FROM CATHOLIC TO MUSLIM:

CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF GENDER ROLES IN A

BALIK-ISLAM MOVEMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES*

Vivienne S.M. Angeles

Introduction

Women wearing Islamic clothing have become a common sight in parts of the
Philippines that have been traditionally and overwhelmingly Catholic. One
explanation for this is the increasing number of Filipino Catholic women who
have converted to Islam. These women, with their conversion, have adopted
the Muslim way of dressing as well as new ways of looking at themselves
and their roles. This contribution focuses on the conversion experiences of
several Catholic women who are now part of the Islamic Studies Call and
Guidance (iscag), which is one of the many groups of Muslim converts.
These conversions constitute what is currently known as Balik Islam. I will
describe Balik Islam in some detail as a backdrop for our discussion of the
iscag women converts.
Studying and understanding the conversion of women is important
because the experience of conversion is extraordinarily powerful in its
effects on the lives of converts and on the lives of their families and friends
(Gallagher 1990:1). I recognize that the transformative aspect of religion can
help us understand how religion may promote or reinforce individual and
social stability or to induce individual and social transformation (Gallagher
1990:5). Studying women’s conversion can also help us comprehend specific
social, cultural, personal, and religious issues pertaining to women and
society.
To the best of my knowledge, only two studies have previously been
conducted on Filipino conversion to Islam. The first, by Luis Lacar, includes
male and female converts in Mindanao (Lacar 2001). The second is on Filipino

* An earlier version of this contribution was presented at the Seminar on Gender and

Islam in Southeast Asia at the University of Passau. I appreciate the comments of Prof. Dr.
Susanne Schröter. I am also thankful to Annette and Manolo Alcasabas who brought me to
Dasmarinas, Cavite for the interviews.
182 vivienne s.m. angeles

women working as domestic helpers in Hong Kong whose conversion to Islam

was precipitated by marriage to Pakistani Muslim men (Hawwa 2000). I have
not found previous work, so far, that focuses on the Balik Islam women in the
Philippines and how conversion has affected women’s perception of their
gender roles. This study hopes to make a contribution to the discourse on
the subject.
The major premises of this research are: First, Islam gave women converts
a new sense of identity and spiritual fulfilment that they did not find in
their previous religion. This new sense of identity has been facilitated by
the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos taking on employment in Middle
Eastern countries. In 2002 alone, 240,000 Filipinos went to Saudi Arabia where
job opportunities awaited them. Second, conversion brought about a new
perception of women’s roles as converts learned and delved into the teachings
of Islam. Third, this new perception led to a new form of relationship between
the women converts and their families and with the rest of Philippine society.
As stated earlier, since the women are members of the Islamic Studies Call
and Guidance (iscag) that is in turn a part of the Balik Islam movement
in the Philippines, I will first provide an introduction to the Balik Islam
before turning to the iscag women converts. Doing so will also provide us an
idea of the changing geographic distribution and composition of Philippine
Muslims.
This study of women’s conversion comes under several sub-topics. First, in
the section ‘On Becoming a Muslimah’, I will look at the process of conversion
to Islam and explore how life situations of women prior to their conversion
may have led to the change in religion. I will discuss how the women first
encountered Islam and how taking the shahada" 1 to seal the conversion
impacted on them. Second, in ‘Family Responses’, I will examine how family
members responded to the fact of their daughter’s conversion. Since the
women believe that they have ‘entered a new life’, their identities, as they
expressed, have also evolved so I will look at how this identity is manifested to
others. This will be the concern of the third section on ‘New Ways of Viewing
Themselves’. The fourth part, ‘Perceptions of Gender Roles’, will examine how
the women define their roles as Muslim women and whether they conform
to or differ from prevailing views on women’s roles in the predominantly
Catholic Philippines. The last section on ‘Religion and Transformation’ will
cover the question as to the effect of this new identity and definition of roles
on the women’s relationships, interaction with their own families and the

1 Testimony of the faith: ‘There is no god but God and Muhammad is the prophet of God.’