280 Park Hall, North Campus

SPRING 2006 RESEARCH FORUM

The Gender Institute and the Department of Women’s Studies present

Open Society Program Fellows

Medea Badashvili, Rutgers University
and
Tamar Dagargulia, University at Buffalo

speaking on

MUSLIM WOMEN IN GEORGIA

The forum will address the construction of Muslim women’s identity in Georgia and offer an overview as well as a comparative analysis of the impact of various factors on the integration of Muslim women into Georgian society.

Georgia is interwoven with the Muslim world both geographically and geopolitically: 10 % of the Georgian population is Muslim. The ethnically diverse Muslim groups (Azeris, Georgians, Kystins-Vainakhs, etc.), have similarities in their demographic and social behavior due their religious homogeneity.

Research was conducted in three different regions of Georgia, using a survey instrument designed to deepen our understanding of the construction of Muslim women’s identity in Georgia from their own perspective. It provides a comparative analysis of how this construction process is affected by socio-economic and political factors, and defines the level of Muslim women’s integration in Georgian society.

• How do Muslim women negotiate belonging both to a religious minority and a second-class gender?
• How is 21st century Georgia addressing democracy and women’s participation in civil society?
• What lessons can be learned from Georgia on gender integration?

Beverages will be provided.