About

Rehendhi is an underground feminist movement, led mostly by women, that fights against rising fundamentalism and the associated erosion of already scarce liberal attitudes towards women in our society. We reject overarching and untrue labels such as ‘Americanized’ or ‘Westernized.” We look at our own society and deduce that the suffering of women is directly linked to the strong patriarchal system that breeds harmful prejudices against women, such as their inferiority and servitude to men.

What do we do? We will respond to verbal, physical, psychological and other forms of attack against women that undermine women’s place and role in society. However, we work within a religious context as we are a Muslim community and we are practicing Muslims. Our goal is not to negate Quran, Hadith or Islamic principles, but to find women’s rightful place in society in which they can flourish and realize their true potential. We emphasize the fact that many feminists are Muslim Women. Working for women’s rights does not mean that one is not a pious and good Muslim.

Why are we doing this? It is already too late. Our objective is for women to fight and overcome the restraints placed on them by societal prejudices and norms. Sometimes, due to upbringing, formal education and mainstream predominant societal views, women themselves internalize such unfounded and unjustified views of inequality and ‘inherent inferiority’ of women compared to men. We refuse to tolerate any discrimination against women based on Islam and diffuse concepts such as ‘culture.’

How are we doing it? We are an underground feminist movement because at the end of the day we live in a society where the majority is not ready to accept equality between the sexes. We also live in a society that is increasingly adhering to stricter interpretations of the Islamic faith that snubs the notion of equality. We are up against ‘militant Muslims’ who will not hesitate to quell dissenting voices at any cost. They will not hesitate to use violence. More importantly, we want to remain anonymous because we want to be criticized for the issues we take rather than the length of our hijabs. Therefore, our work right now is taking public stances, through Rehendhi, on issues and incidents involving women. We do this in order to show solidarity and to let women know that we can get organized and work together. We will also focus on strengthening ourselves so that we can begin to work on ridding society of prejudices against women through education, awareness raising, increasing opportunities for higher education for young women, advocating for equal consideration and pay for women and other similar groups.