Women and Shari Law ─ The Impact of Legal Pluralism in the UK

Should shari’a law be introduced into the British legal system? Elham Manea explores this question by building on her knowledge of legal pluralism in Middle Eastern and Islamic countries and by first-hand analysis of the Islamic shari’a councils and Muslim arbitration tribunals in various British cities. Women and Shari’a Law traces how support for legal pluralism evolved in the context of widespread racism and anti-immigrant sentiments leading up to the Race Relations Act of 1968. Through its focus on gender equality and women’s experiences, the book argues that the desire to resolve conflict, accommodate Muslim minorities, and reform a Euro-American-centric legal system developed into ‘The Essentialist Paradigm’. This is a post-colonial and post-modern discourse that treats people as ‘homogenous groups’, essentialising their cultures and religions, but disregarding individual and authentic voices. By meeting with the leading sheikhs—including the only women on their panels—as well as interviewing experts on extremism, lawyers, politicians and activists in civil society and women’s rights groups, the author offers a critique of legal pluralism, connecting it with political Islam and detailing the lived experiences of women in Muslim communities.

Elham Manea is Associate Professor in the Political Science Institute at the University of Zurich. She is a Fulbright scholar and consultant for Swiss government agencies and international human rights organizations. She is the author of The Arab State and Women’s Rights: The Trap of Authoritarian Governance” (2011), Regional Politics in the Gulf: Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen (2005) and Political Parties and Organizations in Yemen, 1948-1993 (1994). She has recently been appointed by the Swiss Federal Council as a Member of the Federal Commission for Women’s Affairs.