Islamic Women Waging Peace

Of the many sectors of society currently excluded from peace processes, none is larger—or more critical to success—than women.

Siti Musdah Mulia is the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in Islamic political thought from the State Islamic University, and the first woman appointed a research professor by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. A prominent Muslim feminist, Mulia has used her knowledge of the Quran to advocate for women's rights. Mulia is the chairwoman of Muslimat Nahdlatul Ullama (Muslimat NU), an Islamic Women's Organization with more than 40 million members. She also serves as chair of the interfaith institute Indonesia Conference on Religion and Peace (ICRP), where she encourages religious leaders to promote women's rights. She helped produce a Counter Legal Draft of Indonesia's Islamic legal code with recommendations to prohibit child marriage, polygamy, and forced marriages and permit interfaith marriage. Though faced with death threats and condemnation, Mulia continues to educate women about their rights. She will share how she uses Islam to promote women's empowerment.

Mariam Mansury is the Women Waging Peace Network Coordinator and advocate for The Initiative for Inclusive Security, a program of the Hunt Alternatives Fund. Mansury manages The Women Waging Peace Network, which unites over 800 demonstrated women peace builders in over 40 conflict areas, and she leads the Initiative's advocacy around women in Afghanistan. In 2007, she traveled to Afghanistan to conduct training for over 45 Afghan female and male parliamentarians, government officials, and civil society leaders on women's roles in security sector reform. She holds a degree in Political Science and Middle Eastern/Islamic Studies from Boston College, where she presented an honors dissertation examining the prospects for democratic consolidation in Afghanistan. She will address the importance of promoting women's inclusion in the peace process with examples from work in Afghanistan.

Cosponsored by The East-West Center, Friends of the East-West Center, Pacific and Asian Affairs Council, PPSEAWA-Hawai'i, University of Hawai'i - Women's Studies Program, and Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution.

Ticket Information
RSVP by July 24; $10.00 co-sponsor members, $12.00 non-members

Event Sponsor
East-West Center, Manoa Campus

More Information
944-7111, ewcinfo@eastwestcenter.org, http://www.eastwestcenter.org/events/east-west-center-events/?class_call=view&conf_ID=1584&mode=view, Islamic Women Waging Peace (PDF)

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