Gender segregation in Islamic law, custom, law, and traditions refers to the practices and requirements in Islamic countries and communities for the separation of men and boys from women and girls in social and other settings. In terms of actual practice, the degree of adherence to these rules depends on local laws and cultural norms. In some Muslim-majority countries, men and women who are unrelated may be forbidden to interact closely or participate in the same social spaces. In other Muslim countries, these practices may be partly or completely unobserved. These rules are generally more relaxed in the media and business settings and more strictly observed in religious or formal settings.
Views There have been fatwas that forbid free mixing between men and women (known as Ikhtilat) when alone. The objective of the restrictions is to keep such interaction at a modest level. According to some, men are not permitted to touch any part of the body of the women, whether she is Muslim or non-Muslim. Others have ruled that Muslim men and women who are not immediate relatives may not, for instance, socialize in order to know each other with a handshake or any form of contact that involves physical contact.
A number of Muslim intellectuals and Muslim scholars have challenged this view and claim that certain physical contact is permissible as long as there is no obscenity, inappropriate touching (other than a simple handshake), secret meetings or flirting, according to the general rules of interaction between the genders.
In some parts of the Muslim world, preventing women from being seen by men is closely linked to the concept of Namus.Werner Schiffauer, "Die Gewalt der Ehre. Erklärungen zu einem deutsch-türkischen Sexualkonflikt." ("The Force of the Honour"), Suhrkamp: Frankfurt am Main, 1983. ISBN 3-518-37394-3.Dilek Cindoglu, "Virginity tests and artificial virginity in modern Turkish medicine," pp. 215–228, in Women and sexuality in Muslim societies, P. Ýlkkaracan (Ed.), Women for Women's Human Rights, Istanbul, 2000. Namus is an ethical category, a virtue, in Middle Eastern Muslim patriarchal character. It is a strongly gender-specific category of relations within a family described in terms of honor, attention, respect/respectability, and modesty. The term is often translated as "honor".
In some Turkish Sufi interpretations of Islam, including Alevism, gender segregation does not exist in any aspects including religious rituals and clergy. For example; Cemalnur Sargut, a woman who does not veil, currently leads the Turkish branch of the Rifaʽi order. The Bektashi order allows women to fill in religious roles or become dervishes as well. The incumbent head of the 'Alevi/Bektashi Culture Presidency' under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey is also a woman, Esma Ersin.
Sources
The Qur'anic verses which address the interaction of men and women in the social context include:
However, he forbade men from stopping their wives from going to the Mosque:
Early Islam
Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates
The roots of gender segregation in Islam have been investigated by many historians. Leila Ahmed said that the harem arose in the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties and was not an institution from the time of Muhammad.Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. Yale University Press, 1992; pp. 112–115 Leor Halevi wrote in an article about women and mourning laments that a "novel and unprecedented concern with the segregation of the sexes" took place in Kufa, Iraq, in the eighth century. In time, this became normative. Everett K. Rowson discovered that gender nonconforming men in eighth century Medina could move freely between the sexes. Known as Mukhannath, these men were freely able to move between men and women due to beliefs that they were not sexually attracted to women. This changed during the times of the Early Caliphs in order to further keep women in private.
Gender segregation did not exist for female slaves. Female slaves were visible in public; while free Muslim women were expected to veil in public to signal their modesty and status as free women, slave women were expected to appear unveiled in public to differentiate them from free and modest women, and the awrah of slave women defined as being only between her navel and her knee, which meant they were not veiled. The famous qiyan-slave artists were not secluded from men in harem, but in contrast performed for male guests.Concubines and Courtesans: Women and Slavery in Islamic History. (2017). Storbritannien: Oxford University Press.
Ottoman Empire
The Imperial Harem
The Ottoman Empire kept genders segregated in the harems and concubines were not allowed to leave the harem. Men, aside from the male head of the household, were forbidden to enter the harem. However, eunuchs were allowed to move freely inside and outside the harem and acted as protectors of the women. This position gave eunuchs the ability to have access to the ruler's living quarters. A common consequence of this segregation of the ruler from the rest of the house while in the harem, gave eunuchs the role of message bearers. During the course of the Harem, racial segregation became common between eunuchs. Slave traders of white Circassian slaves enjoyed more business clout due to the inflated value of whiteness that existed during the Ottoman Empire.
However, contrary to restrictions; some concubines, mothers, sisters and grandmothers of the sultans of the Ottoman Empire exerted extraordinary political influence in a period called 'Sultanate of Women'. Their presence among the men and their power was not challenged by the ulema clergy.
