My ears of faith
Stretch for the sound
Of the arrival of caring men
My heart of faith
Yearns for men who care

My hands of faith anticipate
The gift of caring men
My eyes of faith
Search for men who care

My nose of faith senses
The aroma of caring men
My feet of faith propel me
Towards men who care

Sensitive men
Loving men
Inspired men
Humble men
Caring men.

This poem was composed during the 53^rd Commission on the Status of Women in New York, March 2009. The theme was, “The Equal Sharing of Responsibilities between Women and Men, Including Care-giving in the Context of HIV and AIDS.” 

Ezra Chitando is a Theology Consultant to the WCC.

The Special Rapporteur is mandated to seek and receive information on violence against women, its causes and consequences from Governments, treaty bodies, specialized agencies, other special rapporteurs responsible for various human rights questions and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, including women’s organizations, and to respond effectively to such information.

The Special Rapporteur transmits urgent appeals and allegation letters (communications) to States regarding alleged cases of violence against women which she receives. Allegations may concern one or more individuals or may convey information relating to a general prevailing situation condoning and/or perpetrating violence against women. It should be emphasized that, in accordance with her mandate, the Special Rapporteur is in a position only to process cases of alleged violence or threats of violence directed against women because of their sex. The definition of gender-based violence used by the Special Rapporteur is taken from the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 48/104 on December 1993.

How to submit cases to the Special Rapporteur

It is important to provide as much information as possible. The individual complaint form can be used to document cases of violence against women.

It would be helpful to receive a summary of the main points of the case. The summary could identify the rights that have been or may be violated. If your government has ratified human rights treaties, you could refer to the specific provisions of the treaties you believe have been violated.

If your submission is in regard to a law, practice or policy which effects women in general or women in a specific group, explain how other women are affected or describe the group. A consistent pattern in individual cases can be used to demonstrate a general failure to prevent and respond to private abuses.

If you submit information about violations committed by private individuals or groups (rather than government officials), include any information which might indicate that the government failed to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, punish, and ensure compensation for the violations. For example information on:

•      whether or not there is a law which addresses the violation

•      any defects in existing laws such as inadequate remedies or definitions of rights

•     the refusal or failure by authorities to register or investigate your case and other similar cases

•     the failure by the authorities to prosecute your case and other similar cases

•     patterns of gender discrimination in the prosecution or sentencing of cases

•      statistics and other data concerning the prevalence of the type of violation described in the submission.

Urgent Appeals

Urgent transmissions may be sent by the Special Rapporteur to concerned Governments when reliable and credible information is received concerning cases which involve an imminent threat, or fear of threat, to the right to personal integrity or the life of a woman. When transmitting urgent actions, the Special Rapporteur appeals to the Governments concerned to ensure effective protection of those under threat or at risk of violence.

Allegation Letters

For those communications that do not require urgent action but relate to violations that already occurred and/or to general patterns of violations – including the legal framework and its application as regards violence against women – the Special Rapporteur may send allegation letters requiring Governments to clarify the substance of the allegations received.

Contact: urgent-action@ohchr.org

I just returned from organizing a Youth Peace Summit in Kenya.   Really – this work is an extension of Ecumenical Women in that it is about building coalitions and empowering leaders. The peace summit went from April 13-18 in Nairobi, Kenya and brought together 200 youth from around Kenya as well as Tanzania, Uganda, DRC and Rwanda.  Youth were invited from variety of faiths, including Islam.   We had the meeting to talk directly about the post-election violence that happened in Kenya largely perpetrated by youth in 2008.   Youth came from slums, different religions, former IDPs, one girl even brought her baby.  During the meeting the Youth Minister of Kenya talked about the Youth Enterprise Fund, and we also had a peace march through the city center.

Part of my job was to coordinate the youth media team, we had about 24 people and we split into sub teams of video (the flip), photography, newsletter, blogger and public relations.   Our PR girl called the media houses every day and we got in the Nation, on Citizen TV and on the radio. We produced a newsletter every day.  They honestly blew me away they were so dedicated.  They were on computers at all hours of the day even though they were always breaking and the flash drive modems constantly ran out of airtime.   In the evaluation we did I expected to hear complaints about the technology, but they were so happy they hardly mentioned it.  One said he is studying communications in the university but he learned more in one week doing it than he had in school over all. We take it all for granted – laptops, wireless, it is such a blessing and I wish I could have given these kids laptops as parting gifts because they have so much promise. 

