(AFP) Kneeling on prayer rugs in front of dozens of worshippers, Eva Janadin and Anne-Sophie Monsinay offered prayers and a sermon in an unusual Paris ceremony earlier this month, a scene they hope will soon become more common at mosques across France.
It was the first time female imams had led Muslim prayers in the country, despite having Europe’s biggest Muslim population, at an estimated five to six million people.
Neither woman wore a veil and one wore jeans for the French and Arabic-language ceremony which was also attended by a rabbi friend and Protestant guests as well as a female imam from Berlin.
Women and men prayed side by side, breaking with a convention of relegating women to separate spaces or rooms where they often can’t be seen.
