Voice of British Muslim Women

Sameea Jonnud, Aldershot

Throughout time and around the world, women have always suffered more than men. It has generally been men in power, men instigating and fighting wars, men making laws while women were at a disadvantage in status, education, marital rights and, more recently, in the workplace where they have had to combat unequal pay and sexism. Islam gave many rights and a high status to women 1500 years ago, although sadly, not all Muslim countries practice this in full. Since then in the West, women have also gained rights, and those living in the UK are educated, employed, and are able to dress as they wish. 

In the West we often see calls for solidarity with women who are suffering or struggling for their rights around the world. Many Western feminists spoke out when Iranian women protested the strict laws on wearing a hijab. When the United States and NATO withdrew from Afghanistan, there was plenty of talk about Afghan women being forced into burkas and losing their rights to education. Solidarity with women is a good thing. 

Wars are a tragedy for all involved but a sad fact is that women are disproportionately affected, and we are currently seeing this in Gaza. What we are not seeing at the same rate, is solidarity with the women of Gaza or enough expressions of outrage or even sadness at their situation; those who have been vocal from the start have not been joined by increasing numbers.  

Learning about what women are going through, seeing photographs or videos of silently grieving mothers, realising just how many thousands of women and children are among the innocent civilians killed, should make us all want to act in some way to stop this devastation. We should all be speaking out on social media, we should be writing to our politicians; many of us are, but nowhere near enough. Instead there are many conversations about the latest television programme, pretty photographs of food or travel and other such distractions.  

Reports have shown that the situation in Gaza has become so difficult that women have had to resort to using tent scraps in place of sanitary products and have C-Sections performed without anaesthetic. Imagine things which are an everyday part of our lives, being unavailable to our fellow humans a couple of thousand miles away. Why is everyone, why are all women, not outraged by this? 

In 2022, when the Russia-Ukraine conflict began, we all knew what was happening. News coverage was extensive, with reporters in Kyiv telling us stories of mothers and children sheltering from bombs and old women forced to evacuate after a lifetime in their home; we empathised with them and hoped they were safe. In the UK, the flag of Ukraine was flown outside homes and council offices in solidarity, while work communication teams sent messages hoping everyone was okay, and ordinary British families opened their doors to Ukrainian refugees. As a nation we empathised with Ukraine and Ukrainians. Now the people of Gaza are in a similar situation but on a much larger scale. A larger number of bombs are being dropped, more infrastructure destroyed and far more casualties, yet we don’t see the Palestinian flag outside council offices, we don’t read of refugees being taken in by ordinary families or hear as many people discuss the situation when they meet. 

I wonder what is different in this case. Is it because our politicians and mainstream media are telling us that ‘Israel has the right to defend herself’ so in people’s minds they see the Gazans as deserving of punishment? Is it because the people of Gaza are too different to Europeans which makes it more difficult to care? Or is the fear of being labelled and punished as anti-Semitic too great? 

The issues in Gaza should be at the forefront of activism. Recent reports have shown that 95% of those facing starvation in the world are in Gaza. Every right is being violated, the rights of children, the rights of women, the rights of animals, the rules of war pertaining to proportionality and collective punishment; even environmentalists should be afraid of the devastation of carpet bombing a once lush green land.  

Society, with the help of social media that connects us, has been getting better at speaking up for justice, with racism and sexism becoming unacceptable to most. And that’s what is difficult to understand in this situation. In a society that prides itself on being vocal for the voiceless, on trying to ensure that women are no longer treated as inferior, the silence on this conflict is much louder than any of the previous movements for women’s rights. Women in Gaza have been forced into terrible situations that no woman in the 21^st century should endure, yet many who see themselves as activists, remain silent. Is it due to the fact that Gazan women are different than themselves? The silence implies that they are less deserving of a movement for freedom, and is just as dehumanising as anything Israeli and other media sources could imply, especially as it is from women who say they fight for other women.  

That’s not to say there is no one raising these issues, but it isn’t nearly enough. There are many who are speaking out on social media and in demonstrations, but much more is needed so it becomes the norm. More letters to our politicians, more vocal support for a ceasefire, some empathy and a little courage and then, maybe, God willing, change can happen, and true justice be served before it is too late.