Gender Injustice - Action Needed

Micah Focus: Gender

Welcome to the second edition of the Micah Focus: Gender.

This mailing aims to help inform, update, challenge, inspire and invite you to respond to the transformational concerns related to gender as it applies to the vision and mission of Micah, and the ways this is lived out through our diverse and global membership.

If you did not receive our first edition, you can read it here.

We encourage you to take the time to respond with your own thoughts, eperience and expertise as you read through the articles below. You can send any reflections, questions or responses to gender@micahnetwork.org.

Editors: Sue Barclay (gender@micahnetwork.org) & Jenny Vaccari (coordinator@micahnetwork.org)

Integral Mission and Gender Justice

Integral Mission and Gender Justice: The Implications of the Micah Network Declaration

In 2001, a group of Christian leaders drew up the Micah Network Declaration on Integral Mission. This foundational document was reviewed in 2011, and at that time there was a call for “a more practical application of how our commitment is outworked in our daily activities”.  With this in mind, it seems appropriate to explore how the principles of the Micah Network Declaration could be applied to issues of gender.

This has been attempted before: there are several documents relating to gender in the library section of the Micah website.  However, this fresh attempt to address the issue does not intend to create or propose Micah policy, but simply to stimulate discussion.  What are the implications for gender of this understanding of Integral Mission?  And what does Integral Mission have to offer to women and men oppressed by the unjust gender relations?  What does it mean to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God in this particular aspect of human life?

It is immediately apparent that the Micah Declaration calls for Christians to work towards change that is more than just superficial.  It speaks of ‘structural change’ and ‘structural injustice; of ‘empowerment of communities’ and ‘empowering the poor’; of justice and injustice.  This speaks of a desire to address the root causes of gender injustice, rather than just treat its effects. 

There are resonances here with the wider literature on gender and development in all its forms: the United Nations Beijing Declaration of 1995 also used the language of empowerment, and it has since been widely adopted in the global development community.  Despite this, some commentators argue that nothing has really changed. To quote Andrea Cornwall, ‘That which lay at the heart of the ‘gender agenda’ – transforming unequal and unjust power relations – seems to have fallen by the wayside.’  (Andrea Cornwall, 'Revisiting the ‘Gender Agenda’', IDS Bulletin, 38/2 (2007), 69-78). By this analysis, instead of addressing the structures which sustain gender injustice, many development programmes now seem concerned only to ‘tick the box’ to show that gender has been considered, however superficially. 

‘Gender mainstreaming’ has sometimes seemed to mean that ‘gender’ is everyone’s responsibility – and so no-one does anything substantial about it. In an echo of the situation criticized 30 years ago by Chandra Talpade Mohanty , foreigners still make generalisations about the lives of women in the global South, about their hopes, needs and desires, and about the social structures which frame their lives - and nothing really changes (Chandra Talpade Mohanty, 'Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses', Boundary 2, 12/13/3/1 (Spring/Fall84 1984), 333-58.). 

So what would really be meant by ‘structural change’ or ‘empowerment’ in terms of gender relations?  And, perhaps more contentiously, who would define what that structural change should be, and who should be empowered?  Are Christian groups willing to engage with the conflict that would inevitably follow, if existing power structures are threatened?  Or do the pressures to be good neighbours in mixed communities mean that we fail to challenge those with power, prioritising peace over justice? 

Before leaving these questions hanging in the air, in the hope of a response from the Micah Global community, it is worth pointing out some of the key differences between the Micah approach to these issues of power, and the approach of the mainstream secular development community. 

First, Micah’s discussion of power – of structural change, justice, and empowerment – needs to reflect the biblical passage which sums up its approach.  We are called to:

• act justly - which may mean challenging unjust power structures;

• love mercy - which may mean taking risky action on behalf of those in need;

• walk humbly with our God - which must mean that our understanding of power and how it may be used or abused is radically different from that of the wider development community. 

