sister-hood is an international platform for the voices of women of Muslim heritage founded in 2007 by Norwegian,

film-maker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screenwritin ...

and

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

activist

Deeyah Khan Deeyah Khan (, , born 7 August 1977) is a Norwegian documentary film director and human rights activist of Punjabi/Pashtun descent. Deeyah is a two-time Emmy Award winner, two time Peabody Award winner, a BAFTA winner and has received the Roya ...

through her media and arts production company

Fuuse Fuuse is an independent music, arts and film production company founded by Norwegian artist, (film and music maker) Deeyah Khan. Fuuse is based in Norway and specialises in creating music and film projects rooted in art, culture and activism to ...

. sister-hood was relaunched in 2016 as a global online magazine and live events platform promoting the voices of women of Muslim heritage. Within six month of its relaunch as an online magazine, sister-hood won Espoke Living Best Website at the 2016 Asian Media Awards for highlighting female equality as well as creating awareness of issues affecting Muslim women. sister-hood magazine ambassadors include

Farida Shaheed Farida Shaheed () is a Pakistani sociologist and feminist human rights activist. In 2012, she was appointed the United Nations Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, while she held that role in the field of education from 2022. She h ...

from Pakistan, Egyptian

Mona Eltahawy Mona Eltahawy (, ; born August 1, 1967) is a freelance Egyptian-American journalist and social commentator based in New York City. She has written essays and op-eds for publications worldwide on Egypt and the Islamic world, on topics including wo ...

, Palestinian

Rula Jebreal Rula Jebreal (; ; born 24 April 1973) is a Palestinian foreign policy analyst, journalist, novelist and screenwriter with dual Israeli and Italian citizenship. She was a commentator for MSNBC. Early life and education Jebreal was born in H ...

Leyla Hussein Leyla Hussein () is a Somali-born British psychotherapist and social activist. She is the founder of Dahlia project,"'FGM is violence, child abuse and sexual assault' – Leyla Hussein",''The London Economic'', 8 September 2017. one of the co- ...

of Somali heritage and Algerian

Marieme Helie Lucas Marieme Helie Lucas is an Algerian sociologist as well as an activist for women's rights and secularism. She occupied leadership positions in human rights groups starting in the 1980s. Influences and activism Along with a strong family traditi ...

Goals

The goals of sister-hood are to promote known and unknown women of Muslim heritage working for human rights,

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

, peace and social justice And to highlight women from history and today who have fought for personal rights and bodily integrity, who extended solidarity to women and other downtrodden people, and who improved their societies as scholars, artists, saints and activists.

History

Sister-hood originally started in 2007 as an Online Mixtape, featuring the unreleased songs by young female rappers, singers and poets of Muslim heritage from Europe and the United States, to promote the creativity of women who often faced barriers in expressing themselves creatively. Khan stated that ‘many of them have been actively discouraged, even by their own communities, from expressing their thoughts and dreams through music,’ a situation which she had faced herself in her early career as a musician. The young women's tracks dealt with a variety of issues, from war, racism, love, romance, living in a post-9/11 world, women's rights issues, identity, sexuality, a sense of belonging, faith, and the personal experiences of being young, socially conscious Muslim women in the West.

Projects

* Sisterhood Online Mixtape (2008) is the first project presented by Sisterhood. * In 2015 Deeyah and Fuuse produced

World Woman WORLD WOMAN is a festival of art and activism in Oslo founded in 2015 by filmmaker and activist Deeyah Khan. The festival highlights the voices of artists and activists from around the world and promotes courage, creativity and compassion through ...

, a two-day conference in Oslo which brought together feminists like

Nawal El Saadawi Nawal El Saadawi (, , 22 October 1931 – 21 March 2021) was an Egyptian feminist writer, activist and physician. She wrote numerous books on the subject of women in Islam, focusing on the concerns of third-world women pertaining to sexuality, p ...

Hina Jilani Hina Jilani (؛ born 19 December 1953) is a lawyer at the Supreme Court of Pakistan and a human rights advocate from Lahore, Punjab. She co-founded Pakistan's first all-women law firm, its first legal aid centre, and the Women's Action Forum. ...

Shirin Ebadi Shirin Ebadi (; born 21 June 1947) is an Iranian Nobel laureate, lawyer, writer, teacher and a former judge and founder of the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran. In 2003, Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her pioneering effor ...

, Yanar Mohammed,

and others. The positive reactions from the women inspired Deeyah to reignite sister-hood as a much larger project taking the form of a sister-hood magazine and a series of sister-hood live events as platforms for known and unknown voices of women of Muslim heritage. * The

online magazine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to an online only magazine was the comput ...

sister-hood was launched on 16 May 2016, announced on BBC Woman's Hour. In an interview with

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

, Khan described the magazine as shattering stereotypes around women of Muslim heritage, and providing an outlet for women's rights activists who challenge the status quo both within and outside the Muslim world. She expressed a determination to use the platform as a means to develop activism and increase the representation of women of Muslim origin in the public sphere. The launch edition included articles from Nawal el-Sadaawi, Karima Bennouce,

and Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini . With art and multimedia content as well as written articles, the magazine aims to reflect the diversity of women of Muslim heritage, with a broad characterisation of what it means to have a Muslim identity. Deeyah said to Al Jazeera: ‘sister-hood is for all women and girls of Muslim heritage, regardless of age, ethnicity or sexuality. Former Muslims, cultural Muslims, and agnostics are just as welcome to contribute and participate as the devout; all sects and denominations are welcome.’ The magazine is funded by Khan herself, with a small grant from Norwegian Freedom of Expression foundation Fritt Ord. sister-hood magazine founder and editor in chief is Deeyah Khan. Deputy editor in chief is Dr. J. Payton. Managing editor is Afak Afgun, Asia editor is Hyshyama Hamin and deputy editor is Mediah Ahmed.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Feminism in Norway Islamic feminism Islam in Norway Women's organisations based in Norway