadra Press. 

Minogue, Kenneth. 2000. Politics, A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.

Muthahhari, Murthadha. 2000. Hak-Hak Wanita dalam Islam. Lentera: Jakarta .

Shahidian, Hammed. 2002. Women in Iran: Gender Politics in the Islamic Republic. Westport: Greendwood Press.

Sulaeman, Dina Y. 2005. Perempuan Iran: Observasi antara HDI dan Konstitusi (paper presented in Seminar of Indonesian Students in Middle-East, held in Qom, August 2005).

Sulaeman, Dina Y. 2011. The Views of the Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran

about Women (paper presented in International Seminars, “Islamic World: Women’s Role and Responsibility of Muslim Women”, held in University of Muhammadiyah Jakarta, December 2011).

Dobrowolsky, Alexandra  and Vivien Hart (ed). 2003.  Women Making Constitutions.  New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

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She is a writer and author of more than 12 books, including “Journey to Iran”. She obtained her Master of Science (International Relations) from Padjadjaran University, Bandung (2011) and became a research associate of Global Future Institute. She received scholarship from JAL Foundation to study in Sophia University, Tokyo (1996). She lived in Iran for 8 years (1999-2007), studied in Faculty of Theology, Tehran University (1999-2000), Jamiah Al Musthafa, Qom (2001), then worked as writer, editor, and translator in Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (2002-2007). Now she lives in Bandung, Indonesia. E-mail: bundakirana@yahoo.com This paper is for The World Conference of Women and Islamic Awakening, 8-11 July2012 at Tehran, Iran

  http://www.taqrib.info/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=385:islamic-awakening-conference-final-communique-&catid=35:2009-08-31-05-01-28&Itemid=63

   2 ibid

  3 Hoffman, 2007: 143

  4 ibid. 144

  5 Minogue, 2000: 81

  6 Dobrowolsky and Hart, 2003:2

  7 ibid

 8 ibid

 9 HDI is a summary measure of human development that is published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The HDI measures the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development, which are life expectancy, literacy rate, and GDP per capita. GII is a measure to expose differences in the distribution of achievements between women and men. Countries with high gender inequality also experience unequal distribution of human development. Thera are five indicators of GII, which are maternal mortality, adolescent fertility, parliamentary representation, educational attaintment, and labor force participation.(source: http://hdr.undp.org)

 10 Source: http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm and http://hdrstats.undp.org