Most American mosques do a poor job of including women, according to a recent study co-sponsored by the Islamic Society of North America. Sometimes that means subpar women’s prayer spaces, a lack of leadership roles or little programming relevant to women.
For Edina Lekovic, a recent visit to a mosque meant being asked to use a separate entrance from the one men use. Lekovic works for the Muslim Public Affairs Council and sits on a regional Islamic advisory board in Southern California. She goes to mosques a lot for meetings and Friday prayers.
“I was walking towards the front door only to be told by a boy of no more than 12 years old — he pointed to the side of the building and said, ‘Oh, the sisters’ entrance is over there,’ ” she says.
Lekovic is religious: She covers her hair and doesn’t mind praying separately from men as is Islamic custom. But entering through a different door? “And I sort of stopped dead in my tracks and looked around for an adult figure that I could have the conversation with,” she says.
Nobody else was around. “So I looked at this 12-year-old boy and said, ‘There’s a separate entrance for women? Why is that?’ just to see what he would say, and he sort of shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘It just is,’ ” she says.
Lekovic is also a teacher, and she decided to seize the moment. “My final response to him was, ‘Well, the mosque that I go to on the other side of town has everybody walk through the same set of doors,’ ” she says.
Lekovic says there was a time she might have slipped in the side entrance, quietly fuming. But things are changing. Just a few years ago, a woman’s place in the mosque was a fringe issue.
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