The practice, system, or ideology of maintaining separate quarters or social spaces for women, particularly in some Islamic and Middle Eastern cultures.
From Arabic 'haram' (forbidden/sacred) + '-ism' suffix. The term describes the institutionalization of harem practices as a cultural system.
The harem system varied wildly across history—Turkish harems were administrative centers with 400+ female staff who managed palace business, while popular Western imagination saw it as purely romantic, missing the actual political and economic power involved.
A Western scholarly/polemical term applied to Islamic societies, embedding Orientalist assumptions about women's segregation as inherent to Islam. The term itself reflects colonial intellectual frameworks rather than accurate description.
Avoid entirely; the term is more reflective of 19th-20th century Western critique than contemporary Islamic gender practice or scholarship.
["household organization in Islamic contexts","gender separation practices in specific historical periods"]
Muslim feminists have critiqued both Western Orientalism and patriarchal practices within their own traditions, centering women's agency rather than victimhood narratives.
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