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This essay aims to explain how the Egyptian people are afected by British

colonial. And how patriarchy maintains its power amongst amilies and

communities. Additionally it will look at how patriarchy maniests itsel in the

book Palace Walkand the efects o its culture on two characters and the

impact that power relations have in the characters ability to selactualise. !t will

look at secular and religious challenges to patriarchy by !slamic intellectuals"

activists and reormers.

#erner $%&'() describes patriarchy as a historic creation by men and women

taking almost *+,, years to complete and gender being something that was

created. By using women or their sexual and reproductive reasons women

became a valuable commodity to man as much as land did. They became traded

or bought and used or sexual services with their children conse-uently

becoming owned by their master. omen o con-uered tribes became enslaved

/rst and the men killed and by doing this men then also learned how to enslave

the men rom these groups and later on men and women rom their own

societies. 0Thus the enslavement of women, combining both racism and sexism

preceded the formation of classes and class oppression. By the time o the

second millennium young daughters o poor amilies became sold into marriage

or prostitution. The men that had a greater wealth commanded a higher price or

their daughter1s" which then brought more /nancial gains to the amily. here

debts could not be paid a husbands wie or children became used to pay of

debtors. arriors rom this time used their powers over women to con-uer tribes

and by doing this they set precedence or uture warriors in separating

diferences between the con-uered and the con-uerors. They learned how to use

power over people rom the /rst exchange o women. 2rom this came class

dominance exploiting men or work and women or work but also women or

sexual services and or child bearing. omen rom higher classes were still

controlled by men sexually and reproductively but would gain other privileges.

3en and women became dominated by whoever owned the means o

production or example land" businesses and property" namely men. These men

then received services $sexual and reproductive) rom women o their own class

and also those o a lower class. 4hildren of the women rom the lower classes

became owned by these men and were used as slaves" sold of or traded.omen only had access to resources or class through men and namely their

athers and their husbands" breaking rules meant they could be declassed. 3ost

single women were dependent on a male in some way" although some women

went to convents or other places. 2rom the 5econd 3illennium B.4 men who

were exploited and dominated by other men by the state then held dominance

over their amilies. 0Male famil heads allocated the resources of societ to their

families the wa the state allocated the resources of societ to them

The sexual behaviour o people in all societies was a orm o social control rom

*,,,B4. The amily became a replica o the state and constantly reinorced. 2or

patriarchy to survive it needs the cooperation o women. A lack o education"


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withholding knowledge o women1s history to women and by making access to

resources hard to reach or women are ways o ensuring their cooperation .

6ther actors to be considered are by using women1s sexual activities to cause a

division rom one another and class privileges given to women who conorm.

omen have lived mainly unknowingly under patriarchy or nearly 7,,, years.

omen were given protection and economic help and in return became

subordinates in all areas or example8 sex services and ree domestic

services.Their unknowingness o their history is one o the biggest ways o

women being controlled by men. #erner $%&'().

9atriarchy is something which exists but difers between all societies. By looking

at patriarchy in a political light it can be seen how the oppression o women is

upheld by power o government. !deological conditioning is one way o how this

power is upheld. 5ociali:ation o male and emales which is suited to avour

males is how the conditioning is gained to keep patriarchy running smoothly.

The amily is the unit in which its members are ruled by power o government" by

the sociali:ation o sexes rom birth the amily actually helps to patriarchy keep

its position by helping its young to conorm to what is expected o them. The

amily" the larger society and the state are all connected and are the main three

patriarchal institutions and where patriarchy through the state keeps control o

its people through the head o the amily so the amily becomes a replica o the

larger society" 3illet $%&;%).

awad is the husband and ather o the

patriarchal household who use rules and ear to hold power over the entire

amily" whilst also contradicting himsel by breaking his own rules or his own

bene/t. Amina is the wie and would have to obey her husband on every matter.

#iving most o her lie in isolation Amina had been orbidden to leave the house

or a ull twenty /ve years. aking early each morning to help her husband

dress" she would then go about preparing breakast to be served on the top ?oor

o the house8 this ?oor was to be used predominantly by the males in the

household. Amina would stand on duty awaiting instruction by her husband. This

experience or the male children was always a tense and nerve wracking and theonly part o the day in which the sons were together with their ather. Their

ather would strictly examine each o them looking or some ault" where they

would then be seriously reprimanded. 6nce the ather let the house or work the

atmosphere would dramatically change" this would be met with relie" leaving

each o them to be able to talk" laugh" sing or play ree rom ear. This would be

the start o a typical day in the household" the male sons would then head out to

work or school leaving Amina and her daughters doing daily chores.

The daughters would then become ruled by the mother" who would divide the

chores that needed to be completed or the day" although the mother would

show love and kindness more than anything else. Aminas day would /nally end


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when she would greet and serve her husband ater his nightly trips out

socialising and drinking with riends unaware o his involvement with other

women.Amina had showed an ob@ection to these nites out early on in the

marriage with al sayyidsresponse being to grab her by the ears and say 0 !m a

man. ! am the one who commands and forbids. ! will not accept an criticism of

m behaviour. "ll ! ask of ou is to obe me. #ont force me to discipline ou.

