Why is WISE unique?
As an initiative with both global scale and deep roots in Muslim communities throughout the world, WISE is generating critical momentum for change.
The problems and challenges facing Muslim women across the globe are vast and multi-various. Consequently, the more organizations dedicated to creating change, the more powerful this momentum can become. The WISE program has developed a collaborative strategy that compliments organizations working to advancing the position of Muslim women. It fosters collaboration and supports the diverse work of Muslim women leaders worldwide, building capacity for collective action.
Nevertheless, all WISE programs are without precedent in scope, scale and mission. Holistic and comprehensive, WISE is transforming the position of Muslim women in innumerable contexts from within the Islamic faith and traditions. The initiative is unique in the following key ways:
WISE is authentic to the Islamic tradition. Muslim women’s movements remain hampered by their inability or unwillingness to confront destructive religious interpretations. Activists have tended to ignore or avoid religion, thus failing to mobilize large portions of their grassroots constituencies who draw upon religion within their daily lives. WISE, in contrast, offers a Muslim voice. It directly addresses the need for a Muslim women’s movement with religious legitimacy and authenticity. It recognizes the importance of religion in the day-to-day lives of women, both promoting Islamic arguments to demand the human rights of women and facilitating the dissemination of these arguments to the larger WISE network.
WISE is comprehensive and holistic. Though numerous organizations have wrestled with Muslim women’s disempowerment, rarely have they taken into account the various factors in a holistic manner. Due to a lack of context-specific knowledge, these approaches typically have employed a distinctly Western framework for understanding the problem, relying exclusively on measurements of economic status, educational level, health care or political participation. WISE approaches change from a holistic perspective that addresses the many interrelated factors that contribute to gender-based inequality.
WISE is structured as a global and inclusive movement. While Muslim women’s advocacy efforts have often fragmented, WISE breaks ground as an inclusive initiative. Drawing in women from across a wide spectrum of ideologies, professions and nationalities, it has fostered cooperation amongst divergent and sometimes opposing groups. Facilitated by this national, ideological and professional diversity, WISE women have united behind Islamic ideals and the commitment to creating positive, sustainable and much-needed change. Furthermore, WISE utilizes a top-down and bottom-up approach that is simultaneously global and grassroots, insuring direct access to local contexts via its network and local chapters.