Lecture
Details
The lectures are conducted under the PCID-KAS University Lecture Series project, which aims to increase the youth’s awareness and participation in issues related to Islam and democracy.
Women’s Reproductive Health: A Path for Gender Development
Prof. Datin Rashidah Shuib, Professor and Director of the Women’s Research Development Research Center in Universiti Sains Malaysia, conducted the lecture in Ateneo de Davao University, 25 January 2010. Members of the Ateneo Moro Youth Organization and other students of the university attended the event.
Prof. Shuib discussed the social costs of women’s poor reproductive health. A woman performs multiple roles in society – as wife, mother, and community leader. “If a woman dies from poor reproductive health conditions, we lose a mother of many children. We lose a caring wife. And we take out all possibilities of the things she could have done for her people,” Shuib said.
Shuib also discussed the possibilities that young women can explore in order to contribute to gender equality in the context of Islam. Women are accorded rights in Islam, especially in upholding her health being, and those who depend on her. The participants, a lot of which are young Muslim women, responded eagerly to the professor’s sharing.
Capacitating Women for National Development
On January 26, Dr. Amany Lubis of the Muslimat Nadhlatul Ulama in Indonesia discussed capacity-building of women for national development based on the experience of her organization to more than a hundred attendees of the lecture in University of the Philippines-Mindanao.
She talked about how the Nadhlatul Ulama have worked with the Indonesian government to pursue the delivery of services and empowering women. The lecture crowd – composed of students, teachers, and representatives from women’s organizations – asked questions about the journey of the Nadhlatul Ulama in its engagement with government for insights on how the strategies can be applied to the Philippine context.
Representatives from the Office of the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia based in Davao also attended the lecture.
Politics and Religion
In partnership with the Department of Political Science of the Ateneo de Davao University, another lecture was conducted on January 27 with Dr. Imam Addaruquthni, Chairman of the Muhammadiyah Dawah Committee and Member of Parliament in Indonesia, as keynote speaker.
He talked about citizenship and democracy in the context of religion and of the state, and the consistency in their pursuit of better lives for its citizens. He explained that the process of uniting religion and politics has been successful in Indonesia, but the Philippines would have to create its own model.
Students and teachers asked questions about the experience of Suharto’s dictatorship in Indonesia, the controversies of political celebrities, and the speaker’s opinion on politics in the Philippines.
