Bana Gora, chief executive of the Muslim Women’s Council, has spent years hearing horror stories from Muslim women about their experiences at mosques in the UK. A recent audit she commissioned of prayer facilities in Bradford showed similar results.
“We found the majority of mosques follow a patriarchal model with poor access for women, and women’s representation on mosques’ governing structures was non-existent,” she tells me.
“We found segregated spaces in mosques were dated and unwelcoming, and there were some accounts of women being turned away down to a lack of space. There were also accounts of women being ushered to basements and not being able to hear or see the imam during prayers.”
Nabeela Hafiz, a member of the MWC, has written of her experience where she accidentally walked into the men-only part of a mosque when she was a student. [The Telegraph] Read more
