HBI held forum on the role of women abroad
by Miranda Neubauer
Senior Writer
News | 4/29/08
Posted online at 3:14 AM EST on 4/29/08
The Ethics Center and the Hadassah Brandeis Institute held a conference addressing the possibilities of a reconciliation of modern law and traditional customs with regard to gender equality worldwide on Tuesday, April 15.
Over 100 academics, activists and interested students participated in the conference, which took place in the Hassenfeld Conference Center, according to Lisa Fishbayn, director of the Project on Gender, Culture, Religion and the Law at the HBI.
The event opened Monday evening with a lecture by Nobel Laureates Shirin Ebadi and Jody Williams.
The event's conclusion Tuesday morning included a keynote speech titled "Is Pluralism an Ideal or a Compromise" by Martha Minow, a professor at Harvard Law school followed by a series of panels.
The event was part of a larger research project under HBI titled "Gender, Culture, Religion and the Law," which was launched last February with a grant from Dan Fischel Sylvia Neil, a professor at Northwestern University School of Law who initiated the project and her husband Dan Fischel.
Neal said that the conference provided a platform for woman activists to share strategies for advocating gender equality by listening to experiences and drawing lessons from diverse cultures
Because of its Jewish background and its commitment to social justice, Brandeis is the "perfect home" for the project, Neal said.
"I also felt it was very important that since we have so many issues dealing with the intersection of gender and religion and the law in Judaism, that when we are talking with other [faiths] who also have these issues … We are in parity with each other," she said.
The final panel featured two researchers and activists, Fatou Camara, assistant professor of law at the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal, and Likhapha Mbatha, a researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, who offered comparative perspectives on the question "What Is Effective Law Reform?"
Over 100 academics, activists and interested students participated in the conference, which took place in the Hassenfeld Conference Center, according to Lisa Fishbayn, director of the Project on Gender, Culture, Religion and the Law at the HBI.
The event opened Monday evening with a lecture by Nobel Laureates Shirin Ebadi and Jody Williams.
The event's conclusion Tuesday morning included a keynote speech titled "Is Pluralism an Ideal or a Compromise" by Martha Minow, a professor at Harvard Law school followed by a series of panels.
The event was part of a larger research project under HBI titled "Gender, Culture, Religion and the Law," which was launched last February with a grant from Dan Fischel Sylvia Neil, a professor at Northwestern University School of Law who initiated the project and her husband Dan Fischel.
Neal said that the conference provided a platform for woman activists to share strategies for advocating gender equality by listening to experiences and drawing lessons from diverse cultures
Because of its Jewish background and its commitment to social justice, Brandeis is the "perfect home" for the project, Neal said.
"I also felt it was very important that since we have so many issues dealing with the intersection of gender and religion and the law in Judaism, that when we are talking with other [faiths] who also have these issues … We are in parity with each other," she said.
The final panel featured two researchers and activists, Fatou Camara, assistant professor of law at the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal, and Likhapha Mbatha, a researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, who offered comparative perspectives on the question "What Is Effective Law Reform?"
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