Growing up as a Muslim in Pakistan, Azeema Faizunnisa said she never felt like a second-class citizen because she was a woman.

"I always thought Islam gave lots of rights to women. I had a positive view of Islam," said Faizunnisa, a University of Hawaii sociology student, who is from a well-educated family which she said is more progressive than the general population.

There are aspects of the Muslim faith that she does not agree with, such as segregating women during worship, or delegating them to the back of the mosque when a separate room isn’t available.

"I’m not OK with it, but I don’t want to start challenging it and ranting about it. I want to find out what the actual (Quran) text says, and I’m doing research on it" as part of her doctoral dissertation on Pakistani youth, she said.

Faizunnisa is one of seven women of different faiths taking part in a discussion today on the ways their faith has shaped them as women, and how being female has influenced their worldview, among other subjects. A few of them spoke with the Star-Advertiser prior to the discussion, which is being held as part of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors Pacific Region conference at the St. Anthony Retreat Center in Kalihi. It is co-sponsored by the Counseling & Spiritual Care Center of Hawaii by and Chaminade University’s Rev. Yoshiaku Fujitani-Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai Interfaith Program.

Faizunnisa said Islam is not homogeneous throughout the world. Its customs are practiced in different ways according to one’s socioeconomic status, and are evolving in the same way that other religions have become less restrictive over time and according to the needs of a people and place, she said.

Like most women in larger Muslim cities who adopted "Western" attire, Faizunnisa said she didn’t wear the traditional "hijab" (a head and/or body covering) in Pakistan, whereas women in more rural areas or poverty-stricken areas usually did.

The only negative aspect of Islam that affected her was that the law dictated that women get half the inheritance as male heirs, she said.

Faizunnisa said she has changed her thinking radically about existential beliefs since her mother’s death in 2006.

"I now believe that human beings have the capacity to overcome human desires of being selfish," she said. "Salvation and life after death do not matter. You can achieve your reason for living if you think of others first, not do things because God tells you, but because it’s the right thing.

"You don’t have to follow one religion to be a good human being — you can be agnostic or atheist or follow any religion. I read about other religions and found there are lots of similarities in the teachings about ethics and societal good. I can still be a good Muslim and feel all religions are equally good," she said.

The Rev. Jan Youth, a semiretired Buddhist minister who grew up in Honolulu, said, "I am a postwar baby and lived in an ethnic neighborhood, where attending the Buddhist temple was another life routine, like school and Japanese school. Cultural and religious things were an afterthought. They were not discussed in the home."

"I grew up with a sense of what girls were supposed to do. Early activities at the temple were very gender-driven — it was a man’s world," she said, adding that she never saw any female ministers of any faith.

But like many institutions caught in the wave of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the temple became more democratic and egalitarian, as Buddhism should be practiced, Youth said. Her eyes were also opened to other spiritual beliefs through people she encountered, but she found herself returning to her Buddhist roots for comfort.

After 25 years as a teacher and administrator in the state Department of Education, she was 50 when she found herself signing up for a Buddhist study class that led her to become a minister at the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii. "It was almost like a fluke, but I never regretted it!" she said.

Her worldview has been affected most strongly by her religion — "the idea that in this universe there’s such a web of interconnectedness. I am part of the problem or part of the solution."

Noelani Wilcox, a Native Hawaiian woman raised as a Catholic, drifted away from her religion in her 20s. Out of respect for her parents, she still follows certain Catholic rituals and has "a strong belief in ritual, versus that which is rote. I think about it as leading a focused life," she said.

"I am more grounded and comfortable among diversity — I guess I’m a conglomeration. I see truth in many places," including Buddhism, Taoism and Christian spiritualism, faith healing and Hawaiian nature gods, added Wilcox, a nurse in psychiatric mental health counseling.

As a Hawaiian, her main philosophy is "based on a lot of aloha, knowing when to step forward or pull back when not in balance. It’s not only aloha for others, but aloha for yourself.

"It’s having hope, knowing that life is like the tide: It comes in and goes out. Maybe today is not that good a day, but tomorrow may be a better day. We just keep moving forward and being the best you can be for yourself and other people. That’s what God wants."

Wilcox said women naturally have a nurturing side, and it’s easy to fall into the role of a nurturer in their relationships, especially for the majority of nurses who are women.

As a manager, she often has to remind her staff, "I’m not your mother." She added, "It’s about setting some boundaries, too, because it doesn’t serve anyone if I’m a dishrag. It’s about servitude; we’re not meant to be subservient," Wilcox said.

From attending an all-girls Catholic school until the 12th grade, Wilcox said, "I don’t see womanhood as a liability. I found a lot of strength. Regardless of your gender, we all have a place."

Other panelists include Jolene Gerell (Christian), Mollie Sperry (Baha’i), Alice Tucker (Jewish) and Debbie Hippolite Wright (Mormon).