CityU hosts discussions on setting up Hong Kong’s first women’s mosque

A multi-million dollar research project undertaken by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) is studying community-led initiatives to set up Hong Kong’s first mosque for women and hosting discussions on related issues.

CityU is committed to conducting applied sociological and anthropological research that serves the greater interests of a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural Hong Kong population, and to establishing Hong Kong as a regional hub for applied research in the social sciences.

The $53m project, entitled “Women’s Empowerment in Muslim Contexts (WEMC): Gender, Poverty and Democratisation from the Inside Out”, is headed by Dr Vivienne Wee, Associate Director of the Southeast Asia Research Centre (SEARC) at CityU. The project covers China, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, as well as cross-border research in the UK and elsewhere.

Key partners and advisors of the project will converge on Hong Kong this week for a conference on campus from 11 to 15 December. They include Dr Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director, United Nations Development Fund for Women; Dr Maria Jaschok, Director of the International Gender Studies Centre at Oxford University; sociologist and activist Ms Farida Shaheed from Shirkat Gah Women's Resource Centre, Pakistan, and the Women Living Under Muslim Laws International Solidarity Network; and Ms Zaitun Kassim of Sisters in Islam, a group of Muslim professional women committed to promoting the rights of women within the framework of Islam.

One of the issues to be discussed concerns the setting up of Hong Kong’s first mosque for women. While there are several women’s mosques in mainland China, until now one in Hong Kong has not been called for. But shifting demographics are having an impact. In the last fifteen years, the population of Muslims in Hong Kong has almost doubled, and been feminized, due to the presence of at least 97,000 Muslim women from Indonesia, most of whom are in Hong Kong as domestic workers on short-term employment visas.

“Based on a survey conducted by SEARC with the International Social Service Hong Kong Branch in June, many Indonesian domestic workers feel that existing mosques in Hong Kong are insufficient to meet their needs,” Dr Wee said. “The mosques are generally dominated by men and the women’s prayer rooms in some of these mosques are extremely small, which means the women have insufficient space for their religious practices.”

Hong Kong has four mosques—in Mid-Levels, Wan Chai, Tsim Sha Tsui and Chai Wan. Islamic law requires men and women to be separated during prayers.

In the context of religious freedom, this means that the majority of the 97, 000 Indonesian female workers in Hong Kong do not enjoy the same religious rights as other Hong Kong citizens.

“As a host society, Hong Kong has the responsibility to promote equitable treatment and social integration of migrant workers,” Dr Wee said. “Setting up a women’s mosque in Hong Kong could definitely benefit Hong Kong society as a whole. It could enhance the minorities’ social integration and promote gender equality in Hong Kong, and it could elevate the international standing of Hong Kong as an inclusive society.”

In addition to space for worship, the Indonesian Muslim women also need female religious teachers from whom they can seek religious guidance. “All Muslim religious teachers in Hong Kong are men,” Dr Wee pointed out. “Regarding some gender sensitive issues, many Muslim women do not feel comfortable seeking religious guidance from men. There is thus an urgent need for setting up a mosque that is tailored for Muslim women in Hong Kong.”

In response to these felt needs, a coalition of community organizations in Hong Kong and Indonesia has come together to work towards the setting up of a women’s mosque in Hong Kong. These include the 4-million strong Fatayat Nahdlatul Ulama, which is sending a succession of female religious teachers to discuss this initiative with organizations here in Hong Kong.

Background

The WEMC grant, worth $53m, will fund a five-year research project (1 July 2006 – 30 June 2011) on women’s indigenous strategies for empowerment in ways that can transform unfavourable power relations. It is funded by the Department for International Development, the UK government department that manages aid to developing countries.

The study will be carried out in Muslim communities and countries in four Asian sub-regions – East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia and West Asia.

According to figures from the Times Higher Education Supplement, CityU jumped 40 places to 53rd this year in the world’s top social science universities, emphasizing the regional importance of applied social studies at CityU.

For media enquiries, please contact Michael Gibb, Communications Office, CityU, at 3442 6121 or 6308 0173.