Churches promote new images of masculinity in effort to stop violence against women

From "Daphne Martin_Gnanadason" <[email protected]>
Date Wed, 24 Nov 2010 10:55:46 +0100

(Re-issued due to technical delivery problems. Kindly ignore if
you have already received it.)
 
World Communion of Reformed Churches 
News release
November 23, 2010
 
Churches promote new images of masculinity in effort to stop
violence against women
 
Christians involved in church-based gender justice movements say
that men must develop a sense of positive masculinity in order to
counter increasing levels of violence by men against women.
Citing reports by the United Nations and human rights groups that
the extent and type of violent attacks on women is escalating,
representatives of global church organizations say initiatives
aimed at changing male patterns of behaviour are urgently
needed.
 
“Mass rapes in the Congo, mutilation, domestic violence, dowry
murders, honour killings: these horrors must stop,” says Setri
Nyomi, general secretary of the World Communion of Reformed
Churches (WCRC), ahead of the International Day for the
Elimination of Violence against Women (25 November). 
 
“There is violence too within the church – in parishes and in
church members’ homes,” Nyomi adds. “We are aware of systemic
violence that puts down women and their gifts in many structures
and communities. Yet too often we turn a blind eye or are silent
before what we know to be happening even though our faith teaches
us that women and men are created in God’s image.”
 
In an effort to stem the rising tide of violence against women,
WCRC is collaborating with the World Council of Churches (WCC)
and other faith-based organizations to develop a worldwide
network of men’s groups that challenge conventional images of
masculinity which promote the ideal man as strong, dominant, and
in charge. This image, church gender justice advocates say,
justifies the use of violence to resolve conflict and to
establish male control of public, faith and domestic spheres.
 
“We cannot remain silent about the reality of violence against
women and the responsibility of men to address this,” says WCC’s
general secretary, Olav Fykse Tveit. “We believe that there is
inspiration in our faith for life together in love and mutual
respect. As Christians, we see women and men as equal.”
 
To mark the international day, the WCRC and the WCC are
co-publishing a manual of resources for use by churches,
seminaries and civil society groups to promote new images of
positive masculinity.
 
“For the WCC, this gender training manual is an important
contribution to the process of building a just, peaceable
community made up of women and men that bears testimony to our
Saviour’s call for unity. I recommend it to all our member
churches,” says Tveit.“We need to bear witness to what 'being
one' can do to help transform relationships between men and
women.”
 
The manual Created in God’s Image: From Hegemony to Partnership –
a set of guidelines for discussion, theological reflection and
bible study has been developed from work at the local level,
encouraged by workshops and encounters in church halls and
community centres. 
Co-edited by Philip Vinod Peacock and Patricia
Sheerattan-Bisnauth, who is responsible for gender justice
programme with WCRC, the manual provides tools for workshops with
men at the community level.
 
“A more positive image of masculinity is needed”, says Philip
Vinod Peacock, a theologian and deacon with the Church of North
India. “When we move away from a situation where men seek to
dominate women and into situations where men and women are in
partnership, we will be more faithful to God.”
 
 “The idea is for men to recognize that patterns of male
violence against women result from negative images of masculinity
- images of men as warriors and gods,” Peacock says. “We want
them to see that there are other images for men that see strength
in partnership with women rather than dominance over them. We
need to look to biblical teachings which present those alternate
images of partnership between men and women,” says Peacock. 
Partners in the initiative include the World YWCA, Lutheran
World Federation (LWF), World Student Christian Federation
(WSCF), and the World Alliance of YMCA’s. 
“Concepts of masculinity and gender are explored with the aim of
enabling men to become more conscious of gender as it affects
their own lives as well as those of women,” Sheerattan-Bisnauth.

 
“The manual aims to strengthen men’s role in ending gender
violence. It provides an inclusive approach for men to
participate in transforming gender relations which produces male
violence,” the Guyanese theologian declares.
 
The manual, Created in God’s Image: From Hegemony to Partnership
is available in PDF format at
http://www.wcrc.ch/sites/default/files/PositiveMasculinitiesGenderManual_0.pdf

 
Print copies are available for 15 US dollars or 15 Swiss francs
by contacting [email protected] 
 
See below for links to additional resources.
 
The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) was created in
June 2010 through a merger of the World Alliance of Reformed
Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC). Its
230 member churches representing 80 million Christians are active
worldwide in initiatives supporting economic, climate and gender
justice, mission, and cooperation among Christians of different
traditions. 
 
The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,
witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical
fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings
together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches
representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110
countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic
Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit,
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva,
Switzerland.
 
Additional resources are available for use by faith and civil
society groups.
 
I. World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC)
 
“Created in God’s Image: From Hierarchy to Partnership, a church
manual on gender awareness and leadership development”:     
http://www.wcrc.ch/sites/default/files/Created in God's
Image.pdf
 
II. World Council of Churches (WCC)
 
"What it takes to be a man: Bongani's story."
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/programmes/the-wcc-and-the-ecumenical-movement-in-the-21st-century/women-in-church-and-society.html

“Cries of Anguish, Stories of Hope”:
http://women.overcomingviolence.org (
http://women.overcomingviolence.org/ ) 
 
III. Lutheran World Federation (LWF) 
 
"It will not be so among you!" A Faith Reflection on Gender and
Power
http://www.lutheranworld.org/lwf/index.php/it-will-not-be-so-among-you.html

"Churches say ‘NO’ to Violence Against Women"
http://www.lutheranworld.org/lwf/index.php/resources/lwf-publications
 
IV. World YWCA
 
Violence Against Women resources section:
http://www.worldywca.org/Resources/Resources-by-Theme/Violence-Against-Women

“2010 YWCA -YMCA Week of Prayer Booklet”:
http://www.worldywca.org/Events/Week-of-Prayer 
 
 
Media contact:
Kristine Greenaway
Executive Secretary, Communications
World Communion of Reformed Churches
150 route de Ferney, PO Box 2100
1211 Geneva 2 
Switzerland
tel. +41 22 791 6243
fax +41 22 791 6505
[email protected]
www.wcrc.ch ( http://www.wcrc.ch/ )