Religion Gender Politics

Religion Gender Politics - prospects for equality and pluralism

In the wake of the popular protest and transition sweeping through the Arab world and beyond, there is growing concern as to whether the equality of purpose shown in the mass demonstrations will be turned into equality on the ground. How will the interests of women, of youth and of minorities be accommodated in the emerging regimes? What is the significance of the 'Arab spring' for other countries in transition? And as the Occupy movements spread in the west, what are the prospects for pluralism and social justice?


Wednesday 1st February

Taking the Pope to court

Shareen Gokal, 1 February 2012
In a landmark effort to bring Vatican officials, including Pope Benedict XVI, to account for crimes against humanity - the widespread and systematic sexual violence perpetrated by the Catholic Church, a case has been filed with the International Criminal Court. Shareen Gokal reports
Monday 30th January

Algeria: reform or securitization of civil society?

Mélissa Rahmouni, 30 January 2012
While most of the world attention has been focused elsewhere, the early days of 2012 have seen a series of strikes and protests in Algeria. Is this the long awaited Algerian awakening?
Tuesday 24th January

Why women are at the heart of Egypt’s political trials and tribulations

Hania Sholkamy, 24 January 2012
The Egyptian elections delivered a parliament that has one of the lowest rates of female representation in the world. Yet this is the parliament that expresses the political will of the people of Egypt. It may also be one that ignores the social realities of gender and of women’s political participation, says Hania Sholkamy
Monday 23rd January

Egyptian women: performing in the margin, revolting in the centre

Zainab Magdy, 23 January 2012
"We are constantly aware of our gender and of being watched and judged because of it, so we end up "performing". But in taking to the streets there are no performative acts and there is no audience. Now I feel that there is no going back, After all, there is no text to follow, and no director. It is as it has always been: us and them", says Zainab Magdy
Friday 20th January

The Great Partnership: multiculturalism, faith and citizenship

Robin Llewellyn, 20 January 2012
Do the supposedly civilised values of human rights and responsible citizenry become exclusionary, used to divide rather than unite? Is religion a partner of liberty? On the day the British parliament considers a bill proposing the banning of headscarves in public places, Robin Llewellyn reviews Jonathan Sacks' ‘The Great Partnership: God, Science, and the Search for Meaning’
Thursday 19th January

Development and religion: ambivalent policy, grounded practice

Cassandra Balchin, 19 January 2012
Development policy seems to swing between a Marmite-style love-it-or-hate-it approach to religion. Yet practice on the ground is more subtle—and more effective. Cassandra Balchin suggests why this gap exists between policy and practice
Tuesday 10th January

The Saudi response to the ‘Arab spring’: containment and co-option

Madawi Al-Rasheed, 10 January 2012
Saudi Arabia’s response to the ‘Arab spring’ has been an attempt to co-opt movements for change in a bid to maintain the status quo. Madawi Al-Rasheed talks to Deniz Kandiyoti about the contradictions of a ruling elite that promotes a conservative Islam, that threatens women’s existing rights abroad – as in Tunisia and Egypt – while it poses as the emancipator of women at home
Saturday 31st December

We may be stateless but we are not voiceless

Mona Kareem, 31 December 2011
The stateless in Kuwait have been trapped in poor conditions for two decades. The Arab Spring has provided hope that at long last their voices might be heard.
Friday 23rd December

Women in the new Libya: challenges ahead

Kathryn Spellman-Poots, 23 December 2011
Will the rights of the women, who participated in the struggles leading to fall of Gaddafi, be put under pressure in the new Libya? Kathryn Spellman-Poots assesses women’s status under Gadaffi and points to the perils ahead.
Thursday 22nd December

Egyptian storytelling: a vessel for power

Zainab Magdy, 22 December 2011
Writing has come to mean place and presence, and presence gives us power to force those who don't acknowledge our existence to admit that they can hear the sound of our breath, says the young Egyptian writer Zainab Magdy
Tuesday 20th December

The second Egyptian revolution: millions of Egyptians have left their homes

Nawal El Saadawi, 20 December 2011
The renowned Egyptian feminist writer, activist, physician, and psychiatrist wrote from the eye of the storm on November 25, 2011. This text is published in cooperation with the Norwegian weekly Ny Tid and it's "Voices without borders" project.
Monday 12th December

Occupy: you can’t evict an idea

Ruth Rosen, 12 December 2011
The Occupy movement has changed the national conversation in America, and challenged the rightward tilt of the political landscape with its clear message that wealth inequality is incompatible with democracy, says Ruth Rosen

The Occupy movement and the women of Greenham Common

Rebecca Johnson, 12 December 2011
Feminist experience and input into the theory and practice of nonviolence has much to offer a new generation of grassroots Occupy activists. Rebecca Johnson reflects on the lessons of the successful Greenham Common protest
Monday 28th November

Religion, gender and migration: beyond 'obedience vs agency’

Chloé Lewis, 28 November 2011
It is time that debates surrounding religion and migration in the UK move beyond the almost monolithic focus on Islam, recognising the multiple and fluid ways in which religion shapes, and is in turned shaped by, experiences of migration, says Chloé Lewis
Monday 21st November

The spread of female Islamic leadership

Masooda Bano and Hilary Kalmbach, 21 November 2011
As increasing numbers of articulate women use Islamic sources to defend varying ways of life, they are challenging western feminist models, at least in name and quite often in substance, making detailed study of the full range of female Islamic leadership crucial, say Masooda Bano and Hilary Kalmbach
Thursday 10th November

Citizen action and the perverse confluence of opposing agendas

Lisa Veneklasen, 10 November 2011
When opposing political interests are using the same terms and tactics in diametrically opposed agendas, Lisa Veneklasen asks how we can transform the power of citizen action into sustained change for justice and equality
Wednesday 9th November

The "Turkish model" : for whom?

Pinar Ilkkaracan, 9 November 2011
In the aftermath of the Arab spring the “Turkish model” is being held out as an optimistic scenario for democratisation with an Islamic framework. In conversation with Deniz Kandiyoti, women’s rights and gender activist Pinar Ilkkaracan puts Turkey’s record under scrutiny - and finds it wanting
Wednesday 2nd November

Egypt: the battle over hope and morale

Hoda Elsadda, 2 November 2011
The deliberate attempt to discredit women's rights by associating them with the ex- first lady Suzanne Mubarak is a key challenge for women's rights activists in Egypt, so too is the battle not to surrender to the prophets of doom and gloom, Hoda Elsadda tells Deniz Kandiyoti
Tuesday 25th October

Tunisia: Feminist Fall?

Kristine Goulding, 25 October 2011
Nine months after the overthrow of the former president, Tunisia has voted in the first open and fair election in the region. In the final part of a three part article Kristine Goulding argues that if a 'feminist fall' does not come to fruition, it will be because the citizens of Tunisia have shown democratically that feminism is not consummate on their agenda.

Tunisia: Arab Spring, Islamist Summer

Kristine Goulding, 25 October 2011
Tunisia has voted in the first open and fair election in the region. In part two of a three part article Kristine Goulding warns against framing Islamism in direct opposition to women's rights. The Arab Spring redefined the roles of both women and the Islamist al-Nahda, and the two cannot be seen as mutually exclusive
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