“We are relegated to a space of interreligious dialogue when this could permeate the whole of society, we have a lot of potential”, Fàtima Ahmed

Gender is a structural and cross-cutting matter that permeates society and people’s lives. As an integral aspect of social construction, it also has a wide-ranging impact on the narratives and essential practices of religions and faiths based on the context in which they are inscribed. At the same time, the role of women has historically been dismissed in many areas of life, and in many present-day societies, the intersection between women and religion is constantly being questioned. This is why starting a conversation around this reality is still necessary. To this end, in 2024, Barcelona created the Women’s Interreligious and Interfaith Dialogue Group, a space that joins the already established territorial dialogue groups. The aim is to give visibility to women’s voices within religious and spiritual communities, breaking stereotypes and favouring a more inclusive and plural perspective on the role of women in the religious sphere and in society in general.

Some of the members of this group took part in the activity “Women and interreligious dialogue: experiences from Barcelona” on Friday 4 April, at the Urgell Civic Centre. It was intended to be a meeting of the Dialogue Group that was open to the public and was moderated by Mònica Cornejo, doctor of Anthropology, director of the Anthropology, Diversity and Integration research group (GINADYC) and a researcher who specialises in popular religiosity and the relationship between gender and religion. Participants in the dialogue included Elisabeth A. Lheure, member of the Bahá’í Women’s Association of Barcelona; Mercè Puigdelmàs Vilaró, member of the Protestant Church Barcelona-Centre ; Carme Ruiz Marquès, member of the Permanent Commission of the coordinating platform Alcem la veu; Fàtima Ahmed, co-founder and president of the Intercultural Association Diàlegs de Dona; and Janaina Minelli de Oliveira Ramos, president of the Centre Espírita Amalia Domingo Soler.

The conversation began with the participants presenting the contributions made by women in their respective traditions and communities. Puigdelmàs mentioned that in the Protestant church, also in Catalonia, there are women who have “broken barriers in a predominantly male world” and who have become pastors, such as Marta López, from the Evangelical Church Barcelona-Centre, or Ruth Giordano, from the United Evangelical Church of Terrassa; or who have developed a feminist theology, such as Anna Pizarro, Maria Sanz and Isabel Rodríguez. Ahmed and Ruiz also highlighted the historical role played by women in the emergence and development of Islam and Catholicism, and criticised the marginalisation of women’s voices and the invisibilisation of their contributions by the patriarchy and its paternalism. A situation which, according to Lheure and Minelli de Oliveira, is not seen in the Baha’i faith and spiritualism, where no distinctions are made based on gender and there is no hierarchical leadership structure. “The spiritual part has no sex”, remarked Lheure. Even so, as the two women mentioned, a woman was behind the origin of the two traditions in Catalonia: Virginia Orbison, a member of the Baháʼí Faith from the United States, and Amalia Domingo Soler, an Andalusian migrant in Catalonia who in the 19th century “established a dialogue among equals with men who held ecclesiastical power at that time”.

This question led the participants to reflect on the leadership and participation of women in their communities and the city as a whole. For all the speakers, the main obstacle to this participation is the sexist dynamic in society, which means a huge effort has to be made to recover the names of women and to give what they say the same value as what men say”, said Ruiz. It is for this reason that Ahmed argued for greater access to spaces, suitable infrastructures for worship and building communities, and also for debate, dissemination and meeting. Also, both Puigdelmàs and Ruiz called for more theoretical work, creating a contextualised theology and making an effort to change the religious images and narratives that have been reproduced up to now.

With regard to providing spaces for reflection and dialogue on these matters, all the participants in the debate asserted the importance of interfaith meetings. Ruiz, for example, highlighted the fact that: “We are all, in our everyday lives, living alongside others. But, the Dialogue Group is probably the only place where we can speak openly about matters that concern us”. However, the members of the Women’s Dialogue Group spoke of the importance of not only having their own space, but also of projecting outwards to society and the future. Puigdelmàs described the dialogue groups as a“model of knowledge and respect” and drew a parallel with the early exponents of the Old Testament, arguing for recognition from different traditions: “The Prophets denounced political and religious power, and this characteristic, also found in other religions, is something we have lost today; we don’t denounce, we stay quiet”.

The conversation concluded with further reflection on the need to bring the voices of the women in the interreligious and interfaith dialogue to all areas of society. “I believe that during this century, women will play a very important role”, said Ahmed, “we are relegated to a space of interreligious dialogue when this could permeate the whole of society, we have a lot of potential”. According to Minelli, it would be a matter of presenting issues of social interest from the perspective of different traditions, taking as a reference spaces like the Women’s Interreligious and Interfaith Dialogue Group. “Expanding our shared knowledge” added Ruiz, “to share it in spaces where it seems like religions, faiths and beliefs are from someone else’s world”.

The ideas discussed in this conversation, which was open to the public, and in other meetings held by the Women’s Interreligious and Interfaith Dialogue Group will be compiled in a digital publication. The document will be put together jointly by the members of the group and Mònica Cornejo, with the aim of making available to the public a range of reflections on the intersection between gender and religion or spirituality, and serving as a starting point for opening up these questions in society.

Activity image gallery HERE!