Words and Actions

  

2021: A Defining Year for Accelerating Gender Equality, Equity, and Justice

 

Reflections on the 7th Annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-based Organizations in International Affairs

Those gathered online focused on overcoming pervasive gender inequalities and discrimination as an essential contribution to reshaping the world as we recover and rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic. The overarching goal was to provide the opportunity to explore together ways to scale up work for gender justice, and to recommit to achieving it.

Participants explored how faith actors and institutions can work in tandem with governments, the United Nations, and broader civil society to accelerate the pace towards gender equality, equity and justice. 

One of the speakers was Ganoune Diop, Ph.D., a leading intellectual within interfaith circles who has been part of the G20 Interfaith Forum since its inception in 2014, focusing on issues of religious freedom. He is director of the public affairs and religious liberty department of the Seventh-Day Adventist church. I will concentrate on his presentation.

Dr. Diop began his presentation with a tribute to his mother who had taught him

to respect and honor every human being. He then went on to state that women have

throughout history been the prime target of wars, genocides, human trafficking, domestic servitude, and slavery, as well as the multifaceted reality of gender inequality. Women are faced with injustice in nearly all domains of their life. Describing some of the ills women suffer Diop stated that the plight millions of women experience in our contemporary world is simply inhumane. 

Diop’s main thesis was that women are fully human, inferior in no area. Accordingly to value people differently due to gender is simply inhuman and inhumane. The symposium was keyed to recommit and affirm the resolutions of the Beijing +25 platform for advancing women’s rights, key among which is the right to equality. Progress is measured in 12 critical areas of concern and there is still a lot to be done:

1.                   Women and poverty

2.                   Education and training of women

3.                   Women and health

4.                   Violence against women

5.                   Women and armed conflict

6.                   Women and the economy

7.                   Women in power and decision-making

8.                   Institutional mechanisms

9.                   Human rights of women

10.               Women and the media

11.               Women and the environment:

12.               The girl child: Specific forms of violence and harmful practices,

Having mentioned this, Diop continued: „Acceleration to full equality, in all sectors of society should be based on the solid foundation and affirmation of the full humanity of women, their full dignity, their full human rights and their full participation as actors in the life of the whole human family. There must be a sense of urgency to overcome the challenge of various obstacles. Our world is at a place where the cry for justice – for all – is increasing, especially in a time of social unrest and various reckonings.“

Using the challenge of the abolition of slavery in the 19th century as an example for what should be done now to abolish gender inequality, Diop said that it was a partnership between faith-based organizations and political institutions that led to the achievement of the goal of the abolition of slavery. Describing the conditions in which millions of women live in fear he identified the root cause of the deprivation of the right to decide for themselves as the presupposition that women must be positioned in subjection to men. This prejudice is based on their assumed inferiority.

Diop then listed the problems women are faced with:

1. Gender hierarchy

2. Alleged inferiority of women

3. Instrumentalization of women and girls as objects for other means

4. Disregard of the conscience of individual women and their human dignity resulting in forced marriages and servitude.

5. Various forms of gender-based violence, domestic violence, and public violence against women.

6. Human trafficking of women and girls (71% of human trafficking).

7. Captivity to cultural hegemonies and to traditions expressed through the perpetuation e.g. of gender mutilation decried by the United Nations and other international organizations.

8. Lack of recognition of the indispensable work of women in peacebuilding and creative contributions to conflict resolution to keep families, communities, and countries from losing their social cohesion.

Examining the root causes of the current pandemic of gender inequality and injustice against women, Diop stated, „As in the case of slavery, the full humanity of black people was denied in courts and even at the supreme court. There was an alleged divine endorsement of hierarchicalism. The same distorted perceptions have been at play when it comes to women. Their alleged inferiority has been a major presupposition to justify their subjugation, submission, and instrumentalization.“ Unfortunately in most societies, women are still considered inferior to men and this concept is passed on from generation to generation. That is why education that leads to respect and solidarity with women is so important.

