Research Project

Introduction

Religion has an important function in the public and political life of many societies that also affects the relations between men and women as well as the right to gender equality. Still, how do religion and politics mingle precisely and what are the concrete social and political consequences of this mixture from a gender perspective? To address these questions, we conducted an extensive research project in collaboration with the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) which focused on 11 countries: Chile, India, Iran, Israel, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Serbia, Turkey, USA.

About the Project

- Religion continues to have a public dimension throughout the world, and from the point of view of women’s rights to equality, there is much at stake in how religion and politics intertwine. Therefore, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, in close cooperation with the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), launched a research project which explored the effects of this blending of religion and politics on women’s rights and gender equality.  more»

Country-level Research Teams

- Research teams from the project countries were commissioned with the writing of the country case studies and of two thematic papers. The country researchers undertook original research at the conceptual and empirical level on Religion, Politics and Gender Equality in their respective countries. more»

• Overview of the country case studies
• Thematic paper by José Casanova and Anne Phillips

Advisory Group

- A small advisory group was set up to provide substantive inputs on the research design and the research reports. more»

Conference Documentation

- Together with the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), the Heinrich Böll Foundation organized the international conference „Religion Revisited - Women’s rights and the political instrumentalisation of religion“. Here you can find the presentations of the conference speakers, reports of the working groups as well as some visual impressions of the conference. more»

05.-06.06.2009

Religion Revisited - Women’s Rights and the Political Instrumentalisation of Religion

- Religion continues to have a public dimension throughout the world. From women’s rights to equality and gender, there is much at stake in how religion and politics intertwine. Therefore, the Heinrich Böll Foundation organized an international conference which took place in Berlin on 5-6 June 2009, to discuss the impact of politicised religions on the relations between women and men and on the rights of women to gender equality. more»

Conference Speakers

- Scholars and feminist activists from different countries worldwide discussed the interrelations between religion, politics and gender equality. Speakers, for instance, from India, Pakistan, Poland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States shared their experiences and knowledge with the participants of the conference. more»