Bathhouses Segregation between men and women was strictly enforced in 18th-century Ottoman bathhouses. The rules on bathhouse segregation also restricted Muslim women from sharing a bathhouse with non-Muslim women, while Muslim men could share bathhouses with non-Muslim men. Shari'a courts held this up to preserve Muslim women's sanctity and prevent their violation.
In Islamic countries
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, under Taliban religious leadership, was characterized by feminist groups and others as a "gender apartheid" system where women are segregated from men in public and do not enjoy legal equality or equal access to employment or education. In Islam, women have the right to equal access to employment and education, although their first priority should be that of the family. Also, Men are said to be actively involved in child rearing and household chores. Muhammad helped his wives in the house.Hunter, D. Lyn. Gender Apartheid Under Afghanistan's Taliban The Berkleyan, March 17, 1999.The Taliban & Afghan Women: Background , Feminist Majority Foundation website, Accessed June 25, 2006.
During Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021), a huge number of Afghan men did not have any contact with females other than their own family until going to university. This caused men to not see women as their colleagues. Thus, they usually tended to show impolite behaviour to women, so thousands of women suffered from insults in the streets all over Afghanistan. During this period, gender segregation in Afghanistan's schools forced the strained Ministry of Education, which was already short on supplies, funding, and teachers, to recreate the system for each gender.
Baghe-Sharara () was a women-only park in Kabul during the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. It is the ancient garden constructed by Babur. No men were allowed to enter because it was a women-only space. This garden was reconstructed by financial support from US, Italy and Switzerland and yearly, on March 8, programs specific to women were held there. Women-specific markets were held inside the garden as well. English and sewing classes, shops selling products, a counselling center, other classes, were all run by women.
Immediately after 2021 Taliban offensive all universities became sex-segregated nationwide. Since March 2022, Taliban started to segregate all amusement parks and resorts by sex. Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Afghanistan) stated that in Kabul, males can go to amusement parks on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, while females can go to amusement parks on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays. This ministry added that no one is allowed to complain, emphasizing that men are not allowed to enter parks on women's days.
Egypt
During the mid-20th century, movements in Egypt implemented laws regarding public sex segregation. This included the segregation of women on trains, organized by the Muslim Brotherhood. Before this new era, gender segregation was only applied to areas of religious ceremony.
The idea of a "Pink taxi" in Egypt emerged after numerous women demanded women-only cabs. Advocates of the idea claimed that the taxis would help shield women against possible harassment and sexual assault.
Iran
When Ruhollah Khomeini called for women to attend public demonstrations and ignore the night curfew, millions of women who would otherwise not have left their homes without their husbands' and fathers' permission or presence, took to the streets. After the Islamic revolution, however, Khomeini publicly announced his disapproval of mixing between the sexes. During Khomeini's rule, limits would be placed on what jobs a woman could possess, these laws would also uphold gender segregation in the workplace. Many women would not be given access to positions of political power without ties to male political elites or ties with religious leaders, movements, or activism. Prevention of women candidates is upheld by male-dominated political parties who have rejected women from being represented as their recommended candidates. All women who have run as candidates for president have been rejected with no reason given.
Critics have argued that the restriction of women's rights under Islamic law has led to the segregation of public and private spaces, which they must then attempt to resolve through politics and by creating their own spaces.Osanloo, Arzoo (2009-03-29). The Politics of Women's Rights in Iran. Princeton University Press. p. 49. . Gender segregation also impacts the company that people keep; researcher Ziba Mir-Hosseini noted that during her field work, she spent most of her time around women and that in some instances she never met the male relatives of some of these women due to the strict regulation of gender segregation.Mir-Hosseini, Ziba (2000). Islam and Gender: The Religious Debate in Contemporary Iran. I.B.Tauris. p. xvii. . These restrictions may also impact travel, as some rules state that married women are forbidden from traveling without their husband's permission. In some cases, women must be segregated from male passengers.Hall, C. Michael; Prayag, Girish (2019-05-20). The Routledge Handbook of Halal Hospitality and Islamic Tourism. Routledge. . Despite ongoing gender segregation efforts, women make up as much as 55 percent of the first year undergraduate student body. In pre-college level education, gender segregation has conflicted with religious laws. Article 13 of the Islamic Republic of Iran allows Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians to educate their followers in whatever way their religion instructs them. Regardless of this law, boys and girls have been segregated from being in the same classroom. Boys and girls would also get different textbooks. These regulations on gender have moved the ceremonies and events of religious minorities, such as funerals and weddings, out of view from the public due to laws against the public mixture of sexes.
Iraq Gender-isolated education is conducted through higher education due to religious ideas of sex segregation. Hotels and motels all have strict rules for sex segregation.