A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICAL RIGHTS OF WOMEN UNDER CEDAW FROM A SHARIAH PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The feminist movement emerged in response to the unfair treatment unleashed on women during the medieval era. The agitation of the movement was heard by the United Nations and succeeded in bringing about a legally binding international treaty known as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The Convention, often described as the bill of rights for women, requires equality between men and women in all spheres of life. Similarly, there are many misconceptions prevailing about women’s rights under Shariah, which is often criticized for relegating and denying women their rights. Despite these misconceptions, there are esteemed women throughout Islamic history who played significant roles in the socio-political development of Islamic society. This therefore calls for the need to investigate, compare, and analyze the rights of women under CEDAW and Shariah. The paper adopts a doctrinal research method to focus on a comparative analysis. The findings of this research show that Shariah regards men and women as equal partners whose roles complement each other. The paper further finds that Shariah encourages women to freely express their opinions and ideas and does not deprive them of their political rights but rather ensures the proper rights, dignity, and virtue of women in public participation.