23/05/2024 10:30 - 17:30

HALL: STERI - CHIESA DI S. ANTONIO ABATE

Proponent: Madera A., Tarantino D.

Chair: Consorti P., Lo Giacco M.L., Madera A., Tarantino D.

Speaker: Ben Porat G., Botti F., Dalla Villa C., Ferrante M., Franceschi F., Garipova R., Geraci R., Lo Giacco M.L., Madera A., Martinelli E., Osnato S., Tarantino D., Viani A.

This panel aims to investigate the roles, responsibilities and rights of women within faith communities. Recently, there has been increasing academic and political debate on whether and to what extent religious laws affect a woman's status.
Traditionally women's role has been marginalized in many religious settings. Leadership has been reserved to men, women experienced gender inequality with regard to marriage and its termination and religious texts and traditions have been interpreted through male-centered lens to empower men's voices. However women have traditionally given a significant contribution to perpetuate religious values and traditions (Ruspini, 2018). Nowadays, many systems of beliefs are undergoing processes of revisitation of their theologies, with a view to restoring the original meaning of the scripture and its genuine message.  Furthermore, religious courts provided legal mechanism to reinterpret religious laws with a view to rebalancing and re-negotiating female roles, rights and expectations. The aim of the panel is to examine the approach of various systems of belief to gender equality and inclusion, the evolution of the status of women in religious traditions and its impact on religious laws, the interplay between religious and secular law, with a view to  dealing with the challenging issue of whether, and to what extent, religion can act as a  paradigm shift  in the empowerment (or disempowerment) processes of  women in modern post-secular society