Intersectional approach to gender, Islam, and bioethics

Abstract: Our panel explores the convergence of Islamic ethics, feminism, and bioethics from an intersectional lens. The first talk focuses on the embodied nature of decision-making processes as practitioners of faith, in hopes to contribute to the broader discourse on inclusive and religiously informed bioethical perspectives. The second one explores “all-or-nothing” approaches to Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery (FGCS) procedures in women’s healthcare – particularly Muslim women – i.e., those that overemphasize either women’s autonomy so as to defend total accessibility to the procedures, or the oppressive social context affecting women as to defend the total banning of the procedures. The panel ends with a talk on why we need to add religious minorities to diversify clinical trial participants. All three talks adopt an inclusive approach to bioethics so that our discourses surrounding Muslim women are more nuanced and ethical.