Polygamous Marriages in Peninsular Malaysia: Family, Gender and Religion at the Crossroads

About

Norani Othman is one of Sisters in Islams seven founding members. She was also founding Research Fellow of IKMAS (Institute of Malaysian & International Studies) Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and until January 2011 its Principal Research Fellow and Professor of Sociology specialising in issues related to Islamic societies human rights rights & empowerment of women democratisation and globalisation. Rozana Isa has been in the womens rights movement for two decades. A graduate in accounting she began her activism with the Womens Aid Organisation in 1999. Over the years she was exposed to the challenges faced by women to have their rights recognised and exercised in the context of increasing politicisation of race and religion within a democratic nation with parallel legal systems. She believes that knowledge engagement and community building are part of the key ingredients to address ethno-religious extremisms and to raise consciousness on gender equality. She currently serves as Executive Director for Sisters in Islam an NGO working on womens rights within the framework of Islam. Yaso Nadarajah is an Associate Professor in the School of Global Urban & Social Studies at RMIT University Melbourne Australia;  Researcher Educator and Development Sociologist with a special interest in the areas of human ingenuity community engagement and international development. As Key A key researcher Researcher in RMITs Centre forRMIT Social Equity Research Centre Global Research her primaryone of her major projects was undertaking was the Local-Global Community Sustainability project a study of communities across a range of sites in Australia Sri Lanka India Malaysia East Timor and Papua New Guinea. This study has generated a wide range of research reports and academic publications with a visible influence on public and community development policy. She is continuing her research in Papua New Guinea India Malaysia and Australia where she is working on a body of work around social change cultural transformation and building from the ground up.