Asia Pacific Journal of Management

, Volume 25, Issue 1, pp 135–151 | Cite as

A context-specific perspective of equal employment opportunity in Islamic societies

Article
First Online:

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to offer a context-specific perspective of gender equality and its implications for equal employment opportunity in Islamic societies. The paper discusses various discourses on the Islamic perspective of gender and how they might impact female employment in the formal employment sector. The study highlights some major differences among Muslim countries with respect to gender ideology and the corresponding prospects for equal employment opportunity. Furthermore, the paper argues that any attempts to reform the socio-political institutions and labor policies in Islamic societies must be informed by their particular formal and informal institutional features.

Keywords

Equal employment opportunity Gender equality Islam Muslim women 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Afshar, H. 1993. Development studies and women in the Middle East: The dilemmas of research and development. In Afshar, H. (Ed.) Women in the Middle East: Perceptions, Realities, and Struggles for Liberation: 3–17. London: McMillan.Google Scholar
  2. Agocs, C., & Burr, C. 1996. Employment equity, affirmative action and managing diversity: Assessing the differences. International Journal of Manpower, 17: 30–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Ali, S. 2000. Gender and human rights in Islam and international law: Equal before Allah, unequal before men? The Hague: Kluwer Law International.Google Scholar
  4. An-Na’im, A. 1995. The dichotomy between religious and secular discourse in Islamic societies. In Afkhami, M. (Ed.) Faith and Freedom: Women’s Human Rights in the Muslim World: 51–60. London: Tauris.Google Scholar
  5. Badawi, J. 1971. The status of women in Islam. Al-lttihad, 8(2). http://www.islamfortoday.com/womensrightsbadawi.htm Accessed June 25, 2005.
  6. Baden, S. 1992. The position of women in Islamic countries: Possibilities, constraints and strategies for change. Report no. 4, BRIDGE institute of development studies. University of Sussex, UK.Google Scholar
  7. Badran, M. 2001. Understanding Islam, Islamism, and Islamic feminism. Journal of Women’s History, 13: 47–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Beck, D., & Davis, E. 2004. EEO: A political and organizational challenge. In Davis, E., & Pratt, V. (Eds.) Making the Link 15: Affirmative Action and Employment Relations: 1–7. Sydney: CCH Australia.Google Scholar
  9. Chamlou, N. 2004. Gender and Development in the Middle East and North Africa: Women in the Public Sphere. Advance Edition, World Bank.Google Scholar
  10. Coleman, I. 2004. Gender disparities, economic growth and Islamization in Pakistan. In Hathaway, R., & Lee, W. (Eds.) Islamization and the Pakistani Economy: Chapter 6. Washington, D.C: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.Google Scholar
  11. Connell, R. W. 1995. Masculinities. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
  12. Cox, T. 1994. A comment on the language of diversity. Organization, 1: 51–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Croutier, A. 1989. Harem: The world behind the veil. New York: Abbeville.Google Scholar
  14. DCHD (Democratic Commission for Human Development), 1996. Report on Human Rights Situation in Rural Communities in Pakistan. Lahore.Google Scholar
  15. De Cieri, H., & Kramar, R. 2003. Human resource management in Australia. Sydney: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
  16. Ehteshami, A. 2004. The delicate state of Muslim democracy. Global Agenda Magazine. http://www.globalagendamagazine.com/2004/anoushehteshami.asp Accessed August 21, 2005.
  17. Fletcher, G. 2002. In God’s image: The religious imperative of equality under law. Human Rights Review, 85–97 (January–March).Google Scholar
  18. Friedman, R., & Davidson, M. 2001. Managing diversity and second-order conflict. International Journal of Conflict Management, 12: 132–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Haddad, Y. 1998. Islam and gender: Dilemmas in the changing Arab world. In Haddad, Y, & Esposito, J. (Eds.) Islam, Gender and Social Change: 3–29, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
  20. Haghighat, E. 2005. Neopatriarchy, Islam and female labour force participation: A reconsideration. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 25: 84–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Hassan, R. 2001. Challenging the stereotypes of fundamentalism: An Islamic feminist perspective. Muslim World, 91: 55–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Hijab, N. 1988. Womanpower: The Arab debate on women at work. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
  23. Hirschkind, C., & Mahmood, S. 2002. Feminism, the Taliban, and the politics of counter-insurgency. Anthropological Quarterly, 75: 107–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Hofstede, G.. 1993. Cultural constraints in management theories. Academy of Management Executive, 7: 81–84.Google Scholar
  25. Holland, B. 1999. Not a knot over headscarves in Turkey. The Christian Science Monitor, June 22.Google Scholar
  26. HRW (Human Rights Watch) 2002. World report: Turkey. http://www.hrw.org Accessed November 16, 2004.
  27. Hussain, A. 1987. Status of women in Islam. Lahore: Law Publishing.Google Scholar
  28. Ibn Hanbal, A. 1950/1955. Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. Cairo: Dar Ihya’ al Kutub al Arabiyah.Google Scholar
  29. Ibn Majah 1952. Sunan Ibn Majah. Cairo: Dar Ihya’ al Kutub al Arabiyah.Google Scholar
  30. ILO (International Labour Organization) 1994. World labour report. Geneva: International Labour Office.Google Scholar
  31. Jain, H., & Verma, A. 1996. Managing workforce diversity for competitiveness: The Canadian experience. International Journal of Manpower, 17: 14–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Jalal, A. 1991. The convenience of subservience: Women and the state of Pakistan. In Kandiyoti, D. (Ed.) Women, Islam, and state: 77–114. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
  33. Johnson, A. G. 2005. The gender knot: Unraveling our patriarchal legacy. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
  34. Jones, D., Pringle, J., & Shepherd, D. 2000. Managing diversity meets Aotearoa/New Zealand. Personnel Review, 29: 364–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Kandiyoti, D., (Ed.) 1991. Women, Islam and the State. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
  36. Kazemi, F. 2000. Gender, Islam and politics. Social Research, 67: 453–474.Google Scholar
  37. Khan, N. 1989. Setting the Record Straight: Women Workers. Lahore: ASR.Google Scholar
  38. Lazreg, M. 1990. Feminism and difference: The perils of writing as a woman on women in Algeria. In Hirsch, M., & Keller, E. (Eds.) Feminist studies: 14: 81–107.Google Scholar
  39. Liff, S. 1997. Two routes to managing diversity: individual differences or social group characteristics. Employee Relations, 19: 11–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. McDougall, M. 1996. Equal opportunities versus managing diversity: Another challenge for public sector management. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 9: 62–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  41. Mernissi, F. 1975. The regulation of female sexuality in the Muslim social order. In Mernissi, F. (Ed.) Beyond the veil. Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publishing.Google Scholar
  42. Mernissi, F. 1996. Women’s rebellion and Islamic memory. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
  43. Minault, G. 1997. Women, legal reform and Muslim identity. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 17(2).Google Scholar
  44. Naqvi, J. 2003. Towards equal employment opportunities. Daily The Nation, Business Pages, Lahore, July 28.Google Scholar
  45. NCTAUS (National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States) 2004. The 9/11 commission report. Washington, DC.Google Scholar
  46. Norris, P., & Inglehart, R. 2001. Cultural obstacles and equal representation. Journal of Democracy, 12(3): 126–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  47. Özbilgin, M. 2002. The way forward in equal opportunities by sex in employment in Turkey and Britain. Management International, 7: 55–65.Google Scholar
  48. Patel, R. 1991. Socio-economic political status, and women and law in Pakistan. Karachi: Faiza.Google Scholar
  49. Prophet Muhammad’s Last Sermon, 2004. http://www.therevival.co.uk/prophet/last_sermon.htm Accessed September 6.
  50. Qur’an. English Translation of the Holy Qur’an, by Abdullah Yusufali, http://www.wam.umd.edu/~stwright/rel/islam/Quran.html Accessed October 5, 2003.
  51. Rosenzweig, P. 1994. When can management science research be generalized internationally? Management Science, 40: 28–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  52. Roudi-Fahimi, F., & Moghadam, V. 2003. Empowering women, developing society: Female education in the Middle East and North Africa. Washington, D.C.: Population Reference Bureau.Google Scholar
  53. Said, E. 1978. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Book.Google Scholar
