2011 Ecumenical Advocacy Days Conference Highlights Women

["Lesley Crosson" <lcrosson@churchworldservice.org>]

March 7, 2011

Nation's Largest Gathering of Faith-based Advocates Focuses on Women

WASHINGTON--Development, Security and Economic Justice: What’s Gender
Got to Do with It?    That is the question raised in the theme for the
ninth annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days conference
(http://advocacydays.org/), Mar. 25 - 28, in Arlington, Va. 

The answer, judging by the workshop lineup at the nation's largest
annual gathering of faith-based activists is, "Just about everything."

This week, as people the world over commemorate International Women's
Day  (Mar. 8), with its theme of equal access for women, it is fitting
that grassroots activists and experts from around the nation and the
world will delve into issues ranging from women and poverty to women and
the global economy and women and migration. 

In homes and communities, in fields and marketplaces, along borders and
in areas of conflict, violence, poverty, and other social evils
disproportionately affect women and girls, preventing them from
attaining their full potential and impacting the wholeness and vibrancy
of the full community. 

Ecumenical Advocacy Days, the nation's largest gathering of faith-based
advocates, is co-sponsored by global humanitarian agency Church World
Service (CWS) and the National Council of Churches (NCC), with broad
ecumenical support.   This year's conference plenaries and workshops
(http://advocacydays.org/tracks/) will focus on the vital issues of U.S.
and global economic justice, safety and security, and sustainable
development, with a particular focus on women, girls and families,
The development philosophy of CWS underscores the importance of women
and long has acknowledged and responded to inequalities and other
challenges that serve to bar women from significant involvement in
community development initiatives.
"By investing in women, we invest in families and communities.  Women
should always have a role in development efforts leading to the
provision and use of critical services like access to safe water,
nutritious food, education or health care," said CWS executive director
and CEO the Rev. John L. McCullough.

The agency's successes range from water projects in drought-prone
regions of East Africa
(http://www.churchworldservice.org/site/News2?id=5740)
 that now have women serving as planners, implementers, and decision
makers in communities where they historically have had no voices, to
food cooperatives in Latin America and the Caribbean
(http://www.churchworldservice.org/site/News2?id=9147)
where women---traditionally undervalued, undereducated, and
underemployed--are both contributing to and benefitting from
CWS-supported efforts to improve local food and nutrition security.

"Most of the more than one billion people in the world today living in
extreme poverty are women and girls," says McCullough.  "Their
impoverishment is a product of inequality, circumscribed participation
in decision making, and being deprived of economic opportunities, access
to resources, education and support services."

Speakers and preachers confirmed so far include the Rev. John Nunes,
president and CEO of Lutheran World Relief and Monique Nunes,
administrator for the Baltimore Lutheran School, Towson, Md.; the Rev.
Peg Chemberlin, president of National Council of Churches in Christ USA
and executive director for the Minnesota Council of Churches; Daisy
Machado, academic dean and professor of church history, Union
Theological Seminary; Regina Oldak, senior counsel for the Women's Law
Center; Ritu Sharma, co-founder and president of Women Thrive Worldwide;
and Jack Jezreel, founder and executive director of JustFaith
Ministries.

Ecumenical Advocacy Days aims to mobilize people of faith to make the
case for equitable treatment of women to people with the power to enact
policies and legislation on this and other important domestic and
international policy issues.

The conference will conclude with a day of lobbying o
n Capitol Hill,
during which participants will meet with lawmakers and staff from their
congressional districts to advocate around issues that will impact the
lives of women for years to come.

Register now for "Development, Security and Economic Justice: What's
Gender Got to Do with It?"  at
https://co.clickandpledge.com/advanced/default.aspx?wid=32582 


Media Contacts
Lesley Crosson, (212) 870-2676, media@churchworldservice.org 
Jan Dragin - 24/7 - (781) 925-1526, jdragin@gis.net 

Church World Service
475 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10115
(212) 870-2061