If we are to bring about structural change by walking humbly with God, then perhaps that implies walking closely enough with him to discern how he wants us to act, and then acting to bring about change in a way which draws on his power rather than our own.  After all, the Christian understanding of God is that he defeated evil by laying down his power, and submitting himself to death on a cross – and the model for human relationships given in the New Testament’s household codes is one of mutual submission, respect and love, rather than a power struggle.  How do these biblical insights shape our approach to gender justice?  When is it right to confront, or to challenge those in power – and who is called to make that challenge? 

Second, the 2001 Micah Network Declaration clearly emphasises the importance of relationships. The structural change it speaks of is not something delivered by an impersonal programme, based on foreigners’ understanding of the needs.   The model it portrays is not of knowledgeable, powerful people deciding what is best for the poor: instead it speaks of our common humanity, all (men and women, rich and poor) made in the image of God – and of grace, humility and respect as we travel the road together. 

Thus the Christian approach to the empowerment of the marginalised – which in most societies includes women and girls – is to walk closely with God, and walk closely with the people we are trying to serve.  There is no assumption of superior knowledge or worth, but simply a shared experience of grace; those who are being blessed, seeking to be a blessing to others. 

There is further work to be done in suggesting some of the implications for gender justice of the Micah’s policies and principles.  However, perhaps we can begin the discussion here, by talking about power, structural change, and grace, and how the Christian approach to gender justice might be radically different – and significantly more effective than in the wider context of development. 

Over to you!

Sue Barclay
Micah Gender Focus Editor
 

Events: Gender and the Micah Global Consultation

The Micah Global Consultation is fast-approaching!

Dates: September 14th - 18th, 2015

Location: Casino de Policía, Lima, PERU

Theme: Integral Mission & Shalom: justice, peace, joy

Gender will be a feature of several plenary sessions, workshops and opportunities for dialogue, including:

René August will give a plenary session on Justice & Equality
Restored will give a plenary session on Gender-Based Violence
Restored will also host a Pre-Consultation Workshop on Gender-Based Violence on Monday September 14th.

The full programme details can be viewed on our website here.

Join us as we explore what God's Shalom means for relationships and gender justice.

For more information and to register, click here. All questions about the Consultation should be sent to events@micahnetwork.org.

News: Gender in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda

Last month, the United Nation's Third Financing for Development (Ffd) Conference was held in Addis Ababa. There have been mixed responses to the meetings' outcomes, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.

In the area of addressing gender inequality and women's rights, you can read a helpful article from Ana Inés Abelenda and Nerea Craviotto of AWID entitled "Addis delegates failed to put money where mouth was on gender equality" here.

Risk Factors for Violence against Women

A recent study (Fleming et al., 2015) considered data from 7,806 men across eight countries, to examine the risk factors influencing men to be violent towards their partners.  The data came from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Chile, Croatia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), India, Mexico, and Rwanda.

Findings

1) There was some variation between countries, but a total of 31% of men interviewed said they had been violent against their partner.

2) The strongest risk factor was witnessing parental violence.  This led men to accept violence against their partners as normal, so that violent patterns of behaviour were passed down the generations.

3) Where gender inequality is accepted as the norm in society, the rates of intimate partner violence were higher.  These attitudes are also passed down the generations.

4) Where men are expected to be aggressive and dominant in order to be seen as masculine, the rates of intimate partner violence were higher.

5) Gender based violence affects women’s participation in society, tending to lead to gender inequality.  

Conclusion

This study shows that gender inequality and gender based violence are strongly linked.  The issue of intimate partner violence therefore cannot be understood in isolation, but requires an integrated response to gender injustice. 

Sadly, women in the church also experience intimate partner violence, in which they are harmed by their Christian husbands or partners. 

Urgent change is needed!

We invite you to be the catalyst for change in your church and community by starting a dialogue. The Restored "Ending Domestic Abuse: A Pack for churches" has some helpful resources to help you do just this. You can download it here.

Gender, GBV and HIV

Submitted by Lyn van Rooyen, Director, CABSA

Why do we have these three issues - gender, GBV and HIV - under the same heading? Is there a link between them? Sadly, there is a very strong link.

