FENNA TEN BERGE

Fenna ten Berge is the Director of MPV Nederland, researcher, and textwriter. The focal point of her research is socio-cultural gender-patterns within Islamic societies. She brings to light the very powerful position that women held within early Islamic society, not  by far limited to their possible roles of wives or mothers, and the socio-cultural notions that later overshadowed this understanding. By doing so she hopes to contribute to a society where men and women can fully benefit from the presence of women and femininity in the public sphere and to empower women to overcome societal constraints in the name of Islam. Her work has always been driven by her passion for human rights and dignity, within organisations such as War Child and the Dutch Refugee Council. She was awarded a MA in Gender and Identity in the Middle East from the University of Exeter, with a focus on homosexuality in Islam and Islamic Civilizations, and on the use of internet as a tool for Sudanese women's rights and gender activists to achieve greater participation in the public sphere. Having converted to Islam shortly after receiving her MA, she moved to Sudan, where she experienced first-hand how Islam was used to to limit women's voices, growth, and access to the public sphere. It was then that her passion for human rights and dignity got shaped into a fight for women's rights and for LGBTQI members. As a convert to Islam she wholeheartedly believes in its message of peace, inclusion, human rights and (gender) equality.