wfn.org | ACNS Anglican women gather to lobby UN on women's lives

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ACNS 3942     |     USA     |	  15 FEBRUARY 2005

Anglican women gather to lobby UN on women's lives

>From the Episcopal News Service

Eighty-one Anglican women gather in New York City beginning February 24
for two weeks of meetings and lobbying in support of the Anglican
Observer to the United Nations during the 49th session of the UN's
Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW).

The women belong to two distinct delegations: one composed of 41 women
from 26 Anglican provinces around the world, joined by another
delegation of 40 Episcopal Church (ECUSA) women from 11 US states. Both
the provincial and ECUSA delegations, accredited through the Anglican
Consultative Council (ACC), will advocate an end to poverty and the
improvement of the lives of women and their families.

"This gives women the opportunity to act as delegates and lobby their
governments for implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, an
outline created ten years ago by the UNCSW," said Archdeacon Tai
Tuatagaloa-Matalavea, Anglican observer. "The Beijing Platform lists
twelve specific areas, such as poverty, education, health, violence and
the environment, that need to be improved if the status of women is
going to rise."

The gathering is also intended to strengthen the International Anglican
Women's Network (IAWN) in its efforts to ensure that poverty and other
issues affecting women and families are given the highest priority by
their respective governments, other national and international
institutions, and the leaders of the Anglican Communion. The IAWN was
formed in 1996 following a consultation convened by the ACC and funded
by the Mothers' Union and the United Thank Offering (UTO) of ECUSA.
Within Anglican structures, it reports to the ACC.

Although the delegates live in different parts of the world and work in
different fields, Tuatagaloa-Matalavea reports that they have already
expressed similar concerns to the ACC UN office: violence - particularly
domestic - against women in their countries; poverty; sexual
stereotyping; and the lack of access to power, education and proper
health care that keep women from reaching their full potential. "They
also believe that women not only need to play the role of nurturers in
the home, but can be nurturers of peace and prosperity in their
cultures, and also act as forces of unity and reconciliation in their
respective churches," she said.

The delegates will join with other non-governmental organizations,
including the Mothers' Union, to lobby and learn at the United Nations.
"It's our commitment to the Gospel which propels us into the political
arena," explained the Revd Margaret Rose, director of women's ministries
at the Episcopal Church Center. "It's important for us to take an
Anglican-based, faith-centered perspective to the United Nations. We
need to offer a clear public voice advocating for women and children,
and through them for all humanity, even all creation."

Most of the meetings are closed to the general public. There are,
however, two events sponsored by the Anglican Observer's Office that the
public is encouraged to attend:

"African Women Making a Difference: A Hopeful Story of Rwanda," an event
featuring Ladies First, a documentary film about women in the forefront
of building peace between Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda, will be shown on 2
March at the Church Center for the United Nations (CCUN), 44th and 1st
Avenue, 8th floor) from 1.15-2.45 pm. The film shows the remarkable role
women are playing in rebuilding Rwanda. Women hold 48 percent of the
seats in the lower house of the country's parliament - probably the
greatest percentage of female participation in government anywhere in
the world. Rwandan women also hold prominent positions in business,
agriculture and the promotion of equal rights. Ladies First profiles
some of the women instrumental in these efforts.
"Repairing the World: Anglican Women's Faith in Action" features a panel
discussion moderated by Archdeacon Tuatagaloa-Matalavea and a keynote
address by Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children's Defense
Fund. The event will be held on Sunday, 6 March at Synod Hall at the
Cathedral of St John the Divine, Amsterdam Avenue at 110th St. The
presentation from 3-5 pm. will be followed by a reception. The panelists
include prominent women from Fiji, Brazil, Ireland, Kenya and India
speaking on the work they do to empower women and how they see this as
an issue of peace and justice, central to the mission of the Anglican
Communion. They will also address how their faith has informed their
work, hoping to encourage those in the audience to also begin "repairing
the world" in any way they can.
Last year the ACC delegates to the 2004 Commission on the Status of
Women sponsored a panel discussion whose keynote speaker was Jane
Williams, wife of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Delegates reported that after last year's meeting they returned to their
countries inspired to give greater visibility and voice to women's
issues, and felt supported knowing that there was a worldwide network of
women sharing and encouraging their efforts.

The most important aspect of their work, said Mugisa Isingoma from the
Democratic Republic of Congo, is "to train women to be messengers of
peace. We must also help women break the silence so that they can speak
openly about all sorts of violence of which they have been victims and
how they can be reconciled and live a better life."

"As mothers of the nation and policy makers, we must ensure that our
children are brought up and taught the norms and values of our different
cultures that foster nonviolence, and to be peacemakers and leaders of
tomorrow for all countries, so that citizens can live freely, with no
fear of violence from other human beings," wrote Ethel Lusfanua Suri of
the Solomon Islands.

"Women can make a difference. Women need to stand up for their rights
and have the confidence to say 'NO' to violence and discrimination,"
said Clair Ghais Malik of Egypt. "Women can accomplish great things if
they set their minds to it. Women can encourage other women to be
educated. There are many opportunities for women to be involved in
non-governmental organizations to help change society."

"Everyone has a role to undertake. You start where you are, speaking and
acting in your own situation. Support other women in what they are
doing," advised Janet Hesketh from New Zealand. "If you feel scared or
worried about rejection and ridicule, remember that if we are doing His
will, Jesus is with us and we need not fear."

Anglican Observer at the United Nations: www.aco.org/un/

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