Islam and feminism – can they coincide?
Womens rights are not usually something that you hear our prime minister, John Howard, mulling over. But the PM recently got in touch with his feminist side. During a tyrade against muslims, he told members of the community to learn english. He also reminded them of the importance of safe guarding women’s rights. But one female academic working with Muslim women feels these comments, coming in the current climate may have less than “altruistic” intentions. Dr Christina Ho, from the University of Technology Sydney gave a talk this week on how Women’s rights and Islam can be reconciled in the 21st century. And she spoke earlier with Max Lavergne and discussed whether the demonstrations of racism seen in the wake of the recent Cronulla riots also had undertones of sexism.