The group has already had follow-up meetings in Nairobi, planning their next steps.   As part of the program we have a small grants process participants can apply for, so we are sending out the application.   Continuing to put youth leaders at the center, the grants will be chosen by a team of youth peer reviewers.

This was such an encouraging experience, young people want chances to lead.   Church structures can both encourage and deny youth leadership – in this case, we rocked the house.

Papua New Guinea

Today the women of Papua New Guinea (PNG) invite us to come with them to the Land Of The Unexpected; to come together with the confidence that In Christ There Are Many Members, Yet One Body. The women of PNG ask us to unite as one in Christ as we join with them in celebrating a unity where love is genuine, where good overcomes evil and where we are of one heart and soul.  Learn more about the World Day of Prayer, and international movement of women.

This morning Caryn Riswold, a professor from Illinois College and future Ecumenical Women delegate (we’re excited!) talked about her life as a religious academic who is trying to bridge the gap with feminists.  Third wave feminism recognizes that women have an intersection of identities simultaneously at work: race, class, gender and nationality.  She has found that for the most part, third wave feminists have glossed over religion, finding it irrelevant or just another impediment.  So Riswold is carving out a space where they connect, and asking: what do Christians want to do with feminists?  And– what do feminists want to do with Christians?

Quoting sociologists, Riswold argues that as society we create products and ideas, which then take on a life of their own.   This means that we are producers of our reality, and that God too is a cultural product.  Therefore to assume the image of god is fixed is to miss an opportunity– because really, our image of a patriarchal God has not kept pace with the times. From Luther she takes the understanding of a God that humbles, and the belief that human enterprise must be humbled.  After all we humans are failures, we can’t even create a peaceful world.  She argues that we must reset the balance: where there is privilege, sew humility and where there is poverty, sew empowerment.   After all, she says, the God of creation is a redeeming God, and he trusts our power as creators.

The application dead line is December 31, 2008,

NCC delegation application

By: Christine Mangale

Dear Lord, we come before you with heavy hearts and troubled minds as we pray for our brothers and sisters in DRC Congo. These are people who have now forgotten how living in peace feels like. Many children in this part of the world have known no other life except war and violence. And now they mistakenly think war is a normal way of life for they know no better. We hear, see and read about the horrible injustices that have taken root in this society. Fresh fighting in the violence‑has erupted in Kivu provinces leaving hundreds dead with hundreds of thousands left displaced while most are now in refugee camps. The immeasurable horrors that innocent people have to endure are too ghastly for us to contemplate.

Your word says in Psalms 23: 4 that “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” We pray to you Faithful God of Peace that you strengthen, protect and grant your people peace of mind all times and in every way, eternal encouragement and good hope.

Hunger pains are biting as many families have fled their homes; youth and children’s lives have been disrupted and today they find themselves in refugee camps. As many as a quarter of a million people are reported to have been uprooted from their homes – most of these homes have been torched and even in the unlikely circumstance of peace returning tomorrow, friends and their families like most people in this area have no home to return to, you are their only refuge Lord.

We pray for guidance Oh Prince of Peace that you soften the hardened hearts of the perpetrators of this gross human rights violation. Our hope now lies in the proposed peace talks. We pray for success in these peace talks and wish peace once again returns to these parts of the continent.

Merciful, loving God, hear the cries and the prayers of your people. In Jesus’ Holy name we pray and believe. Amen.

I spent the last week in Papua New Guinea – not something I ever expected to do! With over 800 languages, communication in PNG is fascinating. There is no internet and even phones are hard to come by, a few cell phones are here and there. Most people I met promised to write me – as in a letter. We will see how that goes.

I went to PNG as an invited guest to a Lutheran women’s conference. Colonized by Germans, more than one-fifth of the country is Lutheran. One of the key features of the conference was a bible study called “Jesus Liberates women in PNG from male dominated cultures”.

Growing up, Pastor Michael, a seminary professor, watched his mother suffer in a polygamous marriage. His father, a “bigman” would force ably take the pigs she raised so that he could enjoy a high status in the community, beating her if necessary. When menstruating, women were (and still are in some places) secluded, and some believe that even the food they touch is contaminated so they are no allowed to cook meals. After the age of 13, Michael was discouraged from spending time with his mother. Because of a tradition called the “Bride price” -similar to a dowry- women cannot divorce their husbands because their family is expected to pay the money back. By paying for their wives, it encourages a culture where many men consider their wives a possession. Even though she was often beaten by her husband, his sister was unable to divorce him because of the culture and eventually committed suicide.

