irshad manji

the closing speaker for the religion and democracy conference held at uvsc and westminster college was irshad manji, who spoke about islam and gender equality. suffice to say, her presentation was excellent.

she basically discussed how the quran can be understood in ways that both give women more rights and suppress them. however, the ways that it guarantees certain rights can be utilized to overpower those that can be read to suppress them. according to the quran, if a woman earns her own assets, she gets to keep 100% of them and use them as she pleases. some readings of the quran state that if a man supports a woman, he can do with her as he pleases. by enabling a woman to earn her own assets, her husband (or father, brother, etc) has no right to control her.

furthermore, most men and women in islamic nations are illiterate and uneducated. with their self-earned assets, women can be educated on how to read the quran for themselves, as well as educate their husbands similarly, thus enabling them to see what the quran says for itself, and not just its interpretation by largely patriarchal imams. liberating women, will liberate men.

the best method for achieving this is through micro-business lending for women. doing so will enable women to educate themeselves, earn their own assets, educate others, and ultimately create more free islamic nations.

her ultimate goal is to see western nations funding these loans.

and of course there was a lot in between.