WUNRN
Bahrain Women & Men
Guardianship & Testimony
Discrimination or Justice
Complicated
Issues Bahrain Women Association will address during
its
Second Open Discussion
"Women: A New Paradigm"
In the context of Bahrain Women
Association (BWA) project " Women: A New Paradigm" launched on 21st
of March this year, the second open discussion will be held in Manama on August
15, 2009 with the slogan: "Women and Men ... Discrimination or
Justice". Expertise and researchers know with their valuable contribution
in this field will participate in the discussion of such complicated issues
concerning the status of women and their ability to carry out their various
roles.
The topics to be discussed under this project falls into four open discussions each includes several sessions to raise and discuss a number of controversial issues. Wife beating, domestic violence, guardianship of men and disobedience were dealt with in the first discussion. The second will to be held on 15 August with the slogan "women and men .. discrimination or justice", it will consider topics related to women testimony and the domain of men guardianship or supervision. The third open discussion at the end of October will address alimony, custody, housing, under the slogan: “Retained in honor or released in kindness”. “Towards Successful Family Partnership” is the last, planned to be launched during the occasion of Bahrain Women's Day in December, it will deal with minimum marriage age and polygamy matters.
Dr.
Heba Raouf Ezzat
In the August Open
discussion, Dr. Heba Raouf Ezzat, an Islamic thinker and lecturer at Department
of Political Science, Cairo University will start present her research in the
related topics. Dr. Ezzat is the editor of the Global Civil Society Yearbook
(Arabic version) with the Centre for Global Governance, London School of
Economics. She has different publications on women's rights, human rights,
Islam, modernity, interfaith and citizenship like " Women and Politics: An
Islamic Perspective", ‘The Political Imagination of Islamists: A
Conceptual Analysis’, ‘Islam and Equality: Debating the Future of Women's and
Minority Rights in the Middle East and North Africa’, ‘Islam and Secularism in
the Middle East’. Dr. Ezzat also wrote background papers for the UNIFEM
Report on Women in the Arab World 2004; and to the UNDP Arab Human Development
Report 2006.
From Bahrain
Sheikh Ibrahim Aljufairi, a researcher at Al Tajdeed Cultural & Social
Society will discuss his research on the two topics of discussion : testimony
and guardianship. Sheik Aljufairi had several papers and research related to
the renewal of religious thought aiming to continually cleanse society of ideas
and practices that have corrupted the originally pure Islamic concepts and
beliefs. Tajdeed Society researches attempts to renew the culture as it is the
primary paradigm for having a meaningful civilized community with enough
cohesion and tolerance to enable restoring the nation's humanitarian
role. Sheik Aljufairi is specialized in some religious issues
related to women.
The project tries to shed light as much
as possible on matters and topics that are controversial and has a direct
impact on women's status and eligibility to perform her humanitarian role in
life. The innovative concepts and
solutions which will emerge from this project for many of the current issues
and problems related to women will enlighten the community and contribute in
developing and promoting a new paradigm with new culture perspective to women
and family issues. Different constraints makes women’s potentials remains
unrealized and energies not directed towards the development of the society or
at least in practicing basic humanitarian roles assigned to them.
BWA take into
consideration the crucial need to put forward innovative solutions applicable
for our current era for several complicated issues caused by erroneous
perception leading to injustice and unfair practices. Issue-Focused sessions
such as: Is woman's testimony equal to a man, or considered as a half
testimony? Whether Islam permits women guardianship, or it is denied ? If
denied on what bases? These are examples of topics to be discussed in the 2nd
gathering in an open dialogue on 15th of August. Each researcher will
present a summary of his research and findings allowing participants to put
forward their questions or views in this regard.
It is worth mentioning that the papers
presented in this project are considered as a highly specialized knowledge
designed to enhance the community's understanding and enriches activists of
human rights.
"Women: A New Paradigm" is a
joint project between Bahrain Women Association and Altajdeed Cultural and
Social Society aiming to develop a range of research papers dealing with these
issues to come up with an innovative prospective or paradigm that can aid in
resolving many of the current problems related to both women and family by
addressing the roots of the issues and introducing sustainable solutions.
Meena
Kadhimi, MD, CEO
P.O.Box 15634
Kingdom Of
Bahrain
Tel
+973 17 564155 ext 228
Fax +973 17 564156
Cell
+973 39 689959
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