Reflections from five years of the JISRA programme
Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) and women’s rights are often treated as separate themes in policy and programming. In practice, however, they are deeply intertwined. For many women, FoRB is not experienced as an abstract right, but through the extent to which their rights are recognised and realised in everyday life – including access to education, work, participation and protection from violence. This has important implications for organisations working on FoRB and peacebuilding. Drawing on five years of experience from the JISRA programme, this article explores how women’s rights shape how FoRB is lived in practice and what this means for programme design.
What the JISRA programme shows
Over five years, the Joint Initiative for Strategic Religious Action (JISRA) worked with civil society organisations and faith actors across multiple countries to promote FoRB and social cohesion. The programme’s learning paper on promoting women’s rights whilst promoting FoRB points to a more complex reality than is often reflected in policy debates.
In many contexts, women’s rights are not only limited by social or economic factors, but also by the way religious norms and interpretations are applied in everyday life. Questions around marriage, inheritance, dress, mobility or participation in public life are often shaped – directly or indirectly – by religious frameworks. This means that women’s ability to exercise their rights is frequently mediated through religion, even when alternative interpretations exist.
As a result, FoRB is not experienced separately from these dynamics. For many women, their ability to freely express beliefs, participate in religious life or make personal choices is closely tied to whether their broader rights are recognised and respected.
At the same time, these religious frameworks are not fixed. Religious leaders, women’s groups and communities themselves actively interpret and negotiate religious teachings. In several JISRA contexts, this created space for more inclusive interpretations that support women’s rights and participation. This dual reality is central: religion can both restrict and enable the realisation of women’s rights and therefore shape how FoRB is experienced in practice.
Key insights
- Religious interpretations shape whether women can exercise their rights
In many contexts, restrictions on women’s rights are justified through specific interpretations of religious teachings, even when alternative interpretations exist within the same tradition. These interpretations directly shape whether women are able to exercise their rights, including participation in public and religious life, mobility, access to education and protection from violence. As a result, they also determine how FoRB is experienced in practice.
Experience from JISRA shows that engaging with these interpretations is a critical entry point for change. When religious leaders, scholars and community members reflect on religious texts and traditions together, it can create space for interpretations that emphasise dignity, justice and equality. This requires more than involving religious actors in programmes. It requires engaging with religious reasoning itself – sometimes referred to as faith literacy – and supporting processes in which religious meaning can be discussed, questioned and reinterpreted. - Gender-based violence reflects deeper violations of rights
Sexual and gender-based violence is often closely linked to social norms, including those shaped by religion. It is not only a protection issue, but a violation of fundamental rights that is frequently normalised through these norms. Addressing it effectively therefore requires more than legal frameworks or awareness campaigns alone. JISRA’s experience shows that change is more likely when programmes combine community dialogue, engagement with religious leaders, support for survivors and collaboration with local actors.
Religious actors can play an important role when they challenge harmful norms and support interpretations that affirm women’s rights and dignity. This highlights that preventing violence is not only about responding to harm, but about transforming the norms and beliefs that allow it to persist. - Gender norms are embedded in systems — and require systemic change
Gender norms are not only shaped at the individual level, but are embedded in broader social, religious and institutional structures that influence how rights are understood and applied. In many contexts, authority within these structures is closely linked to gender, with men more often occupying influential roles within families, religious institutions and governance systems. These dynamics shape how norms are maintained and whose rights are recognised in practice.
Programmes that focus only on supporting women risk overlooking how these broader structures influence the realisation of their rights. At the same time, efforts to engage men must not come at the expense of women’s agency or leadership. This means approaching gender as a systemic issue: strengthening women’s voice and leadership, while also engaging with the structures and actors that shape the norms affecting their rights. - Economic conditions shape whether women can realise their rights
Women’s ability to exercise their rights is closely linked to their economic position. Limited access to income, resources or mobility can restrict not only economic independence, but also participation in community and religious life. Economic dependence can limit women’s ability to make decisions, express their views or challenge existing norms.
Livelihood initiatives and community savings groups can help address these constraints. Beyond economic benefits, they often strengthen networks, build confidence and create spaces for collective organisation. This highlights that economic empowerment is not separate from FoRB, but a condition for women to meaningfully exercise their rights. - Women are central to social cohesion and prevention
Women are often deeply embedded in community and family networks, which positions them to recognise early signs of tension, conflict or radicalisation. When women are able to exercise their rights and are recognised as legitimate actors, they can contribute to mediation, dialogue and early response in situations of conflict or polarisation.
Their role is not limited to participation, but extends to shaping more inclusive and resilient communities. Supporting women’s rights and leadership therefore contributes not only to gender equality, but also to stronger social cohesion and more effective prevention.
What this means for FoRB programmes
For many women, Freedom of Religion or Belief is not experienced in isolation, but through the extent to which their rights are recognised and realised in everyday life.
Programmes are more likely to contribute to inclusive and sustainable change when they:
- Recognise that FoRB is experienced through women’s ability to exercise their rights in everyday life
- Engage with religious interpretations that influence how gender norms and rights are understood
- Address structural drivers of inequality, including gender-based violence and economic dependence
- Work with gender as a systemic issue, engaging both women’s leadership and the structures that shape their rights
- Support processes that enable more inclusive interpretations of religion and social norms
Taken together, these insights point to a broader lesson: advancing FoRB is not only about protecting religious freedom in principle. It is about addressing the conditions that determine whether women are able to exercise their rights and therefore experience that freedom in practice.
Want to explore these insights in more detail?
The JISRA learning paper on women’s rights and Freedom of Religion or Belief brings together reflections and lessons from five years of programme experience across multiple countries.
