wfn.org | [ENS] Anglican women gather to lobby U.N. for women's lives

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@mail.epicom.org>]

Daybook, from Episcopal News Service

February 14, 2005 - Monday Mission

Anglican women gather to lobby U.N. for women's lives

[ENS] 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 U.N.'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 U.S. 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 Rev. 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
March 2
at the Church Center for the United Nations (CCUN), 44th and 1st Avenue,
8th
floor) from 1:15-2:45 p.m. 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, March 6 at Synod Hall at the Cathedral
of
St. John the Divine, Amsterdam Avenue at 110th St. The presentation from
3-5
p.m. 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."

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