  54. Said, E. 2001. Islam and the West are inadequate banners. The Observer, September 16.Google Scholar
  55. Shaheed, F. 1995. Networking for change: the role of women’s groups in initiating dialogue on women’s issues. In Afkhami, M. (Ed.) Faith and Freedom: Women’s Human Rights in the Muslim World: 78–103. London: Tauris.Google Scholar
  56. Sharabi, H. 1988. Neopatriarchy: A theory of distorted change in Arab society. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
  57. Stanfield, J. 1994. Ethnic modeling in qualitative research. In Denzin, N., & Lincoln, Y. (Eds.) Handbook of Qualitative Research: 175–188. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
  58. Syed, J. 2008. From transgression to submission: Implications of moral values and societal norms on emotional labour. Gender, Work and Organization. (in press).Google Scholar
  59. Syed, J., & Ali, F. 2005a. Minority ethnic women in the Australian labour market. In Davis, E., & Pratt, V. (Eds.) Making the Link 16: Affirmative Action and Employment Relations: 48–54. Sydney: CCH Australia.Google Scholar
  60. Syed, J., & Ali, F. 2005b. The contextual dimension of emotional labour and working women in Pakistan. Paper presented at the Annual meeting of the Academy of Management, Honolulu, August 5–10.Google Scholar
  61. Syed, J., Ali, F., & Winstanley, D. 2005. In pursuit of modesty: Contextual emotional labour and the dilemma for working women in Islamic societies. International Journal of Work, Organization and Emotion, 1: 150–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  62. Syed, J. & Murray, P. 2006. The participation of women in multidisciplinary action teams. In Davis, E., & Pratt, V. (Eds.) Making the Link 17: Affirmative Action and Employment Relations: 65–72. Sydney: CCH Australia.Google Scholar
  63. Syed, J., & Özbilgin, M. 2006. Achieving gender equity in Pakistani organizations: Lessons from Turkey. Paper presented at Industrial Relations in Europe Conference, Ljubljana, August 31–September 2.Google Scholar
  64. Teicher, J., & Spearitt, K. 1996. From equal employment opportunity to diversity management: The Australian experience. International Journal of Manpower, 17: 109–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  65. Thomas, R. Jr. 1990. From affirmative action to affirming diversity. Harvard Business Review, March–April, 107–117.Google Scholar
  66. Tolbert, P., Graham, M., & Andrews, A. 1999. Group gender composition and work group relations. In Powell, G. (Ed.) Handbook of Gender at Work: 179–202. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
  67. Tsui, A. 2004. Contributing to global management knowledge: A case for high quality indigenous research. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 21: 491–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  68. UNDP (United Nations Development Program) 2003. Arab human development report 2003. http://www.undp.org Accessed August 25, 2004.
  69. UNDP 2004. Human development report: Cultural liberty in today’s diverse world. New York: UNDP.Google Scholar
  70. UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social commission for Asia and the Pacific) 1999. Empowerment of women in Asia and the Pacific, 55th session, Bangkok, April 22–28.Google Scholar
  71. USDOS (United States Department of State) 2001. Fact sheet: Women and girls in Afghanistan. Washington, DC: Office of the Senior Coordinator for International Women’s Issues.Google Scholar
  72. Wadud, A. 1992. Quran and women. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
  73. Webb, G. 2000. Introduction: May Muslim women speak for themselves, please? In Webb, G. (Ed.) Windows of Faith: Muslim Women Scholar—Activists in North America: xi–xix. New York: Syracuse University Press.Google Scholar
  74. Williams, K., & O’Reilly, C. 1998. Demography and diversity in organizations: A review of 40 years of research. Research in Organizational Behavior: 77–140, Greenwich, CT: JAI.Google Scholar
  75. Winter, B. 2001. Fundamental misunderstandings: Issues in feminist approaches to Islamism. Journal of Women’s History, 13: 9–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  76. WLUML (Women Living Under Muslim Laws), 1986. Plan of action. Aramon.Google Scholar
  77. Youssef, N. 1974. Women and work in developing societies. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
  78. Zia, R. 1999. Equal opportunities and the education system in Pakistan. Lahore Journal of Economics, 4(2): 119–126.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Kent Business SchoolUniversity of KentCanterburyUK

Personalised recommendations