34 Facts About Fatema Mernissi

Fatema Mernissi was a Moroccan feminist writer and sociologist.

Fatema Mernissi was born on 27 September 1940 in Fez, Morocco.

Fatema Mernissi grew up in the harem of her affluent paternal grandmother along with various female kin and servants.

Fatema Mernissi received her primary education in a school established by the nationalist movement, and secondary level education in an all-girls school funded by the French protectorate.

Fatema Mernissi returned to work at the Mohammed V University in Rabat and taught at the Faculte des Lettres between 1974 and 1981 on subjects such as methodology, family sociology and psychosociology.

Fatema Mernissi is regarded as an influential feminist figure, as she was a renowned public speaker, scholar, teacher, writer, and sociologist.

Fatema Mernissi's most famous book as an Islamic feminist, The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Islam, is a quasi-historical study of the role of the wives of Muhammad.

Fatema Mernissi did sociological research for UNESCO and ILO as well as for the Moroccan government.

Fatema Mernissi's work has been cited as an inspiration by other Muslim feminists, such as those who founded Musawah and others.

In 1994, Fatema Mernissi published a fictional memoir, Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood.

Fatema Mernissi wrote extensively about life within harems, gender, and public and private spheres.

Fatema Mernissi compares the clothing size 6 to harems and states that these Western practices isolate and mistreat women.

Fatema Mernissi broke down the ethnocentric stereotypes Western society had developed towards Islam, especially Muslim women.

Fatema Mernissi distinguished Muslim women from the homogenized group of 'third-world women' that Western feminism had created.

Fatema Mernissi fought to overcome Western assumptions that Muslim women were helpless victims of both their religion and the men of their religion.

However, Fatema Mernissi pointed out that Muslim women were not victims of their religious practices any more than Western women were victims of the patriarchy; both groups of women were oppressed by specific social institutions within a religion or society created to profit from the marginalization of others.

Furthermore, Fatema Mernissi explained that Western women were veiled, just as Muslim women were, yet Western veils were much more discreet.

Fatema Mernissi argued that youth and beauty veiled Western women, and once a woman no longer had these, she was hardly recognized by society.

Fatema Mernissi broke down the ethnocentric approach Western Feminism had been utilizing and wrote to bring more clarity to the diversity necessary within the global Feminine movement.

Fatema Mernissi's legacy is revolutionary because she created a space within an initially predominantly Western movement that allowed Muslim women to participate without compromising their religious practices.

Fatema Mernissi's work highlighted how Western feminism could be detrimental to the empowerment of women around the globe if it lacked an intersectional approach to women's issues.

Fatema Mernissi's aim was to bring to light the significant contributions that women had made throughout early Islamic history and debunk the misconceptions about the absence of women as political and authoritative figures.

Fatema Mernissi was fundamental in contributing to the overall academic literature on women's visibility in Islamic history outside of their traditional roles by highlighting their involvement in politics, religion, and cultural change.

Fatema Mernissi discusses some of the most prominent issues to do with the status of Muslim women, such as the masking of women's contribution to the economies of Arab states.

Furthermore, Fatema Mernissi delves into different demographic, including education and literacy.

Fatema Mernissi uses this to help explain the importance of these factors not only for the empowerment of women in Islam, but for their health.

Fatema Mernissi ultimately argues that the freedom from these controlling traditions and expectations of women is the only way for the Arab world to develop.

Fatema Mernissi's work is extremely influential in Islamic feminism, intersectionality, and global feminism, by focusing on issues surrounding Muslim women in the Arab world.

Fatema Mernissi then suggests ways in which progressive Muslims, including feminists, who choose to advocate for democracy and resist fundamentalism should draw from the same sacred texts as those who seek to oppress them, in order to prove that Islam is not fundamentally against women.

Fatema Mernissi's works focus on providing a voice for oppressed and marginalized women.

Fatema Mernissi brings to light the contributions of women to the economy and acknowledges the roles that affect how females are viewed within Islamic cultures.

Fatema Mernissi uses historical religious research to make claims for her modern feminist stances.

In 2003, Fatema Mernissi was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award, along with Susan Sontag.

Fatema Mernissi tackled issues such as Eurocentrism, intersectionality, transnationalism and global feminism in her publications and public lectures.