Stakeholders in the country, recently, took part in a one-day national consultative meeting held at the Head office of the Gambia Committee on Traditional Practices (Gamcotrap), in Bakau. Accordingly, the forum was meant to introduce the participants to Musawah (equality).

According to Dr. Isatou Touray, Executive Director, Gamcotrap, Musawah is a global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family. Its overall goal, she said, is to provide support for national and regional initiatives that push for equality and justice within the by sharing information, tools and analysis of justifications for reform and by ensuring visibility on the issues.

Musawah, she noted, declares that change is necessary because many Muslim family laws and practices are unjust and do not respond to the lives and experience of Muslim families and individuals. She stated: "Musawah declares that change is possible through a framework of equality and justice that is consistent with Islamic teachings, universal human rights principles, among others.

She revealed further that the movement and its declaration of practices would be launched at a global meeting to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in February 2009.

Other speakers at the meeting included Dr. Omar Jah, Aja Maimuna Savage, Imam Baba Leigh and Mrs. Adelaide Sosseh-Gaye. They all welcomed the initiative, acknowledging the various forms of injustice that women face in our societies, which call for change.