The Role of Religion in Women's Movements: the campaign for domestication of CEDAW in Nigeria
Abstract
This report presents the findings of a study of the ways in which the Nigerian women's movement engaged with religion during the course of a campaign for legal reform through the domestication (incorporation into national laws) of the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Attempts to incorporate CEDAW into Nigerian laws have failed, ostensibly due to religious opposition. This study aimed to examine the key debates or points of controversy about CEDAW among faith communities. The study found that the net effect of both Christianity and Islam on the nationa-level CEDAW domestication bid was negative, but religious groups exerted and continue to exert some positive influence, which may facilitate constructive engagements between faith and women's rights agenda in the future.
Citation
Working Paper No. 59, Religions and Development Research Programme, University of Birmingham, UK, 79 pp.
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