Rescuing gender equality from the false dichotomies of secularism versus shariah in Muslim majority countries Jawad Syed a , Mustafa Özbilgin b , Dilek Torunoglu c , Faiza Ali d a Kent Business School, University of Kent, UK b Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, UK c Yeditepe University, Turkey d Department of Business, Macquarie University, Australia article info synopsis Available online xxxx This article presents a macro-national perspective of gender equality in employment in two Muslim majority countries, Turkey and Pakistan. The article examines and compares the institutional implications of secularism and Islamic shariah for gender equality in employment in the two countries. Drawing on case studies of a selection of influential public and private sector organizations engaged in promoting and implementing gender equality in Turkey and Pakistan, the article argues that secularism and shariah as dominant ideologies present poor agendas for gender equality. Indeed, secularism and shariah hijack gender equality discourses paying only partial lip service to genuine demands for equality. The article argues that there is a need to rescue gender equality from the clasp of ideology and bring in genuine processes of equal opportunity and social justice in the workplace. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Despite a great deal of attention to gender relations in Islam and Muslim societies (e.g. Ahmed, 1982; Ahmed, 1992; Fargues, 2005; Haddad, 1984; Mernissi, 1987; Mir-Hosseini, 2000), gender equality in employment in Muslim majority countries (MMCs) remains under-explored (Syed, 2008a). International statistics on women's participation in economic activities, their income levels, and proportions in decision making positions in organizations suggest that women in MMCs remain largely disempowered and disadvantaged within employment con- texts. For example, the United Nations' Human Development Report (UNDP, 2004) revealed that MMCs have a long way to go to women's empowerment; MMCs being firmly placed at the bottom of the index with an average rank of 69.4 amongst the total 78 countries evaluated on Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) (UNDP, 2005: 356). 1 This article examines the status of gender equality at the interface of religious and secular ideologies at work in two MMCs, Turkey and Pakistan. Secularism is the state ideology in Turkey whereas Islam is the state religion of Pakistan. We report findings of our case studies in ten influential public and private sector organizations involved in gender equality in employ- ment in both countries. We also review secondary literature on gender equality in MMCs. Drawing on empirical data and secondary review, we demonstrate that secularism and shariah hijack gender equality agendas, rendering them vacuous dis- courses. We argue that there is a need to rescue gender equality from the clasp of ideology and bring in genuine processes of equal opportunity and social justice in the workplace. We deem this comparative study useful because of three key reasons. First, Turkey and Pakistan represent two ends of the spectrum because of their divergent ideological and socio- political foundations, i.e., Turkey as a secular state and Pakistan as an Islamic republic. Second, departing from the traditional emphasis on gender relations in the Arab Middle East, these two countries represent non-Arab MMCs, hence this study produces some new insights, illustrating the diversity of the Muslim majority topography. Finally, there is ample evidence that issues of gender equality (or lack thereof) in these countries are in need of urgent attention. For example, in terms of GEM, Pakistan and Turkey are ranked at the 71st and the 76th positions respectively. 2 There is a very low female economic activity in the formal sector in Women's Studies International Forum xxx (2009) xxx–xxx WSIF-01268; No of Pages 13 0277-5395/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2009.03.007 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Women's Studies International Forum journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wsif ARTICLE IN PRESS Please cite this article as: Syed, J., et al., Rescuing gender equality from the false dichotomies of secularism versus shariah in Muslim majority countries, Women's Studies International Forum (2009), doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2009.03.007