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ABSTRACT
This article draws attention to a young generation of Islamist women activists and to how these women have reacted to the patriarchal tendencies of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) movement following the January 25, 2011 revolution in Egypt. Although women’s support was central to the ability of Islamists to win power, after the uprising Islamists failed to grant women significant political rights and autonomy. While the existing literature on gender and nationalism demonstrates that practical gains for women are frequently sidelined by their movements in a post-revolutionary era, there is increasing recognition of the need to examine the relationship between feminism and nationalism in relation to the particular context in which this evolves. This article substantiates this claim with new evidence. Based on a feminist ethnographic study of the Muslim Sisterhood, the female members of the Egyptian MB movement, conducted in Cairo between 2013 and 2018, the article demonstrates that a new gender politics has emerged among Islamist women activists as a result of their engagement in revolutionary struggle. This gender politics has explicit feminist overtones, which have become evident as women begin to challenge men’s position of privilege within the sphere of the family.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks the journal’s editors and anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments; Dr Lucia Ardovini, Dr Brenda McNally, and Dr Paola Rivetti for reading and commenting on previous drafts of this article; and the Muslim Sisterhood activists in Egypt. Lamia, may you be free soon.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Erika Biagini is Assistant Professor in Security Studies in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University. Her area of expertise lies at the intersection of Islamism, gender, and politics. She lived extensively in Egypt between 2013 and 2018, where she conducted research on the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and the activism of its female members, the Muslim Sisterhood, in the aftermath of the 2011 uprising. Her current research interests address the areas of subjectivity, identity, and feminist politics among Islamist women activists, the gender politics and sexuality of Islamist movements, and the evolution of the Egyptian MB since the 2013 repression.
Notes
1 Nour, interview, 2014. For the MB organizational structure, see Mitchell ([Citation1969] Citation1993).
2 This point was reiterated by several Muslim Sisters interviewed in 2014.
3 Nour, interview, 2014.
4 Esma, interview, 2014.
5 Eman, interview, 2014.
6 Nour, interview, 2014.
7 This refers to the practice of killing animals by cutting their throat.
8 Nour, interview, 2014.
9 Nour, interview, 2014.
10 Safiya, interview, 2014.
11 Leen, interview, 2014.
12 A traditional female Muslim dress, consisting of a long loose tunic.
13 Safiya, interview, 2014.
14 Nour, interview, 2014.
15 Lamia, interview, 2017.
16 Lamia, interview, 2017.
17 Lamia, interview, 2017.
18 Nour, interview, 2014.
19 Leen, interview, 2018.
20 Lamia, interview, 2018.
21 Nour and Feyrouz, interviews, 2014; Lamia, interviews, 2014 and 2017.
22 Feyrouz, interview, 2014.
23 Lamia, interview, 2017.
24 Lamia, interview, 2017.
25 Lamia, interview, 2014.
26 Nour, interview, 2014.
27 Feyrouz, interview, 2014; Nour, interview, 2017; Lamia, interview, 2017.
28 Lamia, interview, 2017.
29 Leen, interview, 2018.
30 Nour, interview, 2017.
31 Dalilah, interview, 2017.
32 Reham, interview, 2018.
33 Nour and Lamia, interviews, 2018.
34 Nenet, interview, 2018.
35 Menna, interview, 2018.
36 Lamia, interview, 2018.
37 Reham and Lamia, interviews, 2018.
38 Lamia, interview, 2018.
39 Reham, interview, 2018.
40 Leen, interview, 2018.
41 Reham, interview, 2018.
42 Lamia, interview, 2018.
43 Lamia, interview, 2018
44 Hessa, interview, 2018.
45 Lamia, interview, 2018.