Across the globe, religion plays a critical role in shaping attitudes about gender norms and sexuality, which in turn have a profound effect on people’s everyday lives. A new Faith, Gender and Sexuality Toolkit was launched, seeking to build knowledge and provide crucial support for faith communities and leaders working to promote social justice in relation to gender and sexuality.
Developed by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Sonke Gender Justice, and the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies (WICDS) together with communities and leaders from a range of faiths, the free interactive Toolkit debunks dangerous myths and encourages exploration and reflection on different ways to think about sexuality and gender diversity.
Crucially, the Toolkit highlights how faith leaders and communities can be effective allies in advancing human rights. It demonstrates how some religious and cultural practices enhance human life and how some are misused to deny rights, and that culture and tradition are not static but open to re-interpretation, reinvention or re-imagining.
Increasing knowledge about the links between sexuality, gender and faith is a vital step in tackling the social injustices that affect millions of people globally, and faith leaders have a critical role to play in influencing attitudes, social norms and policy.
Click here to access this new resource.