International Islamic University to hold MOOT on Women Universities

To explore the potential of women’s universities to bolster and strengthen females, the International Islamic University (IIU) will organise a two-day International Interdisciplinary Conference on ‘Women’s Universities as Agents of Change’ here on Friday (November 26). Federal Minister for Information Qamar-uz-Zaman Kaira will be the chief guest and IIU Rector Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik shall preside over the ceremony, while IIU President Dr. Anwar Hussain Siddiqui will inaugurate the ceremony. The multidisciplinary conference seeks to analyse the role of such institutions to strengthen women, a segment of society that has traditionally been marginalised. In view of an increasing realisation of the indispensable role of education in the promotion of meaningful social change, the conference will try to bring together researchers to discuss how women’s universities can serve as a centre-stage and launching pad for a programme to interrogate and redress gender inequality, to reduce the gender gap, to formulate a pedagogy which instills critical selfhood and consciousness in women and to promote higher education and skill development in women. Some of the major themes in the conference include ‘Women’s Universities: Women’s Education, Female Empowerment and Social Change’, ‘Professional Development of Women’, ‘Gender Roles and Cultural Forms: Media and Literary Representation of Women’ and “Islam and Women’s Empowerment”. The conference will bring together a group of 42 international as well as national speakers on a wide range of themes dealing with pedagogical, sociological, psychological, religious, literary and cultural issues related to women’s education, gender studies and female empowerment. There are five key-note speakers from different parts of the world, including Dr. Maria Jaschok from the University of Oxford, U.K.; Dr. Sylvia Maier from the University of New York, USA; Dr. Nor Faridah Abdul Manaf from the International Islamic University, Malaysia; and Dr. Anees Ahmad (Riphah International University) and Dr. Shahid Siddiqui (Lahore School of Economics) from Pakistan. In addition, 37 speakers from Malaysia, England and all over Pakistan will be presenting their papers.