This week, Faith to Action Network is taking part in the Global Conference on Women’s Rights in Yogyakarta- Indonesia. The conference comes at a time when debate on the role of faith spaces in advancing women’s rights continues to ignite diverse thoughts and opinions. This conference hosted together with Al-Azhar University from Cairo-Egypt, Muhammadiyah and the Assiyah Studies Center at the University of Yogyakarta in Indonesia brings together over 200 participants from Egypt, the United States, England, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Netherlands, Palestine, Kenya, Lesotho, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia, Congo, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Togo, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, South Sudan, and Lebanon.
The organization of the conference demonstrates its convening power and network advantage to bring different actors across inter-faith and intra-faith spaces to address pressing global challenges.
Speaking during the opening ceremony, Peter Munene the Chief Executive Officer of Faith to Action Network acknowledged the timeliness of the women’s rights discourse in faith spaces as it connects towards efforts aimed at meeting SDG 5 on gender equality.
The Secretary General of Muhammadiya Prof. Abdul Mukti enriched the conversation by noting the progressive perspectives from various religious scholars that promote human dignity, and women’s rights.
According to Cannon Grace Kaiso, the Chair of the Faith to Action steering council, the conference is a testament that inter-faith spaces offer the world the best platform to engage in difficult conversations or rather hold conversations on difficult subjects that impact the well-being of people and their environment. “By choosing to engage with contemporary issues, gender justice climate change, artificial intelligence, and economic instability, Faith to Action Network is demonstrating that for us to realize our aspirations as those in the SDGs, there is need for collective effort. Men and Women need to be equipped and must tackle the barriers that decimate our efforts.”
To anchor the conversations in the correct context, Faith to Action commissioned the writing of theological and practice papers on six topics. All papers went through a thorough review process. After the review, six virtual dialogues were held (one for each topic) spaced within one year. During virtual dialogues, participants gave input to the final texts to launch the publication with the papers that speak on the correct position of Islam on contemporary issues.
Download the full programme here: https://aisyiyahstudies.org/the-rundown-of-gcwri/ and you can follow the conversation live here: https://youtube.com/live/7vmUWMwjpmw?feature=share
