Against Abuse of Women and Girls
Women and girls continue to suffer from violence and physical abuse at the hands of men and other women.
This embarrassing subject is once again placed before the conscience of the world. The theme for International Women’s Day 2007 is “Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls”
Many women stand with some men against anything that seeks to highlight women. They scoff and disparage women’s activism. They condemn what they view as trouble-causing feminism. If you are a woman in Iran you are likely to be arrested for daring to stage a protest, even a peaceful one to demand women’s rights.
I heard this ’sad’ joke years ago. Some of you might be familiar with it, there are several versions of it.
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Three women ran into each other a year after attending an international women’s rights conference. They were from Canada, UK, and Jamaica. They were delighted to see each other again.
The UK sister excitedly asked for updates on how things have been going since the conference. She was particularly interested in how the other women’s husbands received the newly empowered and liberated women who returned home from the conference.
Since it was only fair, the UK sister went first. She said, well after I returned home I immediately began to assert my rights. At first I didn’t see any changes and I thought it wasn’t working. Then after 3 months, I began to notice slight changes and now I am amazed at how different things are.
The Canadian sister said, well I am happy to tell you that I had a similar experience when I returned home. I did not waste anytime in asserting my rights as a woman. At first, I didn’t see any changes either. Then three weeks later I noticed changes were taking place. I still cannot believe how much has changed since then.
The Jamaican sister was a little reluctant to speak, eventually she said..well, ummmm. I returned home and immediately began to assert my rights as a liberated woman as well. At first I didn’t see anything at all. Three days later, after the swelling gone down I could barely see something out my left eye, but the right one was still foggy. After a month I could see properly out of both eyes….
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And the story continues…
When she is not put in her place with the fist, she is kept there with laws, and religious dogma. The latter being the most dangerous because it is sometimes complicit with the physical violence against women and girls. This is done in the name of God and alleged Divine consent to men’s brutality, exploitation and repression of the feminine whether in nature or in other created beings.
1988-1998 was marked by the (WCC) as the Decade in Solidarity with Women, depending on where you were at the time you might or might not have heard any word of this in your local congregation. From 2001 to 2010 WCC member congregations are observing and promoting The Decade Against Violence. We cannot fail to see that the decade of solidarity with women will arise again in these discussions on violence.
I hope more churches will take the time to learn more about the issues involved and take a stand with women on International Women’s Day and beyond. Let Christians boldly stand against the abuse of women and girls.
Peace,
Marvia
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Marvia
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