Mosque registrations up but female Commission staff face barriers

Finance | Tania Mason | 19 May 2009

At least 124 more mosques have registered as charities since the Charity Commission’s Faith and Social Cohesion Unit began to focus on Muslim groups, despite its female outreach officers encountering hostility in some quarters.

While the Commission says it cannot take credit for all the new registrations, it counts the achievements of the Unit’s first year as encouraging, and says it shows that it is “steadily building trust and confidence and getting them to think about registrations”.

Muslim organisations were the first focus of the Unit, and its work means there are now 37 per cent more mosques registered with the Commission (455 in total) than at the start of the project. Nearly 75 per cent of mosques in greater London are now registered; 41 per cent in the Midlands.

Women outreach workers 'not considered equal'

In a report to the Commission board, Commission chief executive Andrew Hind said the process of verifying the original data and then establishing contacts with relevant trustees has been challenging, particularly as all the outreach officers are female.

“There have been a few instances where they have been refused a visit or have not been considered on equal terms with their male managers in the team, and other establishments have not been very welcoming,” Hind said. “To their credit, the team has worked hard to counter this attitude but it remains a challenging environment in which to conduct outreach work.”

The next strand of the Unit’s work will focus on promoting good governance among existing registered and newly-registered mosques, through the production of best practice guidance and workshops.

Who's Who: Tania Mason

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