Our stories have been written by men. Mostly about men. Or about women perceived through male gaze. So we end up seeing the world through one eye only. How can we reclaim the narrative? How can we foster a more balanced storytelling?
4. Thucydides or Herodotus were among
the first historians: since 2.500 years, the
construct of history is a male product.
5. Women’s acts and experiences have
been largely unrecorded and ignored
6. We perceive historical events from a white
catholic male heterosexual perspective
• Example: Columbus day
– Genocide or discovery?
– Mistake or historical turning point?
13. And other narratives are silenced
• Speaking louder
• Speaking on behalf of
others
• Occupying the space
• Interrupting the
conversation
• Not listening to others
• Making fun of the other
14. Only one Palme d’Or of Cannes has
been awarded to a woman so far
31. Even our language is
androcentric
• Male is generic: mankind,
manpower, manmade…
• The masculine, by the
presence of even one male,
is the default.
• "Every student in the
classroom did his best on
the exam."
• Even greeting mixed groups
50. There is a contradiction between women’s
central active role in creating society and
marginality in meaning giving process
• Women are essential and central to
creating society.
• Women have made history, yet they have
been kept from knowing it.
• Women have been excluded from creating
symbol systems and theory formation.
• Women lasted 3.500 years to realize their
own subordinate position in society.
51. Your significance in history is
key for psychic well being
• The myth that women are marginal to the creation
of history and civilization has profoundly affected
the psychology of women and men.
• The denial to women of their history has
reinforced their acceptance of the ideology of
patriarchy and has undermined the individual
woman’s sense of self worth.
• Men’s version of history has become the universal
truth.
• One cannot think universal when oneself is
excluded from the generic.
52. Women are more targeted by
negative narratives
You are fat
You can’t please your partner
You are a bad mother
You are not enough
Women don’t know
how to drive
Women lie
Women change opinion
all the time
Women are emotional
54. When we see with one eye, our vision is
limited in range and devoid in depth.
• Men and women live on a stage.
• But men have written the play and
directed the show.
• Equal parts will not make women
equal if the script is still written by
men.
55. From “you are invisible” to
“you are half of the reality”
56.
57.
58.
59. We need to reclaim power at
individual and collective level
• Women’s history is indispensable and
essential to the emancipation of women.
• It changes their lives.
• We need a shift of consciousness.
151. DuVernay, who made ‘‘Selma,’’ pointed out that
of the 100 top-grossing films last year, only two
were directed by women.
• She urged constant vigilance and proactive
searching within the industry:
• ‘‘We have to ask our agents about that script
by the woman screenwriter.
We have to ask, ‘Hey, are there any women
agents here that I could talk to?’
We have to ask our lawyers about women in
the office.
We have to ask, when we’re thinking about
directors or D.P.s, ‘Will women interview?’ ’’
152.
153.
154. Male
Authority in
Muslim
Contexts
WOMEN’S
STORIES
LIVES
Musawah is a global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family.
Launched in 2009, it seeks to link scholarship with activism, bring fresh perspectives
on Islamic teachings and contribute constructively to the reform of Muslim family
laws and practices.
The Global Life Stories Project is a central element in Musawah’s ongoing
and multifaceted research programmes aimed at producing new egalitarian
knowledge from within Muslim legal tradition.
In Musawah (‘Equality’ in Arabic), we draw on the latest Muslim reformist thought
and feminist scholarship in Islam, and ground our claim to equality and our
arguments for reform simultaneously in Islamic and human rights frameworks. We
recognize two blind spots in approaches to gender issues in Islam and human
rights. On the one hand, many scholars of Islam are unaware of the importance
of gender as a category of thought and analysis. On the other hand, many
feminists and human rights advocates have little knowledge or appreciation
of religious categories of thought and religion-based laws, considering them
The quest for gender equality in Muslim contexts
involves reclaiming the egalitarian ethos of Islam’s
sacred texts and creating a public voice for it.
Democratizing the Production of Religious Knowledge