20.03.2019
In Search of Gender Justice – Create a Space to Listen to Women
“Gender justice is not a women’s issue – it’s our together issue.” This was one of the resounding messages from yesterday’s seminar on gender justice which was organised by Bishops’ Appeal and the United Dioceses of Dublin & Glendalough.
Based on the Fourth Mark of Mission ‘Transform Unjust Structures’, the seminar took place in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin as part of Dublin & Glendalough’s Come&C programme. Three engaging speakers looked at the imbalance that exists between men and women in the church, in society in Ireland and around the globe.
Issues facing women, both nationally and globally, were highlighted with one common denominator. The root cause of gender inequality in each context was to be found in social gender norms whether that be barriers to women in employment or using their gifts within the church in Ireland or the culture of rape and abuse of women in the Great Lakes region in Africa, or in Ireland.
Three speakers addressed the seminar. Ruth Garvey–Williams is editor of Vox Magazine, an interdenominational Christian magazine which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. Last year, in partnership with YWCA Ireland, Vox conducted a survey exploring the role and experiences of women in Irish churches. Dr Cliona Loughnane is Women’s Health Coordinator with the National Women’s Council of Ireland. She looked at areas in Irish society in which women experience discrimination from employment and public representation to health and sport. The final speaker was Veena Sullivan, head of the HIV and Sexual Violence Team of Tearfund UK. Veena brought news of the stark realities faced by women in a number of African countries but also the uplifting outcomes of the work of Tearfund in partnering with local church leaders to bring about great change.
The seminar was opened by Archbishop Michael Jackson who stressed the importance of engaging with the issue of gender justice. He highlighted the Come&C programme which he said was the dioceses’ intentional response to things that are happening in the church and society. The Five Marks of Mission on which the programme is based are not confined to the church but can be brought into secular or post secular society or used as a bridge into interfaith engagement, he said.
IS CHRISTIANITY GOOD NEWS FOR WOMEN?
Ruth Garvey–Williams said that in recent years she had been asking herself “Is Christianity good news for women?” If Christianity and God are essentially seen as male, where does that leave women, she wondered. Futhermore, is the church part of the problem or part of the solution when it comes to gender justice? Vox’s online survey exploring the attitudes to women in the Irish church got 804 responses from men and women across all denominations. The majority were committed Christians. The headline results were published in October and a deeper analysis will be published in April.
Ruth said that 73% of respondents felt that their church valued them. However, there were also more negative stories of sexism, exclusion and disrespect. The biggest single reason women felt they could not contribute fully to church life was because of perceived gender roles in church leadership, she said. The results of the survey suggested that most people’s theological view of the church in Ireland was that it was egalitarian rather than complementarian. But, Ruth stated, that theory did not seem to work out in reality – most leadership roles were occupied by men and the only areas where women were in the majority in church life were in hospitality and children’s ministry. Ruth said questions had to be asked why this was happening.
“How do we create an environment where we can discuss these concerns in a safe place? We need to be able to listen well to one another in a safe place where real experiences and feelings can be expressed. But we don’t do it,” she commented. She continued that committed Christians seemed unsure of the attitudes that lead to sexual violence and tended to blame the victim. “The church needs to get clear about issues of sexual violence and gender based violence. Are church leaders equipped to respond compassionately to a disclosure of abuse? We all know that one in three men and women experience domestic violence but has anyone heard a sermon on it? We need to establish a will to speak up and advocate for all within our midst who have experienced violence. We need to create a community where everyone is valued and can flourish.” she stated.
WOMEN ARE REQUIRED TO WORK LIKE MEN AND CARE LIKE WOMEN
Dr Cliona Loughnane outlined the National Women’s Council’s work in seeking full e quality between women and men resulting in the meaningful participation of women in all areas of Irish society. In Ireland women are more likely to earn less than men, be engaged in casual or part time work, undertake the majority of the care work, and are more likely to experience domestic or sexual abuse, she said. Listening to women’s stories helped bring an understanding of gender equality and Cliona observed that 2018 was a powerful year in Ireland in terms of understanding women’s experiences sparked by the likes of the Cervical Check controversy, the Belfast rape trial and globally the #MeToo movement, women were speaking out and telling their stories.