All this caused him to read the bible searching for stories of woman’s liberation. At the conference he distributed a 60-page book written in Pidgin (the national language) and English that systematically unwraps the stories of women in the bible to deliver a message of respect and encouragement for women’s leadership. It ends with a chapter: “Jesus’ approach to the Samaritan Women (and others) could be a model for PNG men to follow”. Some of the suggestions:

-PNG men should put aside their beliefs of gender-based concepts of clean and unclean…

-Women ought to be given equal invitation and opportunity for leadership roles in the church

-Women should be given equal theological education…

-Women should be ordained

Now – the format of this communication was not modern, it came in a dense booklet – footnotes – even the original Greek in some cases. But he systematically made the argument for gender equality in a country where it is an urgent life or death issue with one of the highest infant and maternal death rates in the world. He took nearly 8 hours over four days to deliver his lecture to 1,000 women and some men, including high ranking pastors and the Bishop.

But this is an oral culture, so the women may not read this thesis booklet, but they will remember his new interpretations of the Samaritan woman and the woman at the well, and they will take it home to their villages and retell the stories. They asked him to address the synod meeting next year, which will be mainly men, and hopefully this will happen. In a male-dominated culture, it will help women gain credibility to have a man – and the bible – speaking on their behalf.

I think this was a historic occasion in PNG, and it speaks to the power of education. He went to school and chose to study this subject and is now preaching a new gospel in his own language in a country that is hungry for it. The “West” cannot export gender equality, it has to come from up from the grassroots within. PNG is a very religious country, they have mixed Christianity with their own beliefs and it permeates almost everything they do. I can’t think of a more credible way for a gender equality movement to gain foothold in this country.

[Episcopal News Service, Canterbury] The 2008 Lambeth Conference is the second of the decennial meetings to include female bishops and several of them said the welcome is warmer, but that they wish more consideration were given to women’s issues.

Out of the 670 bishops attending, 18 are female, compared to 11 in 1998. The communion’s first female primate, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, is attending her first Lambeth Conference, having been elected bishop of the Diocese of Nevada in 2001. She was elected presiding bishop in June 2006.

Nine days before the conference began on July 16 (it ends August 3), the Church of England’s governing synod voted to bring forward legislation that would allow the consecration of women to the episcopate. The question of accommodating those who cannot accept women in that role was vigorously debated. A proposal that male “super bishops” be allowed to oversee dissenting parishes was defeated and a “code of practice” approved for dissenters but theological traditionalists said it was too weak.

Four provinces in the communion have elected female bishops: the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Liberals believe there is nothing in the Bible that bars women from ordained leadership and the church needs to use the gifts of all its members, while traditionalists point to Jesus and the disciples as males and ask why thousands of years of tradition should be changed.

While women bishops attending Lambeth are certainly passionate about the roles of women in the church, they also point out that the sexuality issues that have roiled the Anglican church are not focusing enough on many life-and-death concerns that mainly affect women.

“I have an ongoing concern that ‘human sexuality’ is a euphemism for focusing on male homosexuality without discussing sexuality issues that affect the reality of women’s lives. For instance, the sex trafficking of women and girls, female genital mutilation, the taking of child brides and the terrible problems for girls who bear children,” said Bishop Suffragan Catherine Roskam of New York.

Read the rest of the article…

by Christine Mangale

There was only one session on care giving at the recent International AIDS conference, but I could tell that this was an issue that needs much more attention.

Women and girls comprise nearly 90% of care providers globally especially in rural areas. Women are not just caring for family members, some are trained in home-based care and work in their communities as full-time volunteers because there are no formal health care services available.  And yet, this is rarely recognized and only propels the cycle of poverty. The experts at the session seemed to conclude that this current situation is seen as tolerable since women are the ones going through this.  A question that summed up the session was: “If it was men who are mostly involved in home-based care, wouldn’t a solution already have been found?

The value of time, energy and resources required to perform this unpaid work is rarely recognized. In the African context, this traditional practice is overly exploited, and caregivers that work full time as volunteers to countless patients may only receive a meal for their labor, while just like everyone else, they need money to support their families, especially pay for their children’s school fees. Why can’t some of the billions currently poured towards the AIDS response be targeted towards women who dedicate all their lives taking care of the sick? To care for the sick, girls are dropping out of school and women are suffering in silence. We must advocate for solutions to this care giving crisis, such as community financing systems. This is key to restoring the dignity of these women.