The power to change: Muslim women’s rights movement and the resistance towards gender-based violence

Abstract

Under transnational migration, migrant women are not confined by the new host society; the unbreakable attachments to the home society constantly affect and shape these women’s perceptions of their gender and position in the host society. As a result of the growing number of Muslim migrant women, both Muslim and non-Muslim communities have begun to be aware of and recognise the rights of Muslim women and the violence that occurs. Yet, unlike international experiences of Islamic feminist groups being established to promote Muslim women’s rights, an increasing number of local women’s rights groups have started to work with Islamic faith-based organisations to disseminate the idea of women’s rights in Muslim communities. With a lack of studies regarding Muslim migrant women in Hong Kong, this article draws on the significance of international studies on culture, religion and migration to understand the situation in Hong Kong. By analysing the social and political influences on minority integration, this article seeks to uncover the capacity of the Muslim women’s rights movement in guarding against gender-based violence in Hong Kong.

在跨国移民下，女性移民不再受限于新的侨居社会。与原居社会不可断裂的人和事，会经常影响并塑造她们在侨居社会对性别与地位的看法。在穆斯林移民女性的增加下，穆斯林与非穆斯林社区开始意识并承认穆斯林女性的权利及暴力的发生。与国际上穆斯林女性团体推动穆斯林女性权利的经验不同，数目正在增长的本地女权团体已开始与伊斯兰宗教为基础的组织合作宣传在穆斯林社区里的女性权利理念。在香港缺乏相关穆斯林女性移民的研究下，本论文借鉴国际研究对文化、宗教及移民的重要性，去理解香港的现况。藉分析社会及政治对少数族裔融合的影响。本论文还探索在香港穆斯林女性权利运动对抗性别为本暴力的能力。

Keywords:

• Ethnic minority
• integration policy
• gender
• Islam
• women’s rights

Notes

1. See United Nations, General Assembly, Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, A/RES/48/104, available from http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/48/a48r104.htm.

2. Author’s personal conversation with the staff from the Hong Kong Association Concerning Sexual Violence against Women on 22 May 2015.