Washington: Number of women in leadership position and board of trustees in American mosques have increased substantially in the past ten years, the latest survey showed.
“About nine-in-ten U.S. mosques – a whopping 88%, allow women on their board of trustees or a similar administrative body, and 61% say that women have served on the board at some point in the last five years”, a latest survey by Washington based Pew Research Centre said.
“By comparison, a decade ago about three-quarters of mosques (77%), allowed women to serve on their board of directors, and only about half (51%) said that women had served in the last five years”, the survey has found.
The survey also showed that number of women and children in mosques for Friday and regular prayers is also increasing across mosques in the United States.
“The share of mosques in which adult women account for more than a quarter of all attendees at the Friday Jumah prayer service grew between 2011 and 2020”, Pew Research Centre said in a report citing a study conducted by Ihsan Bagby, an associate professor of Islamic studies, for Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) as part of the 2020 Faith Communities Today (FACT) study.
“Women represented more than a quarter of attendees at just 14% of U.S. mosques in 2011, a share that rose to 21% of mosques by 2020”, the study said.
The survey also found that while 44% of mosques have no children at the Friday prayer service (which typically happens during the school day), children were present in 55% of mosques.
The survey also found that women groups, and activities and programs related to women are also increasing in most of the US mosques.
“The new FACT study found that most U.S. mosques (55%) have a dedicated women’s group, and roughly three-quarters (77%) have activities or programs specifically for women,” Pew Research Centre said.
“On both of these measures, mosques’ efforts have grown since 2011. At that point, only 29% of mosques had a women’s group, and seven-in-ten (69%) had activities or programs specifically for women”, the survey said.
The survey should work an eye-opener for Muslims in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other South Asian countries where allowing Muslim women for prayers in mosques is still considered forbidden.
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