TCN series on Muslim women empowerment
On International Women’s Day on 8th March, TCN is bringing great stories of Muslim women empowerment from different states of India — Editor.
By Abdul Basith MA, TwoCircles.net,
Kozhikode: The political arena in Kerala seems far more male-dominated than elsewhere in India. In most other states when even cine artists find it easy to track their way into politics, Kerala seems like not encouraging such trends as well. Then how fortunate a Muslim woman should be — who was born to an orthodox Muslim family in the remotest of villages in Malappuram district of Kerala but fought her way to at first become an able lawyer and then an active politician!
Advocate Fathima Rosna [38] is now the Kerala State Mahila Congress Vice President and Kerala State Service Co-operative Examination Board member. Since 2004 she has been the state general secretary for Mahila Congress.
Fathima Rosna
She says it is a mammoth task for a Muslim woman to be a social worker in Kerala. She says that during those days a Muslim girl would get married at the age of 15 or 16; situation has changed with time and they are far more educated now. ‘Anyway I was lucky enough to stay single until 18’, she says. When her first child turned 18 months, she got enrolled for a law course and did complete her graduation in Law in the year 1995.
As it is not the righteous of ways to engage in social work leaving the family, she says support from the family is vital for a socially, politically engaged woman, that way too she was amongst those fortunate few as her family and husband extended full support to her endeavours.
She is so sad for her few Muslim women colleagues, who have immense passion for social and political works but are retarded from further engagements due to lack of family support. She says such women often seek for opportunities to peep into social or political activities, when their husbands are away.
“All men won’t possess the same nature and it is not just the case of politics; there will be attempts to exploit women, innate ability to recognise such exploitation and to deal with it, are two essential qualities women require badly, while engaging in political or social activities or any other spheres of life”, says Adv. Rosna.
In active politics or while engaging socially women should have independent views, way of thinking and working, with which she should be able to obtain her men crew’s support; otherwise when she is completely dependent on men her political career will end then and there, she says.
This she says because men will be recognising her, if she develops her own qualities. “Men will start respecting you when you have quality behaviour and morality. These way men will be ready to bring their sisters and wives into the political arena” Fathima suggested.
She says as a social worker for a Muslim woman it is not wise to be 100% feminist, especially because in Kerala men are extremely intolerant towards such an approach.