Laura Easley/The Falcon Amal Eqeiq, a doctoral student in comparative literature at the University of Washington, compares feminism in the West to feminism in the Islamic East.

Amal Eqeiq, doctoral student at the University of Washington, will never visit Pakistan, a Muslim country more progressive in female government leadership than the United States. She will never visit any self-proclaimed Muslim countries because she is a Palestinian who was raised under the Israeli government.

"When the Middle East sees equal representation of women in the United States government, then we will believe in United States diplomacy," Eqeiq said.

On Saturday, professor Priscilla Pope-Levison and SPU senior Megan Leatherman joined surrounding schools in a discussion of religion and feminism in an all-day forum. The forum "Feminisms and religions: countering mutual silence," started at 9 a.m. and concluded just after 6 p.m. It attracted nearly 150 men and women.

"From the beginning, the planning committee felt there was a real disconnect between people who study religion and people who study feminism," Leatherman said.

To discuss the apparent disconnect, Saturday's forum was broken into four panels discussing "Christianity and Fundamentalism," "Feminism, Religion, and Nation Building," "Feminism and Islam," and "Spirituality and Feminist Action."

Leatherman said the panels were decided over the course of several months. The planners were searching for discussions that would best answer misunderstandings of feminism and religion. The chosen panels all pertained to areas of expertise by the professors and students who planned the forum.

The four panels assessed the full meaning of the word in various religious, national and international settings.

"'Feminism' is a difficult and misunderstood word today," said Leatherman.

These panels were headed by undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students as well as professors from colleges and universities in the Seattle area. The forum addressed the stereotype ascribed to the word "feminism."

"I hope [the audience] understands the complexity of the issues that we are talking about," said Jeannette Rodriguez, professor of theology and women's studies at Seattle University.

Feminism and Islam

Panelist Eqeiq pointed to strong Islamic women in politics such as Benazir Bhutto, who was twice prime minister of Pakistan.

Eqeiq discussed the misconceptions of oppression attributed to Islamic traditions, pointing out that hijabs, Islamic headscarves typically worn by Muslim women, are seen as a sign of enslavement by Western cultures.

Therese Saliba, professor of third-world feminist and Middle East studies at Evergreen State College, said that there are many misperceptions of Islamic people presented by the media.

"Islam is not one face," Saliba said.

Saliba said that the United States uses imperialist feminism, reinforcing the victim status of women, on the women of Islam.

"This kind of feminism [imperialist feminism] has defined U.S. feminism," Saliba said, "...it kind of represents a smug superiority."

Mai Nozaki, a non-credit SPU student who attended the Islam forum said that because she is from Japan, her image of Muslim women only came from the media. Nozaki said that in the news, the Muslim women were much different than those of the panel.

"Most people were unfamiliar with the Islam panel," said Leatherman, "and that made it one of the more interesting discussions of the day."

Saliba said nation building in the post-Sept. 11 context discounted the progression of women who take part in Islamic politics. Saliba pointed to the lack of insight by the United States relating to the culture of Middle East traditions by building Western governments in Middle Eastern countries.

Feminism, Religion, and Nation Building

The panel on nation building piqued the interest of SPU senior Abigail Stahl because it aligned with many of her personal ideals. Stahl is majoring in sociology with a minor in women's studies.

The evidence David Domke, associate professor of communication at the University of Washington, used during the forum displayed a trend in the last four presidencies of an increase in God language and faith talk in politics.

"Christianity is identified with being white American," said David Allen, professor of women's studies at the University of Washington.

Allen said, people vote against their economic interests based on the political parties ideals.

Many Republicans are integrated into the Republican Party because they believe it to be moral and based on ideals of Christianity, Allen said.

"Professor Allen presented a progression of the political left lacking in morality and family values and the political right in having their strength in fear and domination," Stahl said.

Spirituality and Feminist Action

Rodriguez, a Latina Catholic, said that theology in the perspective of Latina women recognized itself as liberation and understands itself with the area of common inspiration.

"Latina women are oppressed women steeped in hope," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said that it was not enough to do theology by having truths deposited in the head and spat back out again. Latina theologians believe in the faith of the people, Rodriguez said.

Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, associate professor of theology and religious studies and associate professor of environmental studies at Seattle University, said that to believe in a religion is to be highly critical of it.

Alka Arora, graduate student at the University of Washington, gave a presentation on a part of her graduate work entitled, "Spirituality and Feminist Activism: Opening a Conversation."

"Why is it so difficult for women to talk openly about their experiences?" Arora said.

Karina, a women interviewed in Arora's graduate work, said that she felt that Bible verses were used against her as weapons because of her practice of indigenous African spirituality.

"The faith of people of color is felt to be not as rationalized," Arora said.

Christianity and Fundamentalism

"Christianity was really gender balanced before the '50s, but after the '50s and through the '80s, it was built around the men," Leatherman said.

SPU senior Anne-Marie Hunsaker discovered only a year ago her interest in becoming a pastor. Hunsaker said this realization was difficult for her because she had grown up believing Christian fundamentalist views that women could not preach.

"I was afraid to tell anyone about this calling to be a pastor," Hunsaker said.

Christians today think that Christians have always been focused on the nuclear family, but in the past, the focus was on getting people saved, Leatherman said.

"I really appreciated that it was an interfaith, multi-school discussion," Stahl said, "I love hearing about what is going on at Seattle University, University Washington, Evergreen State College and other schools."

"I hope the audience took away that feminism and religion can coexist," Leatherman said.