wfn.org | WARC and WCC Conclude Patriarchy Workshop

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

> World Alliance of Reformed Churches
> News Release
> 23 September 2008

Churches have a role to play in helping men become better partners

Patriarchy has been the dominant influence in shaping men and
oppressing women, a workshop sponsored by the World Alliance of
Reformed Churches (WARC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC)
has concluded.

Meeting in Blantyre, Malawi, from 13 to 19 September, 35 men and
women from Africa, Asia and Caribbean stated in a report that
patriarchy is also a critical theological issue for the church to
confront.

â??Churches have been complicit in gender disparity,
discrimination and violence because they have failed to engage
patriarchy critically,â?? they said in the report on the workshop
â??In Partnership for Gender Justice: Towards Transformative
Masculinities.â??

â??Patriarchy has pervaded all spheres of life from culture to
social organization, political and economic systems,
institutions, theories and structures. This reality has resulted
in the oppression of women and also large numbers of men in all
spheres of life.

â??Globalization, modernization and the HIV/AIDS pandemic are
creating new contexts (changing contexts) to which traditional
and oppressive masculinities are challenged to adapt towards
gender equity and healing.

â??Likewise, changing contexts defy the traditional and
subjugated roles that women have been assigned in society and are
exposing menâ??s fears of and ill reactions to womenâ??s
achievements,â?? the report states.

The workshop participants called for a re-socialization of men
into â??gender sensitive masculinitiesâ?? and called on churches
to revisit theologies and re-read their biblical texts in light
of the current gender justice crisis.

The workshop was organized as part of the ongoing gender justice
work of WARC and as part of WCCâ??s preparation for the
International Ecumenical Peace Convocation in 2011. Its aim was
to hold a conversation between men and women in the context of
the call for men to be partners with women in the fight against
gender disparity, discrimination and violence.

The report states that the workshop marks a shift from an
exclusive look at womenâ??s empowerment towards a discourse on
partnership between women and men.

â??This workshop affirmed the importance of involving menâ??s
perspective in addressing issues of gender disparity that
sometimes finds expression in violence against women,â?? said
Fulata Moyo, programme executive for Women in Church and
Society.

Bishop James Tengatenga of the Anglican Diocese of Southern
Malawi added: â??We would like to come up with tactics on how to
deal with (male violence against women) and make men realize that
masculinity is not being superior or violent against the opposite
sex.â??

Concluded Patricia Sheerattan-Bisnauth of WARCâ??s Office for
Church Renewal, Justice and Partnership, â??It is important for
churches to create spaces for honest and open discussion on the
perpetuation of stereotypes derived from culture (including
political culture) and traditions, religious practices and
beliefs, which are detrimental not only to women but to men and
to the community.

â??Churches have a critical role to play in enabling men to
develop a more conscientized  understanding of what it means to
be partners, lovers, brothers, sons and friends.â??

> ***

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) brings together
75 million Reformed Christians in 214 churches in 107 countries -
united in their commitment to making a difference in a troubled
world. The WARC general secretary is Rev. Dr. Setri Nyomi of the
Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana. WARC's secretariat is
based in Geneva, Switzerland.

> Contact:
> John P. Asling
> Executive Secretary, Communications
> World Alliance of Reformed Churches
> 150 Route de Ferney
> P.O. Box 2100
> 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
> tel.  +41.22 791 6243
> fax: +41.22 791 6505
> web: www.warc.ch