2008 Woodie Awards
Women's studies professor says Islamic fundamentalists violate women's rights
Tyler Will
Issue date: 10/24/07 Section: News
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Hughes told roughly 35 people in the audience that the two largest obstructions to women's rights are Islamic fundamentalism and sex trafficking.
Hughes said she uses the term Islamic fundamentalism to describe a "political movement," and said.
"Islamic fundamentalism is a political movement that has particular goals and methods and ideology," Hughes said.
Hughes dubbed the movement as "a major threat to world peace and freedom," and a distortion of religious belief.
"The political goal of Islamic fascists is to create a religious dictatorship," she said.
Hughes said the goals are demonstrated through rituals like honor killings, beatings, stoning, threats and family pressure.
Hughes defined an honor killing as a murder carried out by family members who oppose the family's will. Other breeches of women's rights include mandatory dress codes, such as the requirement of head coverings.
"They basically treat women, honestly, as dirt," Hughes said.
Hughes was careful to isolate the political movement from Islam itself.
"I am not talking about all of Islam or all Muslims," she said. "I'm talking about a political movement."
Hughes' specified objective did not deter student discomfort. Sarah Shihadeh, the president of the URI Muslim Student Association, said that honor killings happen all over the Middle East.
"This is not Islam," she said. "Christians do that. Muslims do that. Don't blame the religion for what people do."
Shihadeh said she came to the United States two years ago and has a very informed representation of the Middle East. Hughes had to remind Shihadeh, and other students, that she was speaking about a political movement, not Islam in general.
Some of the controversy could have sprung from Hughes' mention of the judicial system in the Middle East. She referred to Muslim activists who came to the United States and tried to install a separate judicial system for Muslims, "which, of course, did not guarantee equal protection under law," Hughes said.
Hughes said that a system of law called Sharia law segregates public facilities and subdues women's position in society. Hughes said eight women in Iran, a country which claims to operate under Sharia law, are waiting in jail to be stoned.
"This form of killing is not found in the Quran. It is a barbaric form of killing used centuries ago and brought into modern timers by Islamic fundamentalists," she said.
She also said that Islamic fundamentalists oppose democracy.
"They oppose democracy and the Western concept of freedom, claiming that Western democracies and laws are man made, and only the laws of God or Sharia laws are valid," Hughes said. Hughes added that most effective form of justice lay with the United Nations' Declaration of Human Rights.
Hughes said people are afraid to condemn women's rights violations, because it is a part of another culture.
"What it translates into is being silent, and accepting some of the worst human rights violations against women," Hughes said.
She emphasized that the world has a "responsibility" to protect the rights of women. Privileged societies should seek to assist oppressed women, Hughes said.
Hughes said the solution to the problem is to develop Islamic interpretation of the Quran that support women's rights.
"There are, indeed, liberal and moderate Muslims who I believe we should be supporting," she said.