Islamic Gender Equality Institute (IGEI)
The transformational IWILAP IGEI is a program designed for women and human rights activists working in Muslim contexts throughout the world.
It addresses the knowledge gap of participants who have no formal or traditional education on Islam, and who are keen to understand the differences and diversity of Qur’anic interpretations and juristic opinions, and the conceptual tools that exist within the tradition that makes reform possible in Islam. IGEI helps to build the knowledge and courage of participants to critically speak out on the impacts of laws, policies, and practices justified in the name of Islam, and their impact in particular on women’s rights and fundamental liberties.
It creates a public voice of women leaders demanding alternative understandings of Islam that recognise equality and justice in the context of changing times and circumstances.
Course format and participants
The IGEI is run in a seminar format and consists of lectures, presentations, and group discussions. Readings are assigned before arrival, with time allotted for additional reading and consultations with resource persons.
The course is designed for a maximum of 30 participants, and a minimum of two resource persons and two facilitators, one from the local context. A needs analysis will be conducted to shape the final design of the course to meet the needs and priorities of participants.
By the end of the course, IWILAP hopes that participants will be able to come to an understanding of the ‘traditional’ and ‘patriarchal’ modes of knowledge production in the Islamic legal tradition; be introduced to egalitarian, reformist modes of knowledge production; and develop arguments and strategies to advance a rights-based approach in their own contexts that is also grounded in Islam.