"Islamic feminism is necessary for a proper image of women, for their dignity and their place in culture and politics," said Mansur Escurado, president of Spain's Muslim organization La Junta Islamica, whose Catalan branch organized the event in Barcelona.

"It will come into full force when women are able to make choices in life with their own consent," Escurado said.

The three-day conference was called to "support women who are fighting for recognition of their rights in the Islamic world" and rising up "against the long-established supremacy of men", he said.

The Islamic feminist movement has slowly emerged in the Muslim world, which comprises some 29 countries with more than one billion people.

The advocates -- mostly well-educated, urban women versed in the Koran -- argue that Islam must not be a pretext for cultural practices denigrating women, dictated by men with a monopoly on interpreting Islam's holy book.

The Barcelona meeting drew than 400 participants from Pakistan, Iran, Sudan, Tunisia, Algeria and from such European countries as Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Norway, as well as Mexico and the United States.

While some women wore Muslim veils, and others steered away from traditional dress, the participants had in common a desire to listen and share their experiences and bring what they learned to the women back in their homelands.

"Nothing can really begin until women start to talk to other women," said Pilar Vallugera, director of the department on women and rights at city hall in Barcelona.

Besides the disapproval of some men, the pioneers of Islamic feminism also face the rejection, incomprehension and anger of some of their Islamic sisters.

The meeting, considered part of a "jihad for equality of the sexes", will also address such fundamental topics as codes in Sharia laws, polygamy, sexual rights, as well as "the intellectual role of women", said Abdennur Prado, one of the organizers of event, which runs through Sunday.

For a young mother from Lahore, Pakistan, the conference in Spain is a way "to fight the cliches about the conditions of women in the Muslim world".

But for her and most of the Muslim feminists, overcoming stereotypes is a monumental task.

"An enormous number of things must be done in this situation because the liberation of women is also a fight for all humanity," said the Pakistani participant.