Feminist studies had recently shifted the focus from women’s rights and their position in society to the role of women in producing religious knowledge. Consequently, women’s active participation in research conferences and symposia had become essential, and the absence of women in such events was increasingly frowned upon. Over the past three decades, women began to produce a distinctively feminist religious knowledge.
Against this background, the speakers in this lecture addressed questions such as: What was the role of women in producing religious knowledge? Which factors affected women’s (non-)contribution to this type of knowledge? How could one understand the accidental or intentional absence of women’s contribution, for those who believed this occurred in Islamic history? Could knowledge be gendered? How could the religious knowledge produced by women be evaluated?
