AWID’s Resisting and Challenging Religious Fundamentalisms initiative is pleased to present the first three in a series of special issues on religious fundamentalisms and women’s rights.
The initiative aims to develop a deeper understanding among women’s movements and their allies of the way fundamentalist projects work, grow, and undermine women’s human rights. It also seeks to build common platforms across regions and religions to foster global strategies of resistance to religious fundamentalist politics. The first three in a series of special issues are:
These special issues draw on the results of a global survey of over 1,600 women’s rights activists, in-depth interviews with over 50 key experts, as well as supplementary research and consultations. The first publication explores how religious fundamentalisms are being understood and experienced by women’s rights activists located within different regional and religious contexts, while the second publication examines the impact of the global rise of religious fundamentalisms, and makes the case for a consolidated global response by rights activists across all sectors. The third publication seeks to expose and deconstruct the ten most commonly held myths about the phenomenon, in order to strengthen resistance to religious fundamentalisms.
These special issues will soon be available on the AWID website, and will be followed by further publications in 2009.
Participants at the AWID Forum in Cape Town in November 2008 are also invited to attend three sessions organized by the Resisting and Challenging Religious Fundamentalisms Initiative:
New Insights on Religious Fundamentalisms
“Resist, Challenge, Inspire”- Confronting Fundamentalisms Around the World (Parts 1 and 2)
Re-thinking the “Secular” and the “Religious” in the Face of Fundamentalisms