ETJC In the News: Mosques and Marriages

ETJC Board member Amina Jabbar wrote this piece, “Mosques and Marriages: Manifestations of Patriarchy and Mysogyny in the Western Muslim Context,” on the link between gender segregation in the mosque and scarcity of Muslim men interested in marrying professional Muslim women in Muslima Media Watch.

The handshake issue, I think, is largely symbolic, reflecting the broader (lack of) engagement of women in Muslim settings. When I enter the mosque, I instantly become the “sister.” My opinions weigh less, my perspectives are easily dismissed, and suddenly, no one looks me in the eye. Instead, I get the awkward scurry of a “brother,” trying not to “gaze” at me. Is it possible that we have become so obsessed with gender segregation that Muslim men are unable to see Muslimahs, as Junot Diaz suggests, as fully human, someone other than their mothers or some objects of desire? If Muslimahs, by virtue of being women, are solely seen as instruments, then how will I ever genuinely and meaningfully contribute to my ummah?