Struggle for Gender Equality in the Middle East | INSHALLAH EN SØNN

The movie INSHALLAH A BOY is a gripping story about a woman who loses her rights when her husband dies. The Sharia laws in Jordan give the husband's family as much claim to the inheritance as her, unless they have a son together.

With this as a backdrop, ahead of the film screening, we will have a panel discussion on the discrimination of women in the Middle East and how to promote gender equality. We ask:

• How has the development been regarding women's legal status in the region? Are there any signs of progressive development, or has the development completely stagnated?

• What is the best approach to promote women's rights in patriarchal societies?

We are fortunate to have assembled a competent panel to illuminate and discuss these questions:

• Lena Larsen is a religious historian and project manager at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights at the University of Oslo. She has worked extensively with gender equality within Islam.

• Samina Ansari is an entrepreneur, lawyer, and communicator. Among other things, she has worked to promote social entrepreneurship among women in the Middle East and Asia.

• Sylo Taraku will participate in the discussion as the moderator. He is an advisor at the Think Tank Agenda and author of the book «Frihetskampen i Islam».

We welcome everyone to an exciting evening of discussion and film screening on a topic that affects millions of women.

About the film:

In INSHALLAH A BOY, we enter an apartment in Amman where Nawal lives with her husband and their daughter. Life takes a sudden turn when the husband dies and Nawal becomes a widow overnight. The death of her husband forces her to mobilize everything she has to keep her home, and she lies about being pregnant in the fight against her brother-in-law who threatens to take away her home, daughter, and pride. In a society where Nawal and her daughter are nothing without a man, and where patriarchal structures shine through everything from comments on the bus to court hearings, Nawal's hope is kept alive by the possibility that a baby boy can secure their home, a hope that has an unmistakable expiration date.

Practical information:

• Date: Friday, April 12, 2024

• The event starts precisely at 17:30 in Screen 2 at Vika Kino.

• After the film, there will be a discussion about Gender Equality in the Middle East. The conversation will last 30 minutes.

• The conversation will be in Norwegian.

Collaborators:

The event is done in collaboration with Tankesmien Agenda.