New session of the "Paris IAS Ideas" online talk series, with the participation of Samia Huq (Brac University, Bangladesh / Paris IAS Fellow).

This research project contributes to a collaborative program that seeks to build dialogue between faith-inspired, secular and state actors to think about women’s freedoms and their reflections in policy. Drawing on the experience of “Islamic feminism” in many Muslim contexts and “civil Islam” as an element of democratizing states, the paper explores the history of women’s freedoms in Bangladesh as fought for by women’s groups and promoted by the state. It also elaborates on Islamist pushbacks by nuancing it with Islamic positions on women’s freedoms and the different religious interpretive traditions they highlight. Through a parallel examination of these, the project traces the challenges of dialogue and collaboration, exploring and assessing interpretive frameworks and education models and women having the space to speak for themselves and listen to each other as possible catalysts to potential bridge building.