Faith to Action Network

Global Conference on Women’s Rights in Islam (GCWRI)

Background to the Conference

The normative teachings of Islam recognize a woman and a man as equal in religious, family, social, and political responsibilities. The status of women in Islam is a pertinent issue in modern times especially due to the growing recognition of the nexus between religion and human rights.

Faith to Action Network (F2A), Al-Azhar University, and Muhammadiyah acknowledge that there are obstacles that have aided in the prejudice against gender equality in Islam. The distortion of religious texts, which has been used to legitimize discrimination, inequality, and the violation of women’s rights, is one of the obstacles. The blending of cultural and religious norms is another hindrance to women having equal rights. The lines separating cultural rituals from religious ones are frequently blurred in most societies, and vice versa. This ambiguity has been exploited to rationalize the denial of rights by pretending that they are supported by religion.

Faith to Action Network (F2A), Al-Azhar University, and Muhammadiyah have enabled the writing of theological and practical papers on various topics on women’s rights in Islam to provide opportunities for dialogue and to shed clarity on them.

Following the development of the papers, Faith to Action Network convened a series of dialogues in which authors from both theological and Muslim institutions presented and discussed the articles. The discussions were intended to compare how the topical issues addressed in the papers are presented in the Quran and how they are practiced or handled in various communities. The conversations invited participants from Muslim women networks, higher education institutions, civil society organizations, and Muslim faith-based organizations.

The global conference on women’s rights in Islam aims to meet the following objectives:

1. 1)

   To learn from one another’s experiences and share learnings in promoting women’s rights in Islam.

2. 2)

   To inspire each other to organize regional and international faith-based initiatives aimed at advancing women’s rights in Islam.

3. 3)

   To equip advocates of women’s rights with knowledge and information to fight for the promotion of women’s rights in Islam.

4. 4)

   To produce an outcome document to be used by faith-based advocates when targeting faith-inspired decision-makers in developing policies and strategies.

After the above process, a foundational document on women’s rights in Islam explaining the theological and practical justifications for each of the aforementioned subjects has been created. The document will be presented and launched during a Global Conference on Women’s Rights in Islam (GCWRI)

The publication will be used by faith leaders and scholars to reference and guide discussions with communities on women’s rights. It will also be used by faith-based advocates when targeting faith-inspired decision-makers in developing policies and strategies. Read more about the conference programme here »

Confirmed Speakers & Participants

Speakers of GCWRI are from Muhammadiyah leaders, Faith to Action Network, Rector, Authors from Al Azhar University, Authors from Muhammadiyah-‘Aisyiyah, Authors of practical papers, and other religious/faith scholars. Read more about the speakers here: https://aisyiyahstudies.org/the-speakers-of-gcwri/

The GCWRI’s participants consist of highly selected levels from Muslim theologians, Muslim intellectuals, representatives of Muhammadiyah and Aisyiyah universities, Muslim organizations, Muslim faith leaders, Muslim CSOs, leaders of women’s rights institutions in Indonesia, and other religious/faith scholars. The number is approximately 150-200 participants.