Across the world, rights linked to gender, sexuality, and bodily autonomy face renewed opposition. From battles over abortion access to intensifying crackdowns on LGBTQ+ communities, political and cultural polarization is growing—and religion is often at the center of controversy. Conservative religious leaders warn of a threatening “gender ideology,” while many secular rights advocates dismiss religion as inherently patriarchal and discriminatory. The result is a familiar stand‑off: faith versus gender equality.
But there are actors who challenge this dichotomy. A vibrant and expanding movement of faith-based women’s organizations, queer activists, feminist theologians, and grassroots groups engage—often at significant personal risk—in the struggle for gender justice. For them, human rights are not in opposition to their faith but deeply ingrained in it. Their activism demonstrates that the relationship between religion and rights is far more dynamic, contested, and fertile than the usual polarized debates would lead us to believe.
A new international research initiative, GenderJustice, explores this emerging global landscape. Its initial foci include Christian and Muslim activists in Colombia, Kenya, Pakistan, and Indonesia reinterpreting religious authority, challenging discrimination, and building bridges across deep ideological divides.
Reclaiming the sacred
Many activists begin their work with theology. They argue that what undermines gender equality is not religion itself but long-unchallenged patriarchal interpretations of sacred principles and traditions. Their efforts include reframing religious narratives, questioning male‑dominated leadership, and reclaiming interpretive authority from the monopoly of clerics.
The Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians leverages scholarship rooted in the lived experiences of African women to challenge discriminatory norms embedded in church traditions and highlight how scripture can instead support equality, dignity, and justice. In Colombia, Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir centers feminist Catholic theology in its advocacy for reproductive rights and demonstrates how faith‑based reasoning can be a powerful tool for progressive change. Their theological arguments have helped shape public discourse and build support for reform of the country’s abortion laws.
The theological efforts of progressive religious activists are not limited to ideas alone. Many also engage in institutional reform, challenging patriarchal structures and practices in their religious communities. When Muslim feminist Amina Wadud led mixed‑gender Friday prayers in Cape Town in 1994, she broke centuries‑old conventions and catalyzed debates on women’s religious authority. In Kenya, the Cosmopolitan Affirming Church welcomes LGBTQ+ Christians and offers queer‑affirming liturgies. Similarly, Indonesia’s Wariah al‑Fatah—a religious school for transgender people—provides students with spiritual education in an environment free from the hostility they face elsewhere.
Quieter, community‑based efforts parallel these more formally organized forms of activism. Across different geographic and religious contexts, activists have established small groups of believers who collectively read and reinterpret religious texts, encouraging participants to challenge discrimination in their daily lives. For example, Musawah, a global movement for equality in Muslim family laws, trains laypeople to engage with sacred texts, helping to democratize religious knowledge and empower ordinary believers.
Bridging the gap between rights and faith
In many parts of the world, people view human rights with a certain suspicion: as foreign, secular, or disconnected from everyday realities. This is particularly the case for rights relating to gender and sexuality, which critics often portray as Western imports.
When activist Zainah Anwar spoke with local Malaysian women as a young women’s rights advocate, she found that they turned to the Qur’an—not international women’s rights conventions—for guidance on issues like domestic violence or forced marriage. This insight inspired her to cofound the NGO Sisters in Islam, which promotes interpretations of Islam that emphasize equality and justice. Similarly, the global interfaith movement Side by Side Gender Justice seeks to make human rights more resonant by “translating” them into religious language and local ways of thinking.
Along with many other religious gender justice activists, members of these organizations insist that values like equality, dignity, and nondiscrimination are not foreign imports—they are values already deeply embedded in their own religious traditions. Their work helps counter the growing mistrust of human rights in many societies and opens space for rights discourses in environments resistant to secular advocacy.
Under pressure from every direction
But insisting on a deep connection between religion and human rights comes at a cost. The threats, harassment, and violence faced by gender and sexuality rights advocates around the world are uniquely compounded for religious activists who encounter a distinctive double pressure.
Conservative coreligionists may accuse activists of betraying their faith, corrupting tradition, or promoting immorality—claims that may escalate to legal actions, threats, vandalism, or violence. For instance, a hardline group attacked Indonesia’s Wariah al‑Fatah school in 2016, forcing it to close temporarily. In Malaysia, Sisters in Islam faced a fatwa for allegedly promoting “liberalism and pluralism.” Even after a partial court victory in 2025, the pressure continues.
At the same time, members of the secular gender justice movement may meet their religious would-be colleagues with skepticism and prejudice, finding it difficult to believe that a genuine commitment to gender justice can coexist with religiosity. At worst, they may dismiss religious activists entirely as de facto complicit in their religion’s gender-discriminatory practices.
Bridge‑builders in a polarized world
Their “in-betweenness” compels religious activists fighting for gender justice to navigate challenging pressures from multiple sides. But this gives them a unique ability to bridge divides. Their fluency in both religious and rights‑based language may enable them to open otherwise-impossible conversations.
In Lebanon, the interfaith Adyan Foundation brings together religious leaders, women’s rights organizers, and policymakers to address polarization. The Global Interfaith Network facilitates dialogues among queer believers and religious leaders in several African countries by creating spaces of mutual trust, respect, and doctrinal flexibility.
Such initiatives show that religious gender justice activists can play an essential role in challenging the rigid binaries that fuel polarization.
Why religious gender justice activists matter
As global debates over gender, sexuality, and rights intensify, understanding the role of religious activists is crucial. Ignoring their advocacy for gender justice risks misdiagnosing the relationship between religion and rights, undermining potential alliances, and missing opportunities to protect threatened activists. Most importantly, failing to recognize these voices means overlooking the many individuals who refuse to choose between their religion and their rights.
The message of religious gender justice activists around the world is simple but powerful: nondiscrimination, equality, and faith are not incompatible. Their work demonstrates that religion can be a source of justice—and that meaningful progress often comes from those who inhabit multiple worlds.