Women's engagement with political Islam in Malaysia

Abstract

This essay delves into the engagement of Muslim women's groups with political Islam in Malaysia. It argues that a political Islam that has been seen to be broadly inimical to women's status and interest has been ameliorated by such an engagement. Furthermore, the plurality of Islamic engagement by women, ranging from pragmatists, communitarians to liberal‐feminists, has arguably led to a less than hegemonic Islamic order in Malaysia. Such engagement by Muslim women has concomitantly also contributed to a blunting of Malay‐Muslim dominance by exploding the myth of Malay consensus in the multiethnic political system.