As we prepare for the 16 Days of Activism
against gender-based violence, violence against women and children, the question
that I've been asked to answer is: Should secular movements for women's rights
work together with religious movements? And my answer is a big «Yes!». Simply because in both agencies, there is
a foundation of women being the agents of liberation. Whether you look at a secular movement, it
was women themselves that fought for their rights. Even in the African context, it was w
omen
who were at the forefront, fighting with men against slavery, apartheid,
colonialism, and even after independence, women fought
for their rights. And so what we see in the theological realm
is that women bring that spirit of fighting for the rights of
women into the theological realm. They go into the sacred text and begin to
re-read some of the most well-known texts, like the creation stories, and begin to show
how those creation stories actually affirm the equality and human dignity
of al
l persons, just as is the statement in the Declaration
of Human Rights. So already there's a commonality, and women
theologians have reclaimed the voices and the hidden narratives that show women
as active participants in the key historical events that shape Christian
faith. For example, in the Exodus narrative, it begins
with a courageous action of five women: the midwife, Miriam, Pharao's daughter, Miriam's
mother. Similarly, we see that woman's agencies in
the coming of Jesus. It starts with
Mary, Elizabeth, Anna... We see that in the Gospel of Luke, even at
Pentecost, the coming of the Spirit, women were present. So in all the historical events that shaped
Christianity, women were at the center. So when the secular women meet with women
theologians, they'll discover much in common: a similar
struggle. So how do you go forward? You become visible at every opportunity. You speak the same language. You share the vision in both spiritual language
and secular language.
Comments