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and highlight gender diversity within the public space of American Islamic institutions,
actively countering the idea that women are singularly oppressed within Islam.
Not all of CAIR's work has exclusively centered on public spaces. CAIR has occa-
sionally conducted advocacy work to reject Islamophobic discourses that claim Islam
and Muslims are by nature sexist and violent toward women. In one example of many
CAIRdocumentsproducedtoopposethesefrequentclaims,CAIRpublishedaresponse
to an article produced by a right-wing fringe group that claimed rape is condoned under
Islamic law (CAIR 2005c). The twenty-page CAIR publication is a thorough debunk-
ing of the right-wing report, with a point-by-point discussion of inaccuracies, much of
whichcenteredonthetreatmentofwomeninmosquesandwithinIslamictradition.This
report clearly focuses on the gendered issue of rape and does so in a way that impacts
private space. Additionally, CAIR does some work on gender discrimination, especially
when specific incidents are brought to its attention. Usually, CAIR's advocacy work on
gendered issues takes place within the overall framework of countering discrimination.
Most of this advocacy work centers around the interaction between Islamic theology,
practice, and gender. There is no record, however, showing that CAIR has frequently
engaged in a direct, proactive way with gendered issues articulated in private space: do-
mestic violence, sexual harassment, and rape.
The examples mentioned here represent nearly all of the substantive mentions of
advocacy work on gendered issues in the sample of documents covering a decade of
CAIR's public-facing activities. There are simply very few substantive mentions of
CAIR doing advocacy work around gendered issues, and no evidence of any sustained
advocacy campaign centered on domestic violence, sexual harassment, gendered dis-
crimination, or a similar issue.
This result is surprising. CAIR's reputation as an advocacy organization with a great
deal of grassroots support means that it would be expected to have programs and cam-
paigns dedicated to gendered issues that impact people of all religious backgrounds; for
example, domestic violence, sexual harassment, and so on. In interviews, I asked CAIR
staff about the role of gender in CAIR itself as well as within Muslim American com-
munities.
I aksed CAIR staff about the impact of gender in American Islamic institutions (in-
cluding CAIR) generally was described to me as a “controversial” issue that was “in
flux.” Everything from wearing hijab, to praying in separate sections often at the rear of
mosques, to appropriate contact with men, to the role of women outside the home were
seen as a matters up for debate among CAIR advocates. At the national headquarters of
CAIR,itseemsthatsomehadconservativeviewsontheappropriateroleforwomenthat
may have resulted in some difficulty for women working in the organization.
