Cassandra Balchin

Cassandra Balchin is the Chair of the Muslim Women's Network, UK. She was a journalist based in Pakistan for many years and was part of the network Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML). She is a freelance researcher, writer and human-rights advocacy trainer.

Development and religion: ambivalent policy, grounded practice

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

By Cassandra Balchin

/ 19 Jan 2012

Jewish. Orthodox. Feminist. Israeli.

Orthodox Jewish feminists may seem to outsiders to be a contradiction in terms. But as Cassandra Balchin discovers while talking with Israeli Orthodox Jewish feminist, Dr. Debbie Weissman, Jewish politics in Israel is anything but straightforward.

By Cassandra Balchin

/ 27 Apr 2011

Having our cake and eating it: British Muslim women

The arguments about family law rights in Britain's Muslim communities are bound up with racism and sexism. Those who have a political stake in being seen as the legitimate representatives of an essentialised Muslim community are part of this problem, says Cassandra Balchin

By Cassandra Balchin

/ 1 Feb 2011

Sitting in judgement: for men only?

As the move to appoint women judges in Muslim countries gathers pace, how far is this a guarantee of access to justice for women, especially in family law cases?

By Cassandra Balchin

/ 2 Aug 2010

A rose and a duck: labelling religious fundamentalisms

When it comes to religious fundamentalisms women's rights activists say Shakespeare was wrong: the way we name things does affect the way we engage with them. To address the phenomenon more effectively, it's better to use the duck test.

By Cassandra Balchin and Juan Marco Vaggione

/ 8 Jun 2010

Progressive male Muslim preachers: oxymoron or reality?

In their rush to find suitable allies to help control 'extremism', states as well as non-governmental organisations are often overlooking ordinary, individual male preachers who are taking a stand despite the risks it entails

By Cassandra Balchin

/ 3 May 2010

Why do women turn religious fundamentalists on?

The more I work on projects to research religious fundamentalisms and advocate for resistance and challenge to their absolutist and intolerant world vision, the fewer answers and the more questions I have

By Cassandra Balchin

/ 19 Apr 2010

Negotiating Bliss

The bliss of an egalitarian and just relationship between spouses cannot be achieved through a sheet of paper. But Cassandra Balchin writes that in Muslim contexts efforts to take a fresh look at marriage contracts is certainly a step towards this goal

By Cassandra Balchin

/ 8 Mar 2010

Last but not least: CEDAW and family law

When injustice in marriage and the family is such a pervasive experience for women and girls, why is family law largely invisible as a global policy issue? What are the prospects for last to no longer remain least?

By Cassandra Balchin

/ 18 Dec 2009

The wedding dress with attitude

Malians do a good line in combining fashion and public relations for the causes they care about. Fatoumata and Moussa didn’t just decide to get married under Mali’s new family code, they got married in it – literally

By Cassandra Balchin

/ 10 Dec 2009

Ugandan gays and Muslim women:a common struggle to redefine family

What have gay rights activists in Christian-majority Uganda and Muslim women fighting for family law reform in Asia got in common? You’d be surprised…

By Cassandra Balchin

/ 9 Nov 2009

Musawah: solidarity in diversity

"This was inspirational. I got the same goose bumps at the rally the day Mandela was released," grinned Waheeda Amien, a founder of Shura Yabfazi which works to

By Cassandra Balchin

/ 23 Feb 2009