Photo: Sandro Weltin/©Council of Europe

The World Forum for Democracy 2018 dedicated to gender equality and women’s rights was held in Strasbourg from 19 to 21 November 2018. The forum focused in particular on women’s public, political and economic participation and on combating violence against women in the wake of #MeToo.

CEC Executive Secretary Rev. Sören Lenz participated in the round table on “Faith and Feminism”.

The discussions explored how women can gain greater power in religious communities. Reflections were shared by Catholic theologian Zuzanna Radzik, Hungarian politician Hajnalka Juhász, Suri Kempe of Muslim organisation Musawah and Keren ENGEL, Jewish theologian.

“This round table shows that religion and churches cannot close their eyes when it comes to human rights and equality in our societies and communities,” commented Rev. Sören Lenz.

“Discrimination again women in the 20th century is a fact and as churches we have to be aware of our own practices when it comes to women rights. The debate on equality and new models of living together is going on in religious communities and we hope for more open discussions among CEC Member Churches on this topic,” he added.