Global and Regional Aspects of Islamization: A Case Study on Women in the Public Space of the North Caucasus

Journal of Globalization Studies. 2026. Vol. 17. No. 1. P. 145–156.

Shishkina A., Issaev L.

This article is aimed at discussing the global and regional aspects of Islamic modernization. The study discusses the transformation of ideas about the role of women in the public space by the case study on the North Caucasus. The attitudes of traditional society, the influence of Soviet power, the role of Islamization, both early and post-Soviet, as well as the inclusion of women in Islamic education are studied. The initial spread of Islam did not deprive women of social and political rights; on the contrary, it organically fit the existing social and political status of women into the Islamic legal tradition. The Soviet system was focused on the inclusion of women in public sphere, while at the same time there was a suppression of all types of religiosity. As a consequence of the collapse of the USSR, a situation arose in which the processes of re-Islamization led to the exclusion of women from public sphere. The authors come to the conclusion that the ‘new’ wave of Islamization of the North Caucasus republics bears in itself a truly new phenomenon – the closure of women within the private sphere, contrary to historical experience – a phenomenon which occurred simultaneously with the rapid urbanization and informatization of the society of the North Caucasus. Basing on the data of field research conducted in the republics of the North Caucasus in 2019 and 2022, it is concluded that in the post-Soviet period an important role is played by Islamic education institutions which contributed to women's inclusion in the public space.

Keywords: Islam, women, traditional society, Islamic education, the North Caucasus