Eighth Debate on Belief and Unbelief: "Do Muslim Societies Need Islamic Feminism?"
The Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California (ICCNC) will hold its eighth debate titled "Do Muslim Societies Need Islamic Feminism?" on Saturday, September 6, 2025 at 10:00 AM (Los Angeles Time). Dr. Marziyeh Bakhshizadeh and Dr. Ziba Mir-Hosseini will participate in the debate. Dr. Yaser Mirdamadi moderates this debate.
The purpose of these debates is to broaden and deepen the general public’s understanding of religion in the 21st century. The general theme of the debate series is Belief and Unbelief in a “Post-Secular Era.”
The debate will be live-streamed on Zoom and on ICCNC's YouTube Channel.
Biographies
Dr. Marziyeh Bakhshizadeh iis a social researcher with an interdisciplinary background in Sociology, Gender Studies, and Religious Studies. She earned her PhD in Social Science from Ruhr University Bochum in Germany with a dissertation titled Changing Gender Norms in Islam: Between Reason and Revelation, which integrates sociological, gender-theoretical, and sociology of religion perspectives.
Her current research explores the intersection of gender, religion, and social participation in postmigrant societies. She completed a qualitative interview study with Muslim migrant women in Germany, with findings to be published in a forthcoming chapter, “Muslim Women in the Intersection of Religion and Secularism: Challenges in Identity and Integration.” She is also the author of “A Social Psychological Critique on Islamic Feminism” (Religions, 2023), published in the peer-reviewed special issue Muslim Women at the Margins.
Dr. Bakhshizadeh has held teaching positions at various German universities and has held a professorship in diversity-oriented social work at the Theological University of Applied Sciences Reutlingen. Her teaching and research are grounded in intersectionality, critical human rights education, and inclusive pedagogy. She also draws on extensive practical experience working with refugees and developing empowerment-oriented workshops for migrant women from Islamic countries living in Germany.
Dr. Ziba Mir-Hosseini is a legal anthropologist and a founding member of Musawah, the global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family. An independent scholar, she is currently a Professorial Research Associate at the Centre for Islamic and Middle Eastern Law, SOAS, University of London. Her books include Islam and Gender: The Religious Debate in Contemporary Iran (1999) and Journeys Toward Gender Equality in Islam(2022), which was also translated into Persian in 2025. She co-directed two award-winning documentary films on Iran, Divorce Iranian Style (1998) and Runaway (2001), and received the American Academy of Religion’s 2015 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion.
Dr. Yaser Mirdamadi is a researcher in medical ethics at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London. In 2019, he received Ph.D. in Islamic and Middle East Studies from the University of Edinborough. He has an MA in Muslim Cultures from Aga Khan University, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations (AKU-ISMC) London, UK, and an MA in Islamic Theology from Ferdowsi University Mashhad, Iran. Also, Dr. Mirdamadi completed a Level 3 Diploma (equivalent to a Master’s degree) in Classical Islamic studies from Hawza Ilmiyya (Islamic Seminary), Mashhad, Iran.
