Abstract
As KADEM we carry out a variety of projects on a national and international scale. Among them is the Mosques For All project, which KADEM has been carrying out since November, 2021. Due to lack in social awareness of women’s right to access mosques as public places of worship, observant Muslim women in Türkiye have difficulty accessing spatial facilities in mosques for meeting even their basic religious needs such as performing ablution and praying, an issue which significantly affects the rate of female attendance in mosques. KADEM’s project aims to analyze the situation, measure the capacity of mosques to meet women’s needs, and carry out improvement work with stakeholders. Within the scope of the project, 5 out of the 53 Turkish provinces where KADEM has representative offices were selected for determining the spatial and social capacities related to women’s use of mosques in these provinces. At present, we are reaching the end of the first phase where we developed a survey to identify the needs and measure their applicability as a step towards implementing change. This phase is concluded by a workshop in which we share our results with public and civic stakeholders and listen to their suggestions, after which we are aiming to progress towards building policy recommendations and implementing change through a variety of activities. The present paper shares KADEM’s experience with the project, hoping to contribute to its vision of a just society on a global scale.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2023 Special Focus—Religion in the Public Sphere: From the Ancient Years to the Post-Modern Era
KEYWORDS
Keywords: Women’s Worship Rights, Mosque Accessibility, Public Worship
