Rethinking Muslim women’s equal rights: faith, property and empowerment

The pursuit of gender equality and women’s empowerment, especially in parts of the Arab and Muslim world, struggles in the face of several conundrums. How can women’s civil and political rights be strengthened without corresponding attention to their socio-economic rights and poverty alleviation? How could women’s participation in the public sphere be expanded when their private and intra-household leverage remains limited? How could Muslim women’s rights be sustainable through secular discourse in traditional and religious communities? How can innovative formulations of women’s rights be transformed into workable tools and embedded in formal systems for practical gains for Muslim women in complex environments? Recent developments and efforts in the arena of women’s access to resources and property offer some fresh approaches to women’s empowerment.