By Lucy Chumbley, the editor of Washington Window, the newspaper of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

Asked about the role of women in Islam and why they need to cover their hair, two female panelists at a recent Christian-Muslim Summit at Washington National Cathedral – a Sunni Muslim and a Roman Catholic – said it was important to keep gender distinctions in perspective.

“We see ourselves as part of humanity and we are not used to identifying ourselves in terms of gender,” said Sanaa Aly Marei Makhlouf, professor at American University in Cairo and at the English Center of Islamic Studies at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University. “This is particularly modern and particularly Western, and it has something to do with Western history – the way women were perceived.”

“I know myself in terms of myself, not in terms of the other,” she continued, “and as a result I feel addressed by all speech that addresses humanity.”

Makhlouf said she doesn’t experience divine words in terms of her gender but in terms of “my heart, my humanity.”

“If I cover my hair it is in obedience to [my faith], it is in no way a reflection of my status in society or in no way proscribed by any male,” she said. “It is in obedience to Allah and to his Koran.”

“I always get the question about women,” said Sandra T. Keating, a member of the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims and associate professor of theology at Providence College, Rhode Island. 

While questions about women’s rights are “valid and important,” she said, “my own experience is that we have also often overlooked the interconnectedness and the way in which we see ourselves as part of a family, of a larger community. As my sister just said, we don’t think of ourselves as a gender, but more being recognized as a human being.”

A woman’s decision to cover her hair is a choice, “a religious expression of how we present our deepest beliefs to the public,” she said. “I think we should move away from this perception we have that somehow women are treated so badly. Not only in Islam, but as a Roman Catholic, I hear that very often.”

The women were speaking during a public dialogue at the culmination of the historic March 1-3 summit, which brought together  leaders from the Anglican, Roman Catholic, Shi’a and Sunni faith traditions. Several Jewish leaders also attended the summit as observers.

The clerics and scholars appealed to government and community leaders to promote peace and reconciliation efforts worldwide, and their statement is available here: http://www.nationalcathedral.org/pdfs/Summit2010_poa.pdf

An on-demand webcast of the dialogue is available here: http://www.nationalcathedral.org/events/summit20100303.shtml