Islam and gender segregation

Gender segregation in Islamic law

Gender segregation in Islamic law, custom, law and traditions refers to the practices and requirements in Islamic countries and communities for the separation of men and boys from women and girls in social and other settings.

The roots of gender segregation in Islam have been investigated by many historians. Leila Ahmed said that the harem arose in the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties and was not an institution from the time of Muhammad. Leor Halevi wrote in an article about women and mourning laments that a ″novel and unprecedented concern with the segregation of the sexes″ took place in Kufa, Iraq, in the eighth century. In time, this became normative. Everett K. Rowson discovered that gender nonconforming men in eighth century Medina could move freely between the sexes. Known as Mukhannath, these men were freely able to move between men and women due to beliefs that they were not sexually attracted to women. This changed during the times of the Early Caliphs in order to further keep women in private.

The Ottoman Empire kept genders segregated in the harems and concubines were not allowed to leave the harem. Men, aside from the male head of the household, were forbidden to enter the harem. However, eunuchs were allowed to move freely inside and outside the harem and acted as protectors of the women. This position gave eunuchs the ability to have access to the ruler's living quarters. A common consequence of this segregation of the ruler from the rest of the house while in the harem, gave eunuchs the role of message bearers. During the course of the Harem, racial segregation became common between eunuchs. Slave traders of white circassian slaves enjoyed more business clout due to the inflated value of whiteness that existed during the Ottoman Empire.

Segregation between men and women was strictly enforced in 18th century Ottoman bathhouses. The rules on bathhouse segregation also restricted Muslim women from sharing a bathhouse with non Muslim women, while Muslim men could share bathhouses with non Muslim men. Shari'a courts held this up to preserve Muslim women's sanctity and prevent their violation.

Afghanistan, under Taliban religious leadership, was characterized by feminist groups and others as a "gender apartheid" system where women are segregated from men in public and do not enjoy legal equality or equal access to employment or education. In Islam, women have the right to equal access to employment and education, although their first priority should be that of the family. Men too are said to be actively involved in the child rearing and household chores. Muhammad helped his wives in the house. During Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004 2021), a huge number of Afghan men didn't have any contact with females other than their own family until going to university. This caused men to not see women as their colleagues, thus they usually tended to show impolite behaviour to women so thousands of women suffered from insults in the streets all over Afghanistan. During this period, gender segregation in Afghanistan's schools forced the strained Ministry of Education, which was already short on supplies, funding, and teachers, to recreate the system for each gender. Baghe Sharara (Persian: باغ شهرآرا) was a women only park in Kabul during Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. It is the ancient garden constructed by Babur. No men were allowed to enter because it was a women only space. This garden was reconstructed by financial support from US, Italy and Switzerland and yearly, on March 8, programs specific to women were held there. Women specific markets were held inside the garden as well. English and sewing classes, shops selling products, a counselling center, other classes, were all run by women. Immediately after 2021 Taliban offensive all universities became sex segregated nationwide. Since March 2022, Taliban started to segregate all amusement parks and resorts by sex. Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Afghanistan) stated that in Kabul males can go to amusement parks on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays while females can go to amusement parks on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays. This ministry added that no one is allowed to complain, emphasizing that men are not allowed to enter parks on women's days.

During the mid 20th century, movements in Egypt implemented laws regarding public sex segregation. This included the segregation of women on trains, organized by the Muslim Brotherhood. Before this new era, gender segregation was only applied to areas of religious ceremony. The idea of a “Pink taxi” in Egypt emerged after numerous women demanded women only cabs. Advocates of the idea claimed that the taxis would help shield women against possible harassment and sexual assault.

When Ruhollah Khomeini called for women to attend public demonstrations and ignore the night curfew, millions of women who would otherwise not have left their homes without their husbands' and fathers' permission or presence, took to the streets. After the Islamic revolution, however, Khomeini publicly announced his disapproval of mixing between the sexes. During Khomeini's rule limits would be placed on what jobs a woman could possess, these laws would also uphold gender segregation in the workplace. Many women would not be given access to positions of political power without ties to male political elites or ties with religious leaders, movements, or activism. Prevention of women candidates is upheld by male dominated political parties who have rejected women from being represented as their recommended candidates. All women who have run as candidates for president have been rejected with no reason given. Gender segregation also impacts the company that people keep; researcher Ziba Mir Hosseini noted that during her field work she spent most of her time around women and that in some instances she never met the male relatives of some of these women due to the strict regulation of gender segregation. These restrictions may also impact travel, as some rules state that married women are forbidden from traveling without their husband's permission and in some cases women must be segregated from male passengers. Since 2005, access to higher education has been prohibited by the Iranian government.

Gender isolated education is conducted through higher education, due to religious ideas of sex segregation. Hotels and motels all have strict rules for sex segregation.

In Saudi Arabia, male doctors were previously not allowed to treat female patients unless there were no female specialists available; it was also not permissible for women to treat men. This has changed, however, and it is not uncommon for men and women to visit doctors of the opposite sex. Critics have argued that the restriction of women's rights under Saudi Arabia law, which is based on sharia law, has led to the separation of gender, since women and men are separated in almost all areas, from women only fast food lines to women only offices. These laws and policies are enforced by the Islamic religious police, which has prompted some to find ways to evade policing. Gender segregation also impacts the Saudi education system, as there are more opportunities for men to graduate with a career and find employment. Women do not share in these opportunities and have a more difficult time finding employment as there are only a small number of locations that permit men and women to mix. Gender segregation also impacts the participation of women in religion by encouraging women to pray at home and not in the mosque. Scholars have stated that despite these restrictions, changes brought about with the new generations have allowed women more freedom to choose whether they pray at the mosque or in their homes.

On the late 19th and early 20th century European Jewish immigration to Palestine, Norman Rose writes that secular "Zionist mores" were "often at odds with Arab convention, threatening the customs and moral assumptions that lent cohesion to a socially conservative, traditional Palestinian society." The active political role of the women of the Yishuv and their lack of segregation was judged as particularly offensive.

The policy on gender segregation in Kelantan, Malaysia is drawn based on Islamic teachings as interpreted by the state government leaders. It doesn't allow only men spectators at sports tournaments involving female players. Another example of sex segregation im Kelantan, Malaysia is gender specific counters in supermarkets.

In the United States, Muslim couples may opt for gender separate wedding celebrations so that men and women sit separately during the ceremony and celebrate in different rooms. Men and women, who are guests, do not sit together at the wedding ceremony, because it is seen as a ‘time out’ from the usual mixing of the sexes.

British born Muslim author Ed Husain argues that rather than keeping sexual desires in check, gender segregation creates "pent up sexual frustration which expressed itself in the unhealthiest ways," and leads young people to "see the opposite gender only as sex objects." While working in Saudi Arabia for seven months as an English teacher, the Arabic speaking Husain was surprised to find that despite compulsory gender segregation and full hijab, Saudi men were much less modest and more predatory towards women than men in other countries he had lived in. Despite the modest dress of his wife, who "out of respect for local custom, wore the long black abaya and covered her hair in a black scarf", she was on two occasions, "accosted by passing Saudi youths from their cars. In supermarkets I only had to be away from [my wife] for five minutes and Saudi men would hiss or whisper obscenities as they walked past." Discussions with local women at the British Council indicated that her experience was far from unique. Some Muslims argue that women served food for Muhammad and his companions, citing this as evidence that gender segregation did not exist during the earlier times of Islam.