On the UN Women Gender Equality and HIV/AIDS Web Portal  we read: “While HIV/AIDS is a health issue, the epidemic is a gender issue. Statistics prove that both the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS are not random. HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects women and adolescent girls who are socially, culturally, biologically, and economically more vulnerable.”

Further on we read “young women aged 15-24 years are as much as eight times more likely than men to be HIV-positive.”
A recent call from ONE to rethink the way we approach HIV in girls and young women emphasizes this:

“Nowhere is this risk greater than sub Saharan Africa, where girls account for 80% of all new infections among adolescents, and HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death for girls and women age 15-49.”

In this article we read about the structural drivers of the epidemic that particularly increase the risk of women: “including poverty, violence, a lack of education, and the gendered distribution of power in society.”

Together with the physical vulnerability of the female anatomy and hormone profile, the situation of young women creates a “perfect storm” of increased vulnerability.

Sadly, this situation is worsened even more if gender based violence comes to play.

The first part of the equation is clear – women experiencing sexual assault and other forms of gender based violence are more likely to experience tears and lacerations of their sexual organs, creating an entry point for the virus. The situation however becomes even more complex. Women who have ever faced sexual or gender based violence are also a risk of a complex interplay of social and psychological factors which make them more vulnerable to HIV. This can include depression, low self image, alcohol and drug abuse, inability to negotiate safer-sex practices, a continued risk for abusive relationships and poor sexual decision-making.

Is the picture all dark? Are women, and especially young women who were exposed to violence doomed? Definitely not! We can turn this cycle around, but only if we are willing to give attention and focus to the multilayered challenge of gender and gender based violence in our HIV response.

Thursdays in Black
Written by CABSA staff
Gender based violence is a universal and global issue that harms men, women and children in their most private spheres. We often feel helpless and hopeless in the face of so much pain and injustice.

However, we can all be involved in a simple but powerful campaign to address gender violence. Every Thursday, people around the world wear black as a symbol of strength and courage, representing our solidarity with victims and survivors of violence, and calling for a world without rape and violence.
Thursdays in Black encourages everyone, men and women, to wear black every Thursday. This can be a campaign T-shirt, other black clothing or simply a campaign badge as a sign of their support.

Wearing black on Thursdays shows others that you are tired of putting up with violence, and calls for communities where we can all walk safely without fear; fear of being beaten up, fear of being verbally abused, fear of being raped, fear of discrimination. The campaign is not confined only to countries at war, but recognizes that violence takes many forms – including domestic violence, sexual assault, rape, incest, murder, female infanticide, genital mutilation, sexual harassment, discrimination and sex trafficking.

Thursdays in Black focuses on ways that individuals can challenge attitudes that cause rape and violence, on a personal and public level. It provides an opportunity for people to become part of a worldwide movement which enables the despair, pain and anger about rape and other forms of violence to be transformed into political action.

CABSA became involved in the Thursdays in Black campaign in 2012 and has been actively promoting the campaign ever since. Joining this campaign has been a profound journey for the organization and has changed the way the organization thinks and responds to gender issues and gender based violence. For us at CABSA, Thursdays in Black has become a spiritual discipline rather than just another campaign.

Thursdays in Black is supported by individuals, churches, denominations and organizations worldwide.

HOW CAN I JOIN?
▪ Wear Black on Thursdays and say NO to abuse of women, men and children.

▪ Commit to this campaign and sign the pledge at: thursdaysinblack.co.za/pledge/

▪ Wear the Thursdays in Black badge and encourage others to support the campaign. Badges can be ordered from CABSA’s offices or the Thursdays in Black website.

Women in Global Leadership

A call for dialogue and to understand how we can develop more women in global leadership roles

By Nydia García-Schmidt, Director, Wycliffe Global Alliance - the Americas

To read this contribution in Spanish, click here

Recently I participated in the first retreat for Women in Leadership organized by the Wycliffe Global Alliance called FILIA (Females in Intercultural Leadership in the Alliance). This retreat was organized due to the growing number of women in Europe leading Wycliffe organizations. Seeing this new phenomenon, our executive director, Kirk Franklin decided to open the door of opportunity for a retreat, not only for European leaders, but also for women in leadership around the world. We were able to have 42 women, representing more than 22 countries.

