Women’s interfaith group meets with government official ahead of report

A new women’s interfaith group have met with the government officials to contribute to a new report on engagement with faith groups.

The Women’s Faith Forum, which includes Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Jewish members, met with Colin Bloom, the Faith Engagement Advisor at the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, to offer opinions on how government can better engage with faith groups.

Issues raised in the meeting included lack of female faith-based representation in government policy and decision making, the difficulties faith groups have faced during the pandemic and the exclusion of faith from the Diversity and Inclusion agenda.

Jewish convenor and chair of the Forum Laura Marks commented: “Not only do we need to hear more women’s voices, we also need to understand their vital contribution to the work, thinking and very soul of the faith communities. We were delighted to be able to feed directly into this important review.”

The independent Faith Engagement Review was established in 2019 to help the government better understand how those of faith, or of none, deem the government’s engagement with faith communities. The recommendations established in the findings will be presented to the Communities Secretary.

Bloom said: “I’m so grateful to the Women’s Faith Forum for the really in-depth contribution it has made to the evidence gathering for my review…. spending time with such a powerful group of women from diverse faith groups has been enormously insightful.”