1) Days of Study on Women and Religious Law  

These one-day intensive programs bring together scholarsand the public for a day of learning about gender and religion conflicts in a particular context. The format is designed to include lecture, discussion and arts elements. 

Our first session, entitled A Day of Study on Women, Gender Equality and Jewish Law in Israel, held on February 6, 2007. The keynote lecture by Dr. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, Chair of the Rackman Centre for the Advancement of Women at Bar Ilan University, dealt with discrimination against women seeking divorce in Israeli rabbinical courts. It was followed by the screening of the films Mekudeshet: Sentenced to Marriage and Cohen’s Wife and a panel discussion featuring Dr. Halperin-Kaddari, Rabbi Susan Fendrick of the Mandel Centre of Brandeis University and Project Director, Dr. Lisa Fishbayn. This Day of Study was presented in collaboration with the Women’s Studies Research Centre and the International Centre for Ethics, Justice and Public Life.

WATCH A VIDEO OF THE LECTURE

-Coming soon-

2) The Diane (Dina) Markowicz Memorial Lectures on Women’s Human Rights and Cultural and Religious Conflicts   (commencing Spring 2008) 

An annual lecture series featuring an internationally renowned scholar discussing ways of negotiating the tensions between gender equality and religious or cultural norms. Our inaugural speakers will be Dr. Shirin Ebadi and Professor Jody Williams, recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize and founders of the Nobel Women’s Initiative.

3) Untying the Knots: Theorizing Conflicts between Gender Equality and Religious Laws Brandeis University, April 14-15, 2008.