AAUW Educational Foundation Changes Women's Lives

A couple of weeks ago I attended the 42nd SMU Women's Symposium. Our luncheon speaker was Dr. Asma Barlas, Associate Professor and Chair of Politics and interim director of the Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity at Ithaca College.

Dr. Barlas' book, "Believing Women" in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur'an, addresses sexism, patriarchy, misogyny, tradition, and reform, drawing on a diverse group of scholars but establishing her own voice and distinctive scholarly and Islamic position. She "rereads" thousands of years of interpretations of the Qur'an and convincingly asserts that the Qur'an affirms the complete equality of the sexes. This new view takes readers into the very heart of Islamic teachings on women, gender, patriarchy, allowing them to understand Islam through its most sacred scripture, rather than through Muslim cultural practices or Western media stereotypes.

This "groundbreaking piece of scholarship" is a huge step toward establishing equity for Muslim women and girls, and for that we in AAUW applaud her. But, more interesting and arguably more important, it was an AAUW International Fellowship which allowed Dr. Barlas to get her Ph.D. She came to the U. S. from Pakistan and AAUW was the only source of funding she could find for an international student. In the late 1980's, she receieved $10,000 from the Educational Foundation; this allowed her, a single mother, to quit her job and pay for daycare for her children so that she could dedicate her days to her study! She told me she would be forever grateful to AAUW!

This is only one example of the many ways women's lives are being changed by women who receive help from AAUW's Educational Foundation.