Donna Lee Bowen

Abortion, Islam, and the 1994 Cairo Population Conference

The International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo in September 1994 focused world attention on the interplay of religion, family-planning methods, and womens status. The most hotly debated topic of the conference was abortion. Before the conference convened, newspapers in the West and in the Middle East reported “a growing religious furor” that spurred an alliance between Muslim nations and the Vatican based on a common belief in the prohibition of abortion and concern for Western sexual mores. At the conference, Muslim delegations abandoned their slogans and moved away from the Vatican position by denouncing abortion as a method of family planning but leaving open its use under specific circumstances. Although a majority of Muslims worldwide agree with the stance taken at the population conference, and most would state that Islam forbids abortion, the Muslim theological position on abortion does not approximate the Roman Catholic condemnation of the practice. A full prohibition of abortion represents neither the sophisticated Muslim jurisprudence literature on abortion nor current practices of some Muslim women. Discussion with Muslim women and Muslim religious scholars ( ʿulamāʾ ) about the intricacies of the issues that abortion raises tells us that the question is not simple, consensus is far from being reached, and political concerns further complicate understanding of the paradoxical issues involved.

What Is the Relationship between Inequity in Family Law and Violence against Women? Approaching the Issue of Legal Enclaves

“Family law” is the term applied to the legal regulation of marriage and parenthood within a society, and may serve to express a societys accepted ideals concerning male–female relations. Adopting a feminist evolutionary analytic (FEA) approach, we hypothesize that nation-states with higher degrees of inequity in family law favoring men, codifying an evolutionary legacy of male dominance and control over female reproduction, will experience higher rates of violence against women. This hypothesis is borne out in conventional statistical analysis, both bivariate and multivariate, suggesting that policy attention to family law so as to make it more concordant with norms of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) may have salutatory effects on womens physical security over time. These results may also have policy implications for societies with, or contemplating, enclaves of inequitable family law. Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home. —Eleanor Roosevelt

Clan Governance and State Stability: The Relationship between Female Subordination and Political Order

We propose that the relative influence of clans is an important explanatory factor producing significant variation in state stability and security across societies. We explore the micro-level processes that link clan predominance with dysfunctional syndromes of state behavior. Clans typically privilege agnatic descent from the patriline and are characterized by extreme subordination of women effected through marriage practices. Particular types of marriage practices give rise to particular types of political orders and may be fiercely guarded for just this reason. We construct and validate a Clan Governance Index to investigate which variables related to womens subordination to the patriline in marriage are useful to include in such an index. We then show that clan governance is a useful predictor of indicators of state stability and security, and we probe the value added by its inclusion with other conventional explanatory variables often linked to state stability and security. “I against my brothers; my brothers and I against my cousins; my cousins, my brothers, and I against the world” (Bedouin saying) “At the heart of tribes, to varying levels, is a severe patriarchy” (Jacobson 2013, 58).

Globalisation, mobile phones and forbidden romance in Morocco

Globalisation in the form of must-have mobile phones affects gender and generational relations in the Middle East and North Africa. As this new form of communication technology spreads to secondary and university students, it impacts the traditionally strong institution of the Middle Eastern family. In Morocco, gender relations and generational dynamics are changing as this technology breaks down traditional spatial and associational boundaries between young men and women. Membership in a global citizenry offers young Moroccans both status and western patterns of romance. This study demonstrates that young women and young men utilise mobile phones for different purposes. Mobile phones facilitate behaviour that young people know violates Moroccan social norms, but which are permitted by the western mores conveyed through global media. Our research in Morocco may have resonance in the rest of the Middle East but differs from what research reports in Europe.

Changing contraceptive mores in Morocco: population data, trends, gossip and rumours

Contrary to many expectations, Morocco has succeeded in lowering its population growth to 2.2 per cent in 1994, and under 2 per cent by the late 1990s. Data compiled in 1993 show that 41.5 per cent of women (54.4 per cent in urban areas) use some type of contraception to prevent birth. To determine the impact of increased contraceptive use I utilise the latest demographic findings, interviews with Moroccan health officials, scholars, opinion‐makers, and press reports. I analyse the importance of the increased use of contraceptives in relation to other socio‐economic indicators such as increasing urbanization, higher education levels and increased employment opportunities for women which generally correlate with increased contraceptive use and lower fertility rates. Finally, I weigh rumours as to their plausibility and suggest possible purposes for circulating rumours. Experts conclude that better attention to maternal and child health, decreased infant mortality figures, and better availability of contrac...