Diop also quoted Nelson Mandela who stated; „To deny any person their human rights is to challenge their very humanity“ and continued,  „To deny any person their freedom of conscience is to deny their humanity. To deny any women any characteristic of their humanity is to deny their humanity. Women’s full humanity includes their full freedom of conscience. Without women’s rights, there can be no peace or security, no justice and development, no human rights, no rule of law but only pervasive violence. Without gender equality and equity international political discourse becomes unsustainable and equally without gender justice, religious discourse discredits itself. In the international arena, all the pillars of the United Nations are at risk when gender equality and equity are unfulfilled.“

He concluded that the goal of the symposium on gender equality and women’s rights is about freedom, emancipation, and  self-determination. It is about the abolition of subjugation and submission of human beings. 

Diop used a word that rang a negative bell in many minds, which is mostly associated with Headship Theology when he said, „Complementarity not competition, coercion and oppression.“ Complementarian theology presupposes male dominance. After his passionate plea for equality and equity, we have to suppose that this was not what he meant. I would like to think that he meant that equals are not in competition but complement each other. Only when we work together as men and women will we achieve justice and equality.

Concluding his presentation, Diop called for  „a new Renaissance which would open new possibilities for individuals to flourish, for states to prosper, for multilateralism and peaceful coexistence to become the modus vivendi of all for the good of all. Central to this Renaissance is gender equality, equity, and justice expressesd in the promotion, provision, and protection of women’s rights. Ultimately, the urgency of accelerating gender equality, equity and justice is about saving lives, about liberating people crawling under inhumane conditions of submission. This renaissance is about restoring not only the rights of women but also more fundamentally their full humanity; no longer objects, tools, instuments or slaves, but full human beings with sacred consciences and dignity and the right to dream on their own terms. This should then be translated into policies, promoted and protected for the sake of life, dignity, honor, respect and solidarity.“

During the virtual presentation, participants were able to post their comments. One comment was: „I’m curious to hear Diop explain why his church voted against equality for women in ordination within his own church.“ I did not hear any explanation for this inconsistency. Concentrating on the horrendous results of discrimination and violence against women in the global setting makes it easy to diminish the importance of equality in a church that at least professes to respect all.  Words are important, but if these words are not put into practice they are not worth much. Unity of the Body of Christ is one of the fundamental beliefs of the Seventh-Day Adventist church and the official text is quoted here:

„The church is one body with many members, called from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. In Christ we are a new creation; distinctions of race, culture, learning, and nationality, and differences between high and low, rich and poor, male and female, must not be divisive among us. We are all equal in Christ, who by one Spirit has bonded us into one fellowship with Him and with one another; we are to serve and be served without partiality or reservation. Through the revelation of Jesus Christ in the Scriptures we share the same faith and hope, and reach out in one witness to all. This unity has its source in the oneness of the triune God, who has adopted us as His children. (Ps. 133:1; Matt. 28:19, 20; John 17:20-23; Acts 17:26, 27; Rom. 12:4, 5; 1 Cor. 12:12-14; 2 Cor. 5:16, 17; Gal. 3:27-29; Eph. 2:13-16; 4:3-6, 11-16; Col. 3:10-15.)“

I would like to return to Diop’s comparison with the abolition of slavery. We know that although slavery was abolished in 1833 in Britain and on January 31, 1865, in the USA, racial discrimination has a long history until our times. Even the civil rights movement and improvements enacted in 1968 have not been able to do away with all racial discrimination. There is still a lot to be done. Adventists were active in their support of the abolition of slavery. Unfortunately, white supremacy thinking in parts of the church has prevented full support of non-discrimination. The same applies to women’s equality. The early Adventists were in full support of the women’s right to participate in the gospel ministry just like men. The current position of the church as to the full equality of women, particularly concerning women‘s ordination is very unfortunate and hurtful. The working policy not only permits but mandates discrimination in the context of ordination. Some people would argue that a church has its own statutes and regulations and we should not introduce human rights issues into the church and to do so is worldly thinking. I beg to differ: God created man and woman as equals and who are we as a church to change that? 

Dr. Diop’s position of respect for the humanity of all and the need for equality and equity for women is encouraging. I hope that his voice will be heard among the other leaders of his church.

 

Graphic: UN