The aim was to give us an opportunity to learn from each other, learn about the common or specific challenges that we face as women in leadership at the global level, and how we can engage in a healthy dialogue with our brothers, improve our understanding and recognize the innate gifts that we bring and contribute within the Kingdom of God.

Personally I really enjoyed the event as it was a special opportunity for sharing ‘between women' in a safe and fun environment.  We had single women share their challenges leading organizations, some younger mothers shared their stories of how they manage, how the spouse plays a critical role in his support, etc. We were challenged to document our stories and history, since most of it has been documented from a male perspective.  We also realized that we need a more solid foundation in understanding where we base our theological foundation for leading as women and the value Jesus gave to women in his ministry. Despite representing a diversity of languages and cultures, in the end, to be women in leadership it seems that we have the same challenges in Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa and Asia and an underrepresentation of women in global leadership positions.
It would seem that the Church has acceded and adopted the cultural behaviors and habits that do not allow women to fully use the gifts given by God, and to use them fully in the global environment of missions.

The world of missions is characterized by something very particular, the fact is that the majority of the people who enter the work and are called as missionaries are women.  Within the Wycliffe Global Alliance database* there are registered 4,753 men and 5,716 women, a total of 10,469 people. This number represents a diversity of roles and responsibilities. Of this total, there are 312 directors of the male gender and 104 female. Most of these women are from Europe, USA or Canada.  Regions such as Africa, Asia or Latin America do not have today a great representation of females in global leadership roles.

This can be checked in any of the mission agencies and by reading history. In reading the doctoral thesis of Dr. Julio Guarneri entitled: "COMIBAM 1984-2000: Historical Analysis of a majority-World missionary network", I find that most, if not all, the people mentioned that shaped this missions movement were men. It would be appropriate to analyze the missionary movement in Latin America in the possible causes and reasons to understand how we can strengthen and encourage the emerging female leadership of the continent. Perhaps if more women documented the history, other facts could be brought in that somehow the male perspective did not consider.

In a study conducted by Martina Kessler and Angelika Marsch entitled "Women Lead Differently - Women as leaders in a masculine society", the authors highlighted the strengths that women have for leading: in terms of perception, having a panoramic perspective; in terms of their dedication, more active undertaking in society; and in regard to aspects of power, more easily sharing the power and authority that the role of leadership provides them. We can also add the strengths and unique approaches we bring to building community, strengthening networks and relationships.

Seeing the above statistics, I cannot help but reflect on what the Church is losing by the failure to not have more women in leadership roles.  What is the missionary work missing or losing in strength? How can we engage in a healthy and biblical dialogue between both genders to look for understanding of the causes of this imbalance?

Writing about this topic is important not only because of the need to bring more gender balance in our structures, but because it is important to God's original design, in that women are also key players in the decision making processes in developing mission strategy and solutions. Wycliffe Global Alliance has started this dialogue and we trust that this will help us have a more gender-balanced approach in the global missions movement.

Resources Spotlight: BMS World Mission

Dignity: taking a stand against gender based violence

BMS World Mission have developed a comprehensive resource pack to help leaders and churches reflect, address, engage with and raise awareness about gender-based violence. You can download all elements of the pack here or order it on a free DVD here.

"A specially commissioned DVD accompanies this initiative to help leaders engage with scriptural wisdom on gender based violence (GBV) in all its forms. Its thought-provoking contents will equip individuals and congregations to understand the level of abuse encountered in communities worldwide, and to think through their responses."

BMS World Mission is a founding members of the We Will Speak Out Coalition.

Learn and Share

We hope that this edition of the Micah Focus: Gender has been informative and encouraging for you and your organisation. Please do share it with your networks.

If you would like to continue the conversation, or contribute to future editions of this publication on gender, please email Sue Barclay at gender@micahnetwork.org.

If you have resources or upcoming events specific to the topic of gender: let us know! If you work in the area of gender, and would be willing to be interviewed by the Micah team, also send us an email.

NB: If you have non-English language resources, please do send these also - we can make these available on the Micah website.