WEMC Research Sites and Issues
WEMC is a multi-country research, communication and capacity-building programme. (For more information about the WEMC Programme, click here.) All these activities are carried by partners in the four nodal countries of China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran, as well as among two cross-border populations - Afghan refugees and returnees, and Indonesian migrant women workers.

The four nodal countries covered by the WEMC programme cover different parts of Asia - China in East Asia, Indonesia in Southeast Asia, Pakistan in South Asia and Iran in West Asia. WEMC emphasises Muslim contexts in Asia, because almost half the world's Muslims live in Asia.

WEMC research focuses on the diversity of Muslim communities and countries, rejecting monolithic constructions of 'Muslim-ness' and 'Muslim women'. This focus is particularly relevant at this time when exclusionary systems based on minority Arab values are exerting undue influence in non-Arab societies.

Among the four nodal countries chosen for WEMC research, Indonesia has the world's largest population of Muslims. Pakistan and Iran are both Islamic republics, although they are very different. China has a sizeable Muslim minority that has been under-studied.