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In a tradition that is more than four decades old, girls in a Bihar village wear the janeu or the sacred thread, which is otherwise the preserve of men or boys.
© 2014 IANS India Private Limited, New Delhi. Posted on Religioscope with permission. — Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) is India’s first multinational and multilingual wire service. Website: www.ians.in. Subscription enquiries: contact IANS (mention Religioscope).
Orthodox Jewish women in the US are being trained to assume leadership roles in synagogues that are similar to those of a rabbi; in fact, the controversy begins when such women are actually called “rabbis.” This was evident in a recent controversy when an Orthodox rabbi in New York decided to call a woman on his staff a “rabba,” which is the term for a female rabbi.
Richard Cimino is the founder and editor of Religion Watch, a newsletter monitoring trends in contemporary religion. Since January 2008, Religion Watch is published by Religioscope Institute. Website: www.religionwatch.com
Pentecostal women are gaining a foothold in politics of Kenya, both on an official and unofficial basis. Many of these women are influenced by Bishop Margaret Wanjiru, who serves in Kenya’s Parliament.
Richard Cimino is the founder and editor of Religion Watch, a newsletter monitoring trends in contemporary religion. Since January 2008, Religion Watch is published by Religioscope Institute. Website: www.religionwatch.com.
‘An interdisciplinary, transhistorical, global project covering women and Islamic cultures’ – this is how Suad Joseph, Professor of Anthropology and Women and Gender Studies at the University of California, Davis and Director of the Middle East/South Asia Studies Program, describes her ambitious project. The author of several books, Prof. Joseph – a native of Lebanon – is General Editor of the Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures (EWIC).
An American woman who claimed she had converted to Hindusim but was denied entry into the ‘Hindu-only’ Lingaraj temple in the Orissa capital, said she would continue her struggle to seek entry even as the Congress and a major Hindu group announced support for her.
© 2005 IANS India Private Limited, New Delhi. Posted on Religioscope with permission. — Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) is India’s first multinational and multilingual wire service. Website: www.ians.in. Subscription enquiries: contact IANS (mention Religioscope).
Radio Free Iraq (RFI) correspondent Asma al-Sarraj recently interviewed female Islamist activists on the constitution. She spoke with Mahdiya Abd al-Lami, a member of the Muslim Women’s Federation who advocates a constitution based on Islamic law. Al-Sarraj also interviewed Islamist activist Salama Sumaysim, who said she represents the voice of “moderate Islam.”
© 2005 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Website: http://www.rferl.org/
Many Muslim countries have witnessed an upsurge in women studying Islam. But women are still prevented from serving as imams, or prayer leaders, in mosques. RFE/RL tells the story of one young Kyrgyz girl who dreams of being an imam.
© 2004. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Website: http://www.rferl.org/
Getting to the Olympics remains a challenge for many female athletes, particularly those from strictly conservative Muslim countries where beliefs about how a woman should dress and behave often clash with the contemporary traditions of international sports.
© 2004. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Website: http://www.rferl.org/
A controversy is brewing in Kerala over Muslim woman students offering prayers at a college mosque. Every Friday many Muslim students at the Unity Women’s College at Manjeri in Malappuram district pray at the shrine. But now the Samastha Kerala Sunni Students Federation (SKSSF) says the practice of women offering Friday prayers inside a mosque is against Islam.
© Copyright 2004 IANS India Private Limited, New Delhi. Posted on Religioscope with permission.
The collapse of the Ba’athist regime has given Shia women a chance to learn about their once-suppressed faith.
Usama Hashem Rida is an IWPR trainee.
This article was originally published by the IWPR (Institute for War Peace Reporting), London, in the Iraqi Crisis Report (ICR, No. 38, 3 December 2003). The Institute for War & Peace Reporting strengthens local journalism in areas of conflict. Religioscope has been allowed by the IWPR to repost its articles.
Website: http://www.iwpr.net/
© 2003 Institute for War & Peace Reporting
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