Women at The Table: Accelerating FoRB Capacity

FoRB Women’s Alliance Releases “Women At The Table:  Accelerating FoRB Capacity”

The First Global, Muti-faith Study on the State of  Women and Freedom of Religion or Belief

FoRB Women’s Alliance recently released the first global multi-faith analysis of women and FoRB. As a human rights accelerator working at the intersection of women’s rights and freedom of religion or belief, we undertook this research initiative to explore new ways to support and improve collaboration across multiple sectors and frame a narrative that can help women shape the agenda on these issues.

With funding provided by The Fetzer Institute, the Alliance partnered with Gender and Religious Freedom, a London-based organization, to conduct this study. During individual interviews and focus groups,  women and men with diverse institutional, professional, religious, and geographic backgrounds identified gaps and resources that can help women and FoRB advocates be more impactful at the local, national and global levels.

This study is groundbreaking for several reasons:

• It provides better documentation and understanding of this landscape.
• It highlights that despite these compound vulnerabilities and the barriers that accompany them, women have accomplished a great deal.
• It underscores what other studies found: the need for advocacy and activism and that in order to empower religious freedom, women and girls must be empowered.
• It identifies solutions to address the challenges facing women and FoRB and accelerate religious freedom or belief for all.