REGENN meeting: Gender and Conversion

We are happy to invite you to our next REGENN meeting, which will take place online on 11 November 2022, from 15.00 to 17.00. For this meeting, we have invited Lieke Schrijvers to speak about “Gender and Conversion: New Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Women in the Netherlands.”

What does it mean to join a religion as a Dutch woman? How do female converts deal with stereotypes about religion and emancipation? How do their experiences differ in Judaism, Christianity or Islam? In this lecture, Lieke Schrijvers will discuss her PhD dissertation, which she defended in September this year. This ethnographic research looks into the everyday experiences of women who were not raised with a religion and joined Judaism, Christianity or Islam. The main focus is on questions of gender. In public discourse, female converts are often stereotypically discussed as having a false consciousness, being forced by a husband, or as giving up their emancipated status. With this research, the aim is to bring nuance to this debate by providing more in-depth understanding of women’s religious lives. This research explores the experiences of women themselves by not merely asking why they convert, but how conversion shapes everyday life with regards to gender, sexuality and belonging. In this lecture, Schrijvers will discuss some of the main insights of her research. 

In addition, Anne-Maria van Hilst will speak as a respondent. Anne-Maria van Hilst is an educator, diversity specialist and speaker in interreligious dialogue. She is an expert in sexuality in Judaism, Jewish women throughout history, and contemporary Jewish life in Amsterdam.

This meeting will be in English and will take place via Zoom. Registration is possible by sending an e-mail to regennetherlands@gmail.com.