The Project:

Women, Religion and Politics

The Project Women, Religion and Politics was conducted by Dr. Zilka Spahić-Šiljak in the Bosnia and Herzegovina region with the support of TPO Foundation and IMIC Center. The project duration was three years (2004-2005), and the final output was publishing the book with the same title: Women, Religion and Politics Analysis of Influence of Interpretative Religious Traditions in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Participation of Women in Public Life in Bosnia and Herzegovina - Judaism, Christianity, Islam.

The book was reviewed by the distinguish scholars from the University of Sarajevo :Women Religion and Politics is a rich compendium of information about gender relations in Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Meticulously researched and lucidly organized, Women Religion and Politics should help the different religious communities to better understand their own gender practices and those of their neighbors.
(Rachel Adler, PhD, Hebrew Union College, LA California)

This nuanced and profound reading by PhD. Zilk Šiljak- entitled Women, religion and politics, stresses that "mono-functionality" of male and female believers' languages, which obviously cannot be reconciled with multi-functionality" of the language of male and female citizens, has its in up-to-date masculine interpretative strategy for publishing.
(Jasminka Babić-Avidspahić, PhD, University of Sarajevo)

 

The author investigates the phenomenon of marginalized political participation of women that is visible in the public sphere in Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially through the notions of co-existence of patriarchal and socialist value-models, re-traditionalization and impacts of religious traditions on attitudes about women's engagement in the public sphere.
(Jasna Baksić-Muftić, PhD, University of Sarajevo)

 

After having the opportunity to read through this book, my conclusion is that the position of our women is like that of traditional religions. The more traditional the religion is, the less it participates in the society. The more traditional the woman is, the less she participated in the society.
(Enes Karić, PhD ,Faculty of Islamic Studies, Sarajevo)

 

Zilka Spahić-Šiljak's exhaustive study of a complex interplay between religion and gender, on the one hand, and religion and culture on the other, is relevant not just for Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the research was conducted, but for the whole region and beyond. The wider theoretical implications of  her work are in that it shows that the shared patriarchal cultural matrix is often hidden by religious differences between the three Abrahamic faiths, but is ultimately revealed in the similarity of lives of the women in the region.
(Milica Bakic-Hayden, PhD, University of Pittsburgh)

 

The uniqueness of this book is in its specific synoptic approach depicting all three monotheistic religions and their attitudes toward women... With such an approach the author is indicating exactly how much patriarchate undermined the exceptionality of all three monotheistic religions and has been as such presented as their inherent exclusiveness.
(Jadranka Rebeka Anić, PhD, Social Research Institute Ivo Pilar, Split, Croatia)

Summary

In twenty cities and villages throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina , an empirical research was performed among Muslims, Orthodox Serbs, Catholics, Jews and others with the aim of determining the connection of religious interpretative heritage and cultural tradition with woman's participation in public life and politics.

The first, theoretical part of the Thesis is the analysis of the position and role of women in religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam from the perspective of traditional and feminist interpretations in five areas: perception of creation of woman and man, education, economic status, participation in religious communities, and public life. The main conclusion is that all monotheistic religions promote complementarity of gender roles that demands imposing dichotomy into private/female, and public/male spheres of action, and preservation of traditionally assigned gender roles, with motherhood as the most honorable, and the most important woman's mission. Women do participate in public life, but are completely excluded from leading positions in hierarchies, except in some protestant churches, and reformed Jewish communities.
In the elaboration of socio-cultural and political context of Bosnia and Herzegovina , we have concluded that since 1946, when women were given the right to vote till today, they have been equally entitled to education, career building, and even participation in political life. However, they remained outside the mainstream of the decision-making process.

In the second part of the Thesis, the results of the empirical research based on questionnaires and open interviews, indicate the following:

- Male children had advantage in education (particularly in case of higher education, and in rural areas), compared to female children;

- Gender roles were dichotomized through traditionally assigned duties and responsibilities, due to which majority of men did not share household activities with their spouses, they did not participate in their children's upbringing, nor did they consider household activities their own responsibilities;

- Women have been financially dependent on their spouses, due to inheriting a very small portion of family property, or due to the fact that in the majority of cases, they gave up their right to property, since they were expected to do so. Joint property in the family has been mainly registered as the husband's property, and women do not see it as an issue important to discuss;

- Religious identity has been very important for 77% interviewees. Women have participated in the work of religious communities in the areas of education, and provision of various services to those who are needy. Positions of priests, rabbis and imams are exclusively reserved for male members, as it was interpreted and regulated centuries ago;

- Women have been underrepresented in the public and political life, due to the patriarchal norms and values deeply rooted into both religious teachings and practice. Both male and female believers are less willing to support participation of women in politics, while the interviewees with highest education, who claimed they were well-informed believers, had neo-conservative attitudes towards gender roles.

Through interviews with the clergy, but also through the analysis of the contents of religious publications, it became obvious that religious communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina were quite patriarchal, and did promote gender dichotomized roles. Women have been excluded from hierarchies, and participated in religious life primarily in cultural and humanitarian activities and education. However, the key academic areas, such as theology and religious law have been exclusively entitled to males.

The main hypothesis, that the interpretative heritage of Judaism, Christianity and Islam closely connected to cultural traditions largely influences the status of women in public and political life, has been confirmed. Only those women who fulfill their motherly mission have a ''moral right'' to participate in political life.

Key Words:
Religion, women, gender, analysis, politics, representation, patriarchal tradition, conservative interpretations, feminist perspective, positions of interviewees