Week 2 -- Tariq Ramadan's Rhetoric on Islam and Feminism

While Feminism in the States still has significance and relevance to modern society, I yet find myself distracted by Feminism in other cultures across the globe. I had hoped to take International Women's Studies last semester but a lack of sufficient enrollment resulted in cancellation of the class. When the opportunity to view an oral presentation and discuss the importance of the speech to women's issues arose, go figure the title of Tariq Ramadan's keynote speech at one of the Salzburg Global Seminars caught my attention: "Tariq Ramadan on Islamic Feminism and Women's Leadership."
The religion of Islam and women's status in Islamic nations and cultures has long held my curiosity, but due to time constraints I have yet had the freedom to research it. Now, I have a starting point from which to further inform myself of the religion itself as well as interpretations of it. Ramadan, a Professor of Contemporary Islamic Issues at Oxford University, has published several books on Islam and its place in the modern world. These facts coupled with his eloquence in speaking as well as his presence at the Salzburg Seminars gives him a great sense of credibility. Additionally, he speaks with an authority on the issue, conveying well to his audience his personal ties to the subject.
In his discussion of Islam, he points out that as Muslims have moved to different countries such as Europe, where he was raised, and the states, they begin to see the differences between culture and religion. Much of the fundamentalist teachings, he states, result more from the culture of Islam's origin rather than deriving from religious texts. In this way, he reaches out to his audience by speaking globally and by explaining variations and evolutions in a way that non-Muslims can understand.
His power of persuasion relies upon his credibility, his ability to connect with his audience and in the way he explains this transitory period in the Islamic faith. "We are in a transitory period, and we have to understand that it is to be a very long process." This quote in particular appeals to my knowledge of my own culture's transition in its view of women. I think some of my North American counterparts are quick to frustration in regards to other countries and their culture or religion; they quickly assess them with an ethnocentric view and think of them as backward or evil and don't stop to realize that some of those behaviors or attitudes are not so far behind in our own nation's history. Even today, some women in the U.S. must endure unequal pay or a lack of opportunities due to stereotypes, religious influence, and cultural stigmas. We have to recognize that other countries need to go through some of the same steps our country went through of their own volition. Ramadan's speech clues us in to the fact that Islamic culture has begun its transition and we should respect from our own experience how long that may take.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do--YdH-888