In this week’s Week in Wisdom, our weekly round up of what we’re reading and watching, I shared the trailer for the film Wadjda, a compelling film – one of those films you wake up thinking about the next morning.? It evokes so many questions and feelings. How will we in the West deal with the Arab Muslim version of feminism, which will be very different from ours? (Do a search for Arab – Muslim feminism and you will get close to 3 million results.) Can Muslim feminists reclaim their religion and untangle it from the oppressive patriarchies that dominate it?
Is Islam the problem or the platform for change?? How does our support and close ties with the Saudi regime help maintain the very brutal inequality we criticize and feel so morally superior to?
And where are we in our long, painful struggle for women’s equality? ?Where do we not yet have it right here in our country – the objectification of women, our hyper-sexualized public culture, the explosion of pornography, the inequality of pay, the disproportionate poverty women suffer, the corporate glass ceiling etc. etc.
Social change is complicated and contexts make a difference. Watching Wadjda I couldn’t help but feel something is changing. Recently, it was announced that women could ride bikes – albeit clothed head-to-toe, accompanied by a male guardian, in restricted areas and for recreation only.
Rabbi Irwin Kula is a 7th generation rabbi and a disruptive spiritual innovator. A rogue thinker, author of the award-winning book, Yearnings: Embracing the Sacred Messiness of Life, and President-Emeritus of Clal – The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, he works at the intersection of religion, innovation, and human flourishing. A popular commentator in both new and traditional media, he is co-founder with Craig Hatkoff and the late Professor Clay Christensen of The Disruptor Foundation whose mission is to advance disruptive innovation theory and its application in societal critical domains. He serves as a consultant to a wide range of foundations, organizations, think tanks, and businesses and is on the leadership team of Coburn Ventures, where he offers uncommon inputs on cultural and societal change to institutional investors across sectors and companies worldwide.