‘Tell me about this society that you all belong to,’ urged Dot. ‘According to our Lucy, it’s some sort of feminist movement – is that right?’
‘I don’t think I’d call it a movement exactly,’ Tahira answered with a smile. ‘It’s more just a group of friends getting together. We’re trying to show that it’s possible to be a good Muslim and a feminist. There are far too many people – both Muslims and non-Muslims – who think that Islam requires women to submit to male authority, but it’s not like that at all.’
‘And how do the men feel about that?’ asked Dot innocently. ‘I don’t know about Muslim men, but I’m old enough to remember men complaining that women were stealing their jobs, and it wasn’t right allowing them to take work away from men with wives and families to support. When men are used to being in charge, they don’t always take kindly to women expecting to be treated equally.’
‘You’re dead right there!’ Tahira agreed vehemently. ‘You should have heard the fuss there was when I said I wanted to become an Imam! Even men who’d been on the side of letting men and women mingle together during Friday prayers started telling me I was being ridiculous. Some of them told me it would be counter-productive because no one would ever allow me to lead men in prayer, so it would end up with men and women praying in separate rooms again. And there were others who just said it was forbidden and started going on about men and women being equal but different and that it was like pretending that men could have babies or breast feed! Talk about tunnel vision! Sometimes I feel like I’m banging my head against a brick wall, I really do!’
‘I know how you feel,’ Dot smiled ruefully. ‘After the Second Vatican Council, I thought it was only a matter of time before we had women priests, but sixty years on, we don’t seem to have advanced an inch!’
‘That’s the patriarchy,’ Tahira said dogmatically. ‘It’s ingrained in practically every society. That’s why it’s so infuriating when people talk as if women are uniquely disadvantaged within Muslim communities.’
‘Well, I certainly hope that you succeed in your ambition,’ Dot said gravely. She raised her coffee cup as if proposing a toast. ‘And let’s hope you youngsters all live to see the first woman become Pope!’