She said that the relationship between men and women was a real barrier to equality in Ireland with equality not being achieved in the domestic domain. She spoke of the concept of the ‘double shift’ in which a woman must balance a work life and a ‘care’ life. “Women are required to work like a man and care like a woman… We need to support men to be more involved in the caring world. Women are doing more of the caring work than ever before and it’s not just child care it’s also elder care and care of sick family members,” she explained. She added that the women who were providing private care of children or older people tended to be from the migrant community and in a precarious employment position.
Increasing women’s participation and leadership in Irish life was another area Cliona focused on. She said it was not possible to increase the numbers of women in elected positions without the support of men for women in these roles. She suggested that quotas did work citing the increase in female representation on State boards as a positive outcome of the introduction of quotas. She also looked at women’s participation in sport but noted that while participation is high there is a gulf in the media’s coverage of women and men in sport. Turning to violence against women, she said that women cannot have equality if they are not safe. Men had a responsibility in this sphere also she said noting that violence against women affects the women that men love but it also makes men a threat. Improvements had taken place in legislation but funding for support services for women experiencing violence had been cut.
“It’s about how we support women to fully engage and fully contribute their gifts. There are simple things that can be don such as flexible working, encouraging women to go for promotion or run for office, encouraging women to speak, talking about the imbalance, looking at what is impeding women’s participation. Not all the focus is on exclusion, violence and difficulty in accessing services. Women are powerful and resilient. Gender justice is about celebrating women and celebrating allies,” she concluded.
ENSURE CHURCHES BECOME THE PLACES WOMEN NEED THEM TO BE
Veena Sullivan told the gathering that the issues were the same all over the world. As a new Christian having moved from India to London in 1999 she said she believed that God was a God of freedom but came to the realisation that churches often put limitations on that freedom. Interpretation of Scripture often placed roadblocks in the way of women’s progression in terms of concepts of women in the church. Tearfund works closely with churches and her journey on gender justice started in Tanzania when women there asked what could be done to save their babies. They understood that they needed to bring men on board.
In DR Congo, Veena reported that churches have transformed life for women. She said rape was a silent epidemic in the country. “War brings out the worst in people but this was an epidemic. The stories that these women carried in silence for years, they knew things that had happened to their mothers, their sisters and to them. They realised the silence was killing them. There were similar stories throughout the Great Lakes region and in Liberia, and in conjunction with the then Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Tearfund published a report called ‘Silent No More: The untapped potential of the church addressing sexual violence’. The report makes three main points: that sexual violence is endemic to many communities throughout the world but its scale and impact is largely hidden; that many churches deepen the impact of the sexual violence crisis through silence and reinforcing stigma; and that churches worldwide, but particularly in Africa, have a huge untapped potential to respond to the crisis as they are part of the communities.
This global leadership campaign urged faith leaders to break the silence. Country after country rallied to stand up and say they would be silent no more and would stand up for the survivors of sexual or gender based violence. (Churches in Ireland have yet to sign up.) Veena stated that in the US the depth of pain around issues of gender was shocking and while it looked different to the church in Liberia, many of the issues were the same. “In every country it is the same. It comes down to the structures and social norms. Until that changes we are working away at something that is too tough,” she commented. She said that people expect their places of worship to be places of refuge and safety and said the question was how to work with these places of worship to ensure that they could become the places women needed them to be.
She spoke of her experience in DR Congo where they gathered women and men together at grass roots level with the help of the Archbishop. “The power of leadership was so important. We gathered in every village to see how we could support women who had suffered rape. The harmful gender norms were at the root of the problem. We found this in every culture. In every culture there are norms that exclude the weak or the vulnerable. Is it due to faith, culture or tradition? In Great Lakes the men we talked to did not know where it came from. They said they loved their wives but when they went to church the leader said that had to control their wives so they went home and beat their wives but it doesn’t feel right,” she explained.
This could only be changed through deep conversation and it takes time, Veena said. “Gender justice is not a women’s issue. It’s our together issue. We can’t do it alone as women. We have to do it together… Men are allies in our struggle and men are wonderful when they become allies. When church leaders get involved it is powerful in mobilising and transforming communities. We are powerful as people of faith,” she stated. Their work in DR Congo hit the headlines recently as since starting to work with faith leaders there two years ago, rape has reduced by 60% in those communities. “When we take time to address the root causes we can change rape,” she said.