More than 70% of Norwegian mosques have no women on the board, even though they receive almost NOK 170 million in state aid.
A survey carried out by NRK news showed that the proportion of women on the boards of all Norwegian mosques is 8%. That is, 68 women out of a total of 845 board members in 134 Muslim religious communities. In 71.8% of the mosques there are no women on the board at all.
The proportion of women on the parish boards of the Norwegian Church is 59%.
But in Christian denominations outside the Norwegian Church, most often Protestant churches that are more conservative, the proportion is 30%, and 15.6% of these churches’ boards have no women on them.
In the Catholic Church in Norway, the proportion of women on the boards is 49%.
The Rabita Mosque in Oslo, which is Norway’s tenth largest Muslim faith community, is one of the mosques where a conscious attempt is being made to bring more women onto the board, even though women still stand by themselves behind barriers in the mosque during prayer.
In the Rabita mosque, there are two women on a board of eight, but
spokesperson, Basim Ghozlan and general manager, Djamel Selhi, said they aim to increase the proportion of women.
Religious historian, Kari Vogt said that the numbers should not surprise anyone considering that in several Muslim countries there are mosques where women do not even have access.
She said that the traditional view is that the women belong to the home sphere, where they should take care of husbands and children, and they pray at home.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
