Burdwan: A mosque in West Bengal’s Burdwan district has decided to keep its doors open for women for Friday prayers.
The decision has come as a major boost for gender equality.
The mosque in Burdwan’s Goda area, which until recently only allowed women to pray at its premises on the festival of Eid, will now allow them to pray on Fridays.
The three-storeyed Goda mosque will allow women on the second floor of the structure, while the elderly will pray on the ground floor and the men will use the third floor.
The development comes in the backdrop of widespread violence in Kerala regarding the entry of women of menstruating age to enter the Lord Ayyappa shrine in Sabarimala.
However, a cleric of the mosque has suggested that women be given separate enclosure as they don’t want a ‘Metoo’ movement in the mosque.
“Women have been allowed in mosques since the time of Prophet Muhammad but in separate enclosures. They’re not allowed in men’s section because we do not want a ‘MeToo’ movement in the mosque” said the cleric.
MeToo is a movement against sexual assault and sexual harassment, especially at the workplace, which went viral in October 2017 after sexual assault charges were made against powerful Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
