Note #9129 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06090 Feb. 15, 2006
Women well-represented at WCC Assembly
Kobia calls for a transformation of males' roles in world society
by Peter Kenny Ecumenical News International
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil - Women are playing a more prominent role in this year's Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC), where 45 percent of participants are females, according to leaders of the world's largest grouping of churches.
"The World Council of Churches provides a space for women," Agnes Aboum, the WCC's regional president for Africa, said on Feb. 14, the opening day of a global meeting of the council's highest governing body.
The WCC Assembly is held once every seven years.
"This year we are celebrating an increased participation by women," said Aboum, a Kenyan. "We are 37 per cent of the delegates and 45 per cent of the participants."
Aboum made her remarks during a media conference at the Assembly, which runs through Feb. 23.
Before the start of the meeting of the WCC, which is composed of more than 340 churches with about 550 million members, the council's general secretary, the Rev. Samuel Kobia, said the roles of men in society need to be changed.
Speaking to a group of women participants, Kobia said a change of roles for men is a prerequisite for meaningful social transformation. During the 20th century, he said, women's role change from homemaker to worker outside the home had a great impact on women and family life. Regrettably, he said, this has not yet led to changes in men's roles.
"The role of men needs to change for the transformation to make sense in this Assembly and beyond," he said. Still, he warned that men in leadership positions would not give up power easily, so women must continue their struggle for social transformation.
Louise Bakala Komouno, of the Evangelical Church in Congo (in Brazzaville), said few women hold church leadership positions in sub-Saharan Africa. She urged the church to offer training to women so that they can take up such positions.
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