9atriarchy would also show its orm in much other stronger ways. The ather

would have control over any marriage or his children. Both daughters unable to

show themselves to any other male would have their choice o partner made or

them. A marriage proposal would come rom the amily o any uture husband

and the decision o whether to accept or decline would be made by the ather.

6nce the daughters were married they then escaped the control o their ather

but would then become under the control o their husband and their new inlaws.

3ahmmod $%&(*) researched six women1smos-ues across Egypt anddid an

overview o three o them. 5he ound that all though they all had diferences

such as the ages o women who attended" dress codes and their social

background they all shared the view o a worry o an increase in seculari:ation o

Egyptian society. The women attending these mos-ues mainly viewed

seculari:ation as something that had happened to where !slam has become

nothing more than a set o belies that has no actual impact on the way in which

people conduct their lives. !n the process o this happening some viewed !slam

as becoming more westernised caused by modern government policies. The

women1s mos-ue movement came about to help women wishing to return to

living their lives in all areas according to !slamic principles and keeping their

cultural identity.a@@a 5amira a religious woman teacher expresses her concerns

in this way $%urrentl, religion seems to have become separated from the texts

or scriptures &nusus', especiall in issues of mu amalat &commercial and social

transactions'. The challenge that we face as Muslims right now is how to

understand and follow the example of the Prophet, how to act according to the

(uaran and the hadith in our dail lives&biimilbil)hadith wil)*urani++a'. "ll of

us Muslims know the basics of religion &al)din', such as praing, fasting, and

other acts of worship &ibadat'. ut the di-cult *uestion is how to make our dail

lives congruent with our religion while at the same time moving with the world

&muharrikina a id)dina', especiall given that the present period is one of great

change and transformation. or me, proselti+ation &da wa' means doing it from

within ordinar acts and practicalities &amaliat', and translating worship

&ibada' into everda practices so that these are alwas directed toward /od

&fahmil)ibadakulluittagihilallah'.3ahmood also describes o how mos-ue

activities have grown ast over the last twenty years and that the government

have tried to regulate these activities out o a ear o them being used to

promote critical views o the state whilst putting an end to militant !slamic

threat.

Badram $*,,&" describes eminism in !slam as something which has causedconusion to many in the est who have denied its existence or used 3uslims


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women1s oppression as something which @usti/es colonial or neocolonial

intrusion. 5ome 3uslims see eminism as another way o becoming esternised

and is viewed as an attack on their culture and not in line with their religion.

research has been shown though to prove that eminism which has been called

5ecular or !slamic eminism is something in which 3uslim women have

themselves created and not something that is estern. 5ecular eminism is

something that came about more as a social movement looking more at human

rights regardless o religion" and ocusing on education" work issue and amily

roles. 5ecular eminism though did not take on board the construction o the

patriarchal amily when looking at amily law to be reormed. !slamic eminism

was based more on !slamic interpretation and o analysis o the Curan and have

argued that the patriarchal amily is not in line with womens e-uality and human

rights that are main Curanic values.

!brahim $*,,;) a leading spokesman or democracy and human rights in the Arab

world says to understand !slamic thinking today an historical approach must be

used by understanding three main things. By understanding !slam as something

that came to very old societies it became mixed with other cultures over the

course o a century which then in turn changed again which has lasted right up

until now. The second thing is that understanding that every child rom every

generation learns through history books that this /rst century o !slam was the

most glorious time and a revival o that era o civilisation to return are how the

3uslim Brothers" e:bollah" amas and Al Cuada have come about. The third

thing is the -uestion that 3uslims have struggled to agree an answer on is the

-uestion o why the est has progressed so much whilst they haven1t. They

have been presented with three answers. 6ne answer is that they must go right

back to pure religion" a second answer is that they didn1t keep up with the est

and were then con-uered so they must try to be like the est. The third answer

is that they don1t need to do either but they could combine the best o both as in

using both modernity and the best o their early heritage" culture and tradition.

The !slam Deormation pro@ect is something that was started by !braham ater

&%%. 6ne thesis that has been put across is the theory that although the Foran is

based upon reedom" democracy" gender e-uality and human rights !slamic

thought has not been updated or changed or one thousand years. The reason

or this being that religious authority1s shutdown !@tihad which is the

reinterpretation o the text and said it was the oreign pressure upon !slam was

the reason. !t is thought that by reinterpreting the text it would then be elt as

being controlled by the est. The !slamic reormation pro@ect has asked !slamic

thinkers rom across the world to think about this statement 09lease" as you read

the Foran and the basic heritage o !slam" develop *%stcentury !slamic answers

that will help keep our youngsters to be aithul to their religion and their

heritage but also help them to live in the *%stcentury as ull partners" not as

enemies and not as warriors.


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Bibliography


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%ome 0eptember K Arundhati Doy" #ensic 9erorming Arts 4enter.

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