Why the #NoAllMalePanels Discussion is Important

Why the #NoAllMalePanels Discussion is Important October 27, 2015

Margari Hill of Muslim ARC, and a featured Muslim woman speaker
Margari Hill of Muslim ARC, and a featured Muslim woman speaker

By Sabina Khan-Ibarra

On the heels of the #NextTimeRememberHer twitter event, Muslim women are calling for their Muslim male allies to stand with them against All Men Panels. They are asking Muslim men to sign the pledge to eliminate all male panels and anthologies.

The issue is not a new one. For years, women have not been asked to be part of important panels. In some cases, panels pertaining to women issues, such as menstruation, marriage, etc have even excluded women speakers.

In 2012, Zahra Billoo, CAIR-SFBA’s Executive Director, began compiling a list of Muslim female speakers. In an interview for ISNA’s Horizon Billoo said, “I started the list because I was tired of hearing that there were no qualified women speakers,” she continued, “[or] that people did not know how to contact Muslim women speakers.”

So far, the list exceeds 345 women. You can add more to the list via this link.

The lack of women being represented in panels is surprising, when there are plenty of women who have the credentials and capabilities to speak on a variety of subjects.  Women like Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, the 23-year-old founder of MuslimGirl.net and who regularly writes for Forbes magazine. Other women like Margari Hill and Namira Islam, the dynamic duo behind MuslimARC– an organization that provides Racial Justice education for and by Muslims.

Linda Sarsour, who is known as the “Islamophobes worst nightmare.” Tamara Gray, The founder of Rabata, an organization dedicated to promoting positive cultural change through individual empowerment; and Ustadha Zaynab Ansari, who is a prominent and respected Islamic scholar. And the list goes on and on.

The #NoAllMalePanels campaign is a grassroots collaborative initiative coordinated by a handful of women.  The campaign is sponsored by MuslimGirl.net, Altmuslimah, Muslimah Montage, Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women, Mipsterz – Muslim Hipsters and Side Entrance.

Everyone is encouraged, especially Muslim male allies to join/collaborate/sponsor/promote this cause.  The hope to is pressure prominent male Muslim speakers to sign this pledge by participating in a Tweetstorm tomorrow using the hashtag #NoAllMalePanels.

Muslim Male Allies have been supportive and voicing their solidarity.  Most recently, some of the prominent #MuslimMaleAllies who have already signed are Suhaib Webb (@ImamSuhaibWebb), Omid Safi (@ostadjaan), Faisal Kutty (@faisalkutty), Aman Ali (@amanali) and Shahed Amanullah (@shahed).

One of the signatories, Aman Ali, stand-up comedian, storyteller, journalist and writer, had this to say on the lack of female speakers:

I … started thinking about all the fantastic speeches I’ve heard this year, and I realized my list includes Linda SarsourSuzanne BarakatYasmin Mogahed and Ingrid Mattson. But for all the Islamic events I go to, their names and so many other powerhouses do not headline the list…How can you have conventions addressing the issues of the community by ignoring 50 percent of the population?

… I want conventions that actually look like the community. That includes women, people of other races and cultures, and even people of different levels of faith to be on stage so that they can mirror the community.

… We have such a beautiful, multicultural and multigenerational faith, and I can only imagine as a woman how discouraging it is to be marginalized in every way possible at these events (let alone in their own communities!).

Another ally, Shahed Amanullah, the CEO of LaunchPosse & cofounder of Affinis Labs – ‎Affinis Labs, says:

Having all-male panels results in male groupthink being positioned as our collective consciousness, and it one of the main reasons why conference conversations have been so stifling.  Ideally half of our panels should be women, but having even one woman speaker breaks open the conversation, helps challenge preconceived notions, and encourages solutions that are workable in society.

So far, more than 60 men, #MuslimMaleAllies , have signed the pledge.

To help promote the event and demand more attention towards it, a Twitter event, using the hashtag #NoAllMalePanels, is scheduled for Wednesday at 5 p.m. PST/ 8 p.m. EST.

The event will be hosted by MuslimGirl.net (@Muslimgirl), AltMuslimah (@AltMuslimah), Love, Inshallah (@loveinshallah), Muslimah Montage (@muslimahmontage), Side Entrance (@Sideentrance), Sabina Khan-Ibarra (@sabinakibarra), Shehnaz Haqqani (@qrratugai) and Zahra Khan (@addfemalespeakers).

Here is the link to the Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1056934854340286/

Please make sure to RSVP on the event page and tell your friends to join in this very important conversation!

Sabina Khan-Ibarra is a freelance writer and editor; she regularly contributes to her blog, Ibrahim’s Tree which focuses on dealing with loss–created after the loss of her infant son in 2011 and Muslimah Montage, a website created as a platform for women to share their stories and inspire others. She also blogs at “Iamthepoppyflower.”


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