FINLAND & PALESTINE Proceedings of a Joint Workshop

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candidates and their ideology, but are wary of their wish to
dictate how other women should live their lives.
There is a diversity of women's movements and feminist ideologies
in Palestine. Not all women see the solution for the
improvement of women's position in society in the same way;
neither do all women live in similar conditions in Palestine. It
takes sincere and open negotiations between the groups to
avoid an open clash between secular feminism and religious
feminism.
Islamic feminism advocates women's rights, gender equality,
and social justice, using Islamic argumentation as its paramount
discourse. Secular feminists stress the distinction between
personal observance of religion and the political sphere
of institutionalized religion. Nevertheless, some of the specific
goals of Islamic feminists are the same as those articulated earlier
by secular feminists, such as changes in various national,
Muslim, personal status codes.
Finnishfeminism
Finland's reputation as a pioneer of women's rights is based on
its position as the first European country in which women
gained the right to vote and stand in parliamentary elections. A
strong tradition of parliamentary representation has been
maintained until the present day, since the proportion of
women MPs is still relatively high. Until the late 1970s, it was
higher than in any other Western country. The representation
of women in the Finnish Parliament is now third in the world
after Rwanda and Sweden, but it is first in the number of female
ministers.
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