Competencies

INTRODUCTION

• Facilitator leads a discussion with participants to identify the role of religion and religious leaders in addressing gender discrimination.

DISCUSSION 

• Participants discuss the roles religious leaders and the media play in perpetuating negative stereotypes of the role of women in society.
• Questions under the Discussion Questions tab may be used to guide the group discussion. 
• Participants commit to share positive examples of religious leaders or the media promoting the role of women in society. They can share with family, friends, or members of their faith communities.
• Optional (for use with Adding Faith Quotes activity): Facilitator leads a discussion of the use of the additional faith quotes in religious preaching. Participants commit to share their quote with members of their faith communities. 

CONCLUSION

• Participants may choose to extend their reach by sharing on social media, where appropriate, positive examples of promoting gender equality.

• How can discrimination against women be redressed through religion? 
• Can a religious leader change attitudes in societies? How?
• What should be the reaction of a religious leader when facing a situation of gender discrimination? 
• What if this happens at home? Should they intervene, respect privacy, or find a middle ground?

There are no specific resources for this activity.

• 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) ​