Women and faith (2007)

In recent years, many incidences of violence against women framed in a religious context have littered the media. These include incidences of so-called honour based violence and the war in Afghanistan. In these examples organisations with religious affiliations have played important roles in speaking out against violence women and have added a much-need perspective to the religious arguments for these incidences.

In September 2003, a 16 year old Kurdish Muslim girl was murdered by her father after he discovered her relationship with her Christian boyfriend. In a statement issued to the BBC, the Muslim Council of Great Britain stated that 'Islam categorically does not allow people to kill their own daughter'. The Kurdistan Refugees Women's Organisation also condemned the killing, saying, "No-one has the right to kill women under any name, whether it is God or culture." (BBC)

Nadia Yassine, an Islamic women's rights activist from the Islamic group Justice & Charity, a group outlawed in Morocco, has called for a re-interpreting of the Islamic tradition that involves women in the process as, "Muslims have inflicted a terrible injustice on women in the name of Islam." Perhaps the most extreme example in recent years has been in Afghanistan after the Taliban imposed rule of 'pure' Islamic law. Women were banned from having jobs and from going to school. They were made to wear the burka and were not allowed outside their houses unless they were accompanied by men. One woman was beaten in the street because her son fell seriously ill and she could not wait until her husband came home to take him to a hospital.

There are many groups that work to support women with religious affiliations that are suffering from violence and abuse, such as Jewish Women's Aid, NSO's Sikh Women's Support Group and Amina - the Muslim Women's Resource Centre in Scotland. This explicitly shared understanding can be more comforting to victims that draw strength from their faith.

After periods of conflict, such as wars fought on the basis of religion, it is often the women that lead the way into creating peaceful partnerships.

Women for Women International (WWI) is an NGO that works with women in conflict and post-conflict situations. In 2000, against the post-war backdrop that ravaged Bosnia and Herzegovina and led to so-called 'ethnic cleansing' tactics including rape, WWI opened an office in Busovaca. Before the war, the town's population was equally Catholic and Muslim with a small Serbian Orthodox population. The Muslim population fled during the war. As they slowly returned, divisions solidified with Muslim children being educated and receiving medical attention in another town and Catholic children from neighbouring towns coming to Busovaca. WWI invited all women, regardless of religion, to take part in rights awareness, leadership skills and vocational skills training. They also learnt about and discussed women's rights, not as Catholic or Muslim women, but as women. The women devised community growth programmes and have effectively taken the lead in working together to rebuild their to.

In response the Sikh religious organisation Akal Takht has re-emphasised that women are equal to men. It has banned neo-natal sex identification, selective abortion and the killing of female babies.

Where programmes to eliminate gender based violence have taken place in communities with a strong religious backdrop, the ones that have been most successful have been the ones that have engaged religious leaders. The UNFPA has issued guidelines and examples of good practice in engaging communities on culturally sensitive issues. They point out that all cultural or religious practices serve a function within a community and are usually part of a process. In removing the practice, the cultural or religious value with which it was associated is also removed and the community can become anxious or insecure at the perception that its traditions are being judged or disrespected. But it is possible to replace these practices without the violence. For example, in Kenya's Maasai community where FGM is seen as a rite of passage into womanhood, alternative rites of passage have been devised without the violence of FGM. Older women, who previously may have performed FGM, come forward to act as godmothers and the girls are empowered to make decisions about their lives, including their sexual and reproductive health.

ORGANISATIONS & WEBSITES

Amina - The Muslim Women's Resource Centre

http://www.mwrc.org.uk/home.shtm

Global Women of Faith Network

http://www.wcrp.org/initiatives/women/index

Sikh Women's Support Group, Network of Sikh Organisations UK

http://www.nsouk.co.uk/projects.htm

Women for Women International

http://www.womenforwomen.org/bosjan05.htm

Jewish Women's Aid

http://www.jwa.org.uk/

POLICY & RESOURCES