In January, representatives of the Community of Women and Men in Mission (CWMM) from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh gathered in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to examine the nature of violence against women and children.
THE DELEGATES visited the Community Intervention Programme run by the Church of Bangladesh. The project focuses on income generation, health and education in the slum areas of Dhaka. The participants were able to talk to families who had been helped by the project. They were saddened by the stories of women who had been raped and abused by employers and landlords.
For many, domestic life is no better. Home should be a place of safety, but dowry deaths, domestic violence and child abuse are all frequent occurrences. Even though the government is aware of the plight of many women, it makes no decisive effort to end the abuse.
Nor is there provision for the children under the age of 10 who are forced to work in factories and often physically exploited and tortured.
Dr Faustina Pereira, an advocate at the Supreme Court, and the only Christian woman legal advisor in Bangladesh, spoke about the root causes of violence against women and girls. She said the role of the religious and clergy in identifying, addressing and redressing violence was immense, but expressed deep regret at the apparent indifference of South Asian churches to complaints of violence in Christian homes.
The consultation considered how women are discriminated against in the church. Women's level of participation is limited by the church's organisational structure: they are excluded from decision-making and theological education.
Customs in church services perpetuate the assumption that women are inferior. For example, in many churches, women sit on the floor while men use benches. The consultation heard that all forms of abuse, whether perpetrated by the state, privately or in the church, are rooted in power and patriarchy. Cruelty to women is not restricted by gender or class. Violence is one of the most universal male behaviours.
To overcome violence against women and girls, we first need to identify perpetrators and unearth the causal links. How can men and women work together to combat violence?
They should:
Jesus brings peace between God and humanity, and between human beings. Shalom - peace - is an integrity issue for the church, and it must be seen in partnership between women and men. The church must reflect Jesus' attitudes to women to be truly the Body of Christ. The participants agreed that for churches to make a change, they must first acknowledge openly the scale and the seriousness of the problem.
New attitudes
Churches will need to work hard to change attitudes about gender issues. Suggestions put forward to make this happen included a review of how the churches teach ministry and liturgy; special programmes to educate and raise awareness of gender issues; programmes of psychological counselling for women, men and clergy, and a women's desk to network and provide solidarity.
For lasting progress to be made, more women must come forward for theological training. For men and women to live in justice and work as equal partners there must be a radical change in values and beliefs that will lead to a new way of living. The consultation put forward the following recommendations to work for the rights of women and girls and to increase creative partnership between men and women in the church:
To overcome violence against women CWMM will:
To promote partnership between women and men CWMM will: