JanFebMar08 UPdate

Fundamentalism, in varied forms, imperils the achievements and further growth of women as a sector in the country and in the world. This recaps the three lectures that to Dr. Carolyn I. Sobritchea, former director of UP Center for Women’s Studies (UPCWS), bring to the fore an important issue that has been hampering efforts to uphold gender equality and threatening the advancement of the emancipation of women.

In celebration of the International Women’s Month, the UP Centennial Lecture Series presented the lecture Women Contesting Fundamentalisms and All Forms of Intolerance. Held at the National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Development Auditorium on March 11 and in collaboration with the UPCWS and other partner organizations from the academe and non-government organizations, it featured three established speakers in the fields of feminist and women’s work and advocacy.
Presenting her paper entitled “Fundamentalist Ideologies and Practices: Threats to Women,” Sobritchea described the various expressions of fundamentalism, which is defined as “the use of religious tenets and/or cultural beliefs and practices to maintain or achieve political power,” and the ideologies and practices of these movements as threats to women in the Philippines and in the world. A feature of fundamentalism she related is the emphasis on the regulation and “control of women’s sexuality and bodies, family relationships, physical movement, dress codes and participation in public life” in adherence to a faith-based code of conduct. These fundamentalist forces then try to influence public policy for government. One example is the campaign to restrict women’s reproductive health choices and access to information. Among the practices reported in some places were female genital mutilation, stoning of women for so called “immodest” conduct, domestic violence and the like. In the Philippines, there has been a move to block legislation that promotes reproductive health and population management with faith-based groups actively working against access of couples to modern contraception on claims that these are used to promote abortion. Furthermore, there have been reports of “sanctions” by advocates of the Church’s position on reproductive health aimed to counteract

individuals (women, public officials, educators, and health service providers).
The second paper presented was by Reihana Mohideen, an international gender and social development specialist at Transform Asia, entitled “Women and Political-Religious Fundamentalism: An International Perspective.” Her talk examined the politicization of religion and its detrimental effect on progressive movements like the anti-colonial struggle for independence and nationalism and in connection, the women’s movement. Mohideen referred to the “Empire,” with its imperialist motives and alliances with the old-social classes, and its attempts to suppress the accomplishments of these progressive movements. According to Mohideen, “Dividing the movements along religious lines and ethnic lines were some of the main tactics used. This laid the basis for the rise of some of the most influential religious-political fundamentalist movements in the world today.”
Presented in the lecture was a political analysis of three examples of political-religious fundamentalism: Political Islam, Communal Fascism based on Hindu Fundamentalism in India, and the Christian-Fundamentalist Right in the US. How these movements/phenomena were used for various and complex interests under the pretext of religion and consequently how these impacted on the lives of women within the groups were also discussed. The last part of her lecture focused on women in the frontlines of struggle against these economic and religious fundamentalisms.
The final paper “Contesting Religious Fundamentalisms and Other Forms of Intolerance: Practical and Theoretical Challenges for the Global Feminist Movement” by Dr. Sylvia Estrada-Claudio, current UPCWS director, further elucidated religious fundamentalism.
According to Claudio, and as inferred from the two other reports. “The appeal to religious orthodoxy is but one element of the fundamentalism phenomena. Religious fundamentalisms are global political projects.” Also, these make alliances across religions, political parties, nationalistic, ethnic and innumerable other political projects. Although fundamentalist groups have shown much diversity, they have a common agenda around the control of women and in particular the use of women as “cultural markers” and “cultural carriers.” Another point made was that all forms of fundamentalisms (religious, tribal, economic) are essentially anti-democratic in character. As such they are also threats to the universal application of human rights principles and the broader political project of global well-being.
Secularism or the rejection of religion and religious interests in organizing the affairs of the state should therefore be reconceived as a tool against fundamentalisms. In concluding her lecture, Sobritchea proposed to “…challenge fundamentalism by insisting on the constitutional provision of the separation of the church and state…and by making the state accountable for ensuring that the fundamental human rights of all citizens, especially women and marginalized groups, are respected, protected, promoted and fulfilled.” Claudio reiterated this by referring to an article by Abdullahi an-Na’im which advances the concept of secularism as mediation. Here “…Citizens must be able to propose and advocate policy and legislative initiatives on the basis of their religious belief but such proposals must be within the context of reasoning that is acceptable to those who do not accept the particular belief system of the proponents.” Furthermore, such policies should conform to human rights standards and protect against discrimination.
As a final point in her lecture, Mohideen called for a solid albeit diverse analysis and action to fight fundamentalist agendas inimical to women’s advancement in society. She declared, “The tactics of our struggle against this ‘war on women,’ however are complex. They have to be varied, grounded and context specific. Most importantly, it requires the organization of a strong women’s movement, guided by a democratic discourse and the active participation of the masses of women.”

On the qui vive for fundamentalism