Globalization, Gender, and Religion The Politics of Women's Rights in Catholic and Muslim Contexts by Jane H Bayes and Nayereh Tohidi, eds. (New York: Pa/grave Publishers, 2001. 280 pages.)

Abstract

Globalization, Gender, and Religion: The Politics of Women's Rights in
Catholic and Muslim Contexts began at the 1995 United Nations Fourth
World Conference on Women in Beijing (FWCW). At this event, Jane H.
Bayes and Nayereh Tohidi witnessed conservative Catholic and conservative
Muslim groups unify around issues of sexuality, sexual orientation, and
the control of women's bodies. To understand the spectrum of opinions and
better strategize the globalized women's movement in Catholic and Muslim
contexts, the editors brought together feminists from seven countries and
one region to detennine how religious Catholic and Muslim women dealt
with their beliefs in equal rights, and contradictions in their religions and in
the official policy of their religious authorities.
This book is divided into 10 chapters and contains an appendix that surveys
the historical expansion of Catholicism and Islam. The introduction
provides valuable information on how, since 1992, the Vatican has sought
to unify with conservative Muslims to counter challenges to their shared
religious ideals of women's social roles. The following chapter, "Women
Redefining Modernity and Religion in the Globalized Context," is structured
to answer three fundamental issues about Catholicism and Islam:
How they regard women, what historical similarities and differences exist
in their responses to modernity, and what is the position of women's religiosity
and spirituality in social change and their agency in reshaping the
parameters of modernity and religion. Ultimately, it gives a useful overview
of how Catholicism and Islam perceive women and especially gives a fair
treatment oflslam's uniqueness. Unlike Catholicism, Islam's lack of a singular,
central, organized body makes it difficult to pinpoint the ideal female
archetype. To find this ideal, the editors point to the Qur'an's prominence
as the word of God and refer to 4:34 which, by calling women the "charges ...