INTRODUCTION

• Option 1: Invite participants to share artistic expressions that capture aspects of Commitment V.

• Option 2: Present an artistic expression that captures aspects of Commitment V. Prepare a personally selected example or select an example from the Resources tab.

• If time permits, consider reviewing the 2018 report from the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, Karima Bennoune, on the contribution of artistic and cultural initiatives in developing respectful societies. (See Resources tab.)

DISCUSSION 

• Participants discuss the limitations of artistic freedoms, particularly for women and girls. They may consider religious arguments ranging from urging the faithful not to partake in various forms of artistic expression to outright bans on music, images, and books.
• Questions under the Discussion Questions tab may provide guidance for this sensitive topic.

CONCLUSION

• Participants commit to share artistic expressions that capture aspects of Commitment V with family, friends, or faith communities.

• Are there restrictions on women and girls in artistically expressing themselves, for example by singing or dancing?
• How can artistic expression be used as a tool to communicate the positive influence of women and girls on society?
• Are there artistic and cultural initiatives in your local area that contribute to inclusive societies that honor both men and women? What can you do to support their efforts?

Artistic Expression Examples

• Recorded online performance of interpretation of Commitment V through cartoon, calligraphy, and music
• Interpretation of Commitment V through poetry and music. This file can be downloaded from SoundCloud prior to the session.

Internet connectivity is required to stream the documentary, Equality: It’s All in the Family.

If it is not possible to screen this documentary during the session, participants can watch it on their own prior to coming to the session. (The documentary’s length is about 26 minutes.) During the session, participants may summarize the documentary’s content before beginning their discussion. 

Note that the music for this activity can be streamed from YouTube or can be downloaded from SoundCloud prior to the session.

Additional Tips for All Peer-to-Peer Activities

• The #Faith4Rights modules are flexible and require adaptation by the facilitators before their use. Case studies related to peer-to-peer exercises in the 18 modules need to be selected by the facilitators from within the environment where the learning takes place. The #Faith4Rights toolkit is a prototype methodology that requires contextualization, based on the text of the 18 commitments, context, and additional supporting documents.
• Not all issues raised need to be resolved. This would be an impossible and even a counterproductive target. The aim is rather to enhance critical thinking and communication skills, admitting that some questions could receive many answers, depending on numerous factors.
• Tensions may occur during discussions related to “faith” and “rights.” Most of these tensions are due to human interpretations. Learning sessions are spaces for constructive dialogue in a dynamic process where tensions can be reduced with the help of clear methodologies, including pre-emptive situation analysis and evidence of positive results in areas of intersectionality between faith and rights.
• When preparing the sessions, facilitators need to factor in the profile, age, and backgrounds of participants. Focused attention on the learning objectives can transform tensions into constructive exploration of new ideas.
• Meaningful engagement requires democratically pre-established rules. Facilitators should dedicate time with participants to elaborate these rules together at the outset and act all along the training as their custodians.
• The time frames suggested in this #Faith4Rights toolkit are merely indicative. Facilitators may adapt them freely to suit the needs of their group of participants. The key balance is between respecting the overall time frame while not cutting short a positive exchange momentum.
• To ensure optimal and sustainable benefit, facilitators may create a “training notebook” for participants during their peer-to-peer learning sessions. It would contain a compilation of templates to help participants keep track of what they have learned throughout the program and eventually use this notebook as their personalized follow-up tool.
• When technically feasible, facilitators are also advised to project the module under discussion on screen in order to alternate between discussions thereon and showing the audio-visual materials listed in each module or any other items selected by the facilitator.

• “A man should respect his wife more than he respects himself and love her as much as he loves himself.” (Talmud, Yebamot, 62,b)
• “Never will I allow to be lost the work of any one among you, whether male or female; for you are of one another.” (Qu’ran 3, 195)
• “O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another.” (Qu’ran 49:13)
• “In the image of God He created him male and female. He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
• “The best among you is he who is best to his wife.” (Hadith)
• “It is a woman who is a friend and partner for life. It is woman who keeps the race going. How may we think low of her of whom are born the greatest. From a woman a woman is born: none may exist without a woman.” (Guru Granth Sahib, p. 473)
• “The world of humanity is possessed of two wings – the male and the female. So long as these two wings are not equivalent in strength the bird will not fly. Until womankind reaches the same degree as man, until she enjoys the same arena of activity, extraordinary attainment for humanity will not be realized.” (‘Abdu’l-Baha)
• “A comprehensive, holistic and effective approach to capacity-building should aim to engage influential leaders, such as traditional and religious leaders […]” (Joint general recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women/general comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on harmful practices) ​