Women of Faith International Women's Day Event (In person event)

Women of Faith International Women’s Day 2022 - #BreaktheBias

Event description:

Motivated by their faith traditions, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism and Judaism we will be joined by women of faith who have been inspired by their religious traditions have broken the bias within their own traditions and wider society.

Please note: This is an in person event on campus at University of Birmingham in Lecture Room 4 (Room 101), Arts Building and it is open to all staff and students in the College of Arts and Law.

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Speaker profiles:

Laura Marks OBE is a consultant and ‘social entrepreneur’, focused on gender, religion and social action as The Common Good. She established the Women’s Faith Forum in 2020.

After launching Mitzvah Day (a now international interfaith day of social action) Laura co-founded Nisa-Nashim, a national Jewish-Muslim women’s network. Her aim is to build positive connections and was honoured in 2019 with the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation.

Having chaired a commission on women she now co-chairs the Alliance of Jewish Women and has launched a Commonwealth Jewish Women’s Network to contribute to the Commonwealth’s Goals around women in developing nations.

Laura chairs the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, learning from genocide, and is on the Steering Group of the UK Freedom of Religion or Belief Forum which addresses identity-based hatred internationally.

She is a regular on Radio 2 ‘Pause for Thought’ and has a column in the Ham and High.

A trustee of the Jewish Leadership Council, Laura is a member and attendee at Alyth synagogue, Golders Green.

Dr Husna Ahmad OBE is a prominent Muslim woman leader focussed on international development, climate change and the moral obligations of business.

She is the CEO of Global One 2015 which is a faith based International NGO focussed specifically on women. With a PhD in International Environmental Law from SOAS, Husna is a Board member of Faith In Water, and Faith for the Climate.

She is a Co – Chair of the UN Inter-agency Task Force on Religion and Development’s Multi- Faith Advisory Council; and the Coordinator for the Alliance of NGOs and CSOs for South-South Cooperation which enhances civil society’s understanding of the value of South-South Cooperation in developmental, humanitarian and related spheres.

Dr Ahmad sits on the Steering Committee of The World Bank’s Moral Imperative Initiative and is an honorary fellow of the Edward Cadbury Centre for the Public understanding of Religion, Birmingham University.

Husna is a trustee of her mosque, Palmers Green Mosque, London.

Marcia Dixon MBE is founder of a specialist PR company MD PR which specialises in promoting and raising awareness of initiatives within the black Church Community.

She also writes a regular column for Keep the Faith, a leading magazine about Britain’s black faith community.

In 2010 Marcia served as a faith adviser to the UK Government alongside 12 other individuals representing various faith traditions.

Marcia is a lead member of the Black Church Domestic Abuse Forum (BCDAF) launched in January 2021. This CIC will provide training for black church leaders so that they can provide more effective and compassionate support of victims of domestic violence and abuse.

Marcia worships at ARC Church in Forest Gate, East London.

Dr Jagbir Jhutti-Johal academic at University of Birmingham

Jagbir has over 20 years’ experience in teaching and research, which looks at public policy, social and political engagement issues relating to the British Sikh community. She focuses on gender inequality, representation and Sikh identity in the diasporic community, racialization and mistaken identity and other contested issues that confront the Sikh community nationally and globally.

Jagbir is an expert advisor to the courts in Sikh matters on divorce, domestic violence and child abuse and sits on a number of community boards focusing on gender, children and LGBTQ issues.

Jagbir was a Commissioner on The Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life (CORAB) and is a steering group member of the UK Freedom of Religion or Belief Forum.

She presents ‘Thought for the Day’ on BBC Radio 4's Today

Joy Madeiros has worked within the Oasis group, a fully inclusive Christian organisation, since 2001, progressing to Global CEO in 2016.

Joy has been responsible for building the structure and governance of Oasis locally, nationally and globally, to deliver its purpose of community transformation everywhere it works.

From 1999, she worked with government and a wide range of faith organisations on the shaping and implementation of the Religion and Belief sections of the Equality Act, 2010. She was instrumental in the formation of the Faithworks Charter that enabled organisations, motivated by their faith, to assure beneficiaries and funders that their faith identity did not inhibit them from committing to equality and diversity.

Currently Joy is a trustee of The Ozanne Foundation which works with religious organisations around the world to eliminate discrimination based on sexuality or gender in order to celebrate the equality and diversity of all.

Joy currently worships at St Mary’s church, Chigwell but previously led Oasis Church Enfield with her husband.

Bijal Majithia is an emerging Hindu woman leader focussed on diversity in the workplace and on community building

She is the Head of Diversity and Inclusion at the CIPD (the central body for Human Resources). Bijal founded and runs Veda London, a non-profit organisation which shares mindfulness, meditation, conscious leadership and wellbeing in the workplace

She is an ambassador and mentor for ‘The Girls Network,’ which seeks to empower girls from least advantaged communities. She is also an ambassador and educator for ‘Binti International’ with a mission to provide menstrual dignity to all girls all over the world.