We can’t pick and choose when to be feminists, even when the subject is Islam

Moderate feminists, like me, may as well hand in our drivers’ licences if we can’t face the fact Islam treats women poorly, writes Claire Harvey.

Muslim girls attend an English class at a Muslim school in Thailand. (Pic: Supplied)

THERE’s been a chorus this week of criticism of feminists: why aren’t we up in arms about Keysar Trad, the self-appointed spokesman of Muslim Australia, for declaring he’s OK with a little bit of recreational wife-beating.

Well, for one thing it’s a truth universally acknowledged that Keysar is a plonker, and to get upset about anything he says is really not worth the effort.

For another, it’s not my job to decry every moron who sticks his head up on television.

But I do think, for once, the critics have a point on this.

Moderate feminists — like me — might as well call ourselves harpies and hand in our drivers’ licences if we can’t face the fact Islam treats women like shit.

If we can’t agree that burqas are outrageous and hijabs are depressing and women’s rights generally are rated second-class by so many people who claim to lead this great faith, then what’s wrong with us?

How can we simultaneously campaign for women to be allowed to become ministers of the Christian churches if we don’t also expect Islam to treat women fairly? Most women who’ve travelled in South-East Asia have been offended at some point by a sign asking women to stayout of the temple if they’re menstruating.

I know I have. I thought it was ridiculously medieval. So why aren’t I equally outraged by the notion a Muslim person should be cordoned into a special section of a mosque simply because she possesses a uterus? Imagine if a Surry Hills pub announced it was reintroducing the front bar and the ladies’ bar, in the interests of protecting women’s modesty and embracing their feminist choice to drink in the company of women. Would we be offended? Yes we would. Would we be reluctant to speak up? Not a chance.

So I have a new challenge for the feminists (male and female) and other sensible people of Australia: let’s find a way to fight back against the Muslim-haters, at the same time as proudly speaking up in the defence of our own secular values.

Here’s my personal starting point: I hereby declare I find it desperately sad when I see little girls in Sydney playgrounds wearing hijabs. What for? To protect their modesty? From what? The eyes of men? If that is really a consideration, when we’re talking about pre-pubescent children, we have a serious problem.

Or — and this is more likely — is it really about ensuring these little people don’t get ideas above their station; don’t start thinking they can do or be whatever they want to be? I don’t want to see toddlers in hijabs. I simultaneously believe with all my heart that Muslims can and should be welcome in Australia. As a proud feminist, what am I supposed to do when I see that little girl? Just look away and think ‘it’s none of my business’?

If modern, western Muslim women want to reclaim the hijab as a symbol of their own feminist empowerment — like, say, Susan Carland or Arwa El-Masri, or other seriously intelligent and independent chicks — then I say all power to them.

But I can’t see why this supposedly ‘adult, feminist’ choice is being imposed on little girls. Why do children in La Perouse or Fairfield have to settle for human rights that Australia left behind in the 1820s?

If little girls like this one in Syria are wearing hijabs or burkas in Australian playgrounds to protect their modesty from the eyes of men, then we have a serious problem. (Pic: Supplied)

Every time a young Australian man is arrested with a phone full of ISIS death porn and a carving knife, and we see his female relatives outside court swathed in burqas, I think: ‘Well, great to see he has some strong female role models in his life’.

How can any kid develop a modern and sophisticated view of the world — or be expected to grow into a husband and father who treats women with respect — when his own Mum has to put on an eiderdown to do the school run?

Until now, most reasonable, intelligent, modern Australians have wanted to run a million miles from the critique of Islam being loudly voiced by the far right.

It’s been easier to just ignore the little ongoing dramas about halal certification and whether or not Vegemite sales are helping prop up loss-making Islamic schools. Really, who cares?

But now that Pauline Hanson, Cory Bernardi and co have latched on to Islam as their weapon of choice, I think Australia is deep in a conversation about Islam that many moderate voices — like feminists — are too scared to join.

It’s not ‘Islamophobic’ to say you think Islamic practices are sexist or otherwise offensive. That should just be part of an honest appraisal, just as we appraise the churches, or the police, or the education system, or whatever. And if we’re actually going to make this multiculturalism thing work in the 21st century, we can’t just pretend we’ve given up believing in Australia’s own powerful secular values.

If Australia as a modern nation means anything, it is equality of the classes and the sexes. That’s worth speaking up for.