Newsletter of the Asian Women's Resource Centre for Culture and Theology
Vol. 12, No. 1, April 2007

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Announcement: IGI Issues

The Editorial Advisory Committee of In God’s Image came up with the following themes for the forthcoming editions of the journal.

With the year 2007 as the silver anniversary of IGI and 20^th anniversary of AWRC, the December edition will feature stories on the foremothers and foresisters of Asian feminist theologizing.

2007

2008

2009

2010

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CCA Jubilee Celebrations

Two AWRC women representatives, Anna Marsiana and Yong Ting Jin, joined in the jubilant 50th anniversary celebrations of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) in its birthplace in Parapat, North Sumatra, Indonesia from 4-8 March. 

The program included two big rallies of gathered Christians of the Indonesian churches for worship and celebrations in Pematang Siantar and Medan, respectively. 

More than 200 people were present at the opening worship in Parapat where the program included two bible studies and 3 main panels on various themes. Anna May Say Pa, one of AWRC’s Coordinating Team members, was one of two Bible study leaders at the event. 

Another interesting highlight was the planting of trees in the CCA ecumenical garden in Parapat. This was, for the Indonesian hosts, a concrete sign of the Asian churches’ commitment towards environmental sustainability. 

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Women News on IWD

Call to defend dignity, uphold sovereignty

The Ecumenical Women’s Forum (EWF) celebrated International Women’s Day (IWD) on 8 March in Quezon City, Philippines with an ecumenical liturgy, testimonies and stories, and celebration of women’s hope, struggle and courage. The theme of the celebration was, “Defend Our Dignity, Uphold Our Sovereignty!”

EWF is a broad ecumenical alliance of women of faith committed to empower and mobilize churchwomen towards active participation in bringing gender equality, social justice and integral transformation in Philippine society. 

“As we remember the courageous action of the working class women in 1857 that gave birth to March 8, International Women’s Day, we amplify the voices of women all over the world crying out for justice, liberation and lasting peace,” the EWF statement said. 

“The March 8 IWD would not be possible had women quietly accepted their exploitation, oppression and unjust treatment and the patriarchal system that spawned it. Many women from across the world and all walks of life joined them in their common aspiration for liberation from all forms of exploitation. The historic act of the poor, suffering and struggling women for better and humane treatment is a herstoric victory of the under-class women.”

“Today, in the context of extreme economic crisis, political repression and foreign aggression in our country, we are one with the struggling women in our fight to de-fend our dignity and uphold our sovereignty.” 

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Call to end impunity for violence against women

The escalation of violence against women cannot be separated from the prolific levels of violence unleashed by powerful global forces, says the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) in its annual International Women's Day message issued on 7 March 2007. IWD 2007 theme is “Ending Impunity for Violence Against Women.”

“Women cannot be emancipated until patriarchy is dismantled and this aggression by powerful global forces ceases,” said Patricia Sheerattan-Bisnauth, executive secretary for WARC Office for Church Renewal, Justice and Partnership.

“Women in the West cannot be liberated while war is being fought in their names and nations are being bullied into submission by those on a quest for a hegemonic place in this world. The fundamental divide between North and South and the demonizing of other peoples’ religions and cultures must be a concern for all women who seek justice and freedom.”

Sheerattan-Bisnauth called for a revival of women's activism and resistance movements, both locally and globally. There must be a dialogue of women from all parts of the world and including all classes, races, nationalities and religions, she said. “As we grapple with the tension within our specific context, we must have eyes for the larger picture, addressing not only our specific needs but also the larger global struggles.”

Benebo Fubara-Manuel, principal clerk of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria and member of WARC gender justice network, added that if the church had not “divinized” the patriarchy deeply embedded within its systems, violence against women would not have survived in the church. “Christianity’s starting point in ending the impunity for violence against women may be to humbly admit that its systems are not as divine as it has claimed for centuries and to honestly, under God, confront its own evils and name them courageously,” Fubara-Manuel said.

Patriarchy is the root cause of much of the brutal military and economic violence against men, women and children in the world today, Sheerattan-Bisnauth added. “People have been driven out of their homes, forced to flee to refugee camps; children are dying from enforced economic sanctions; soldiers are killed or maimed; civilians are slaughtered daily. Human rights abuses are being carried out every day in most horrific ways.

“Women are systematically raped, abducted and forcefully displaced while dowry-related deaths, honour killings and female genital mutilation continue with impunity. Trafficking in women and girls for sexual and economic exploitation thrives as a face of neoliberal economic globalization. “The brutal aggression in our world today is one of the signs of deep and pervasive systems of domination derived from patriarchal ideology. This ideology thrives upon and is sustained by systems of hierarchy, domination and control.”

[Source: World Alliance of Reformed Churches]

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One Woman’s Struggle, All Women’s Struggle

On International Working Women’s Day and Women’s History Month in March 2007, GABRIELA Network, a Philippine-US women’s solidarity mass organization, called on all women around the world to reaffirm our interconnectedness and reassert our right and duty to unite.

Women’s lives are devalued more than ever. When a 22-year old woman is raped by US military in the Philippines and her plight ridiculed by her own government, when a 14-year old is raped, killed and burned by US military in Iraq, when thousands of women survivors of systemic sexual enslavement by the Japanese Imperial Army in WWII are denied pardon and redress, when up to 2.5 Filipinas are exported into life-threatening work, when sex trafficking in the Philippines increases at an annual rate of 10%, when every year sex traffickers prey on half a million Filipino women, the whole of womankind is further dehumanized.

Such dehumanization perpetuates the objectification and sexualized image of women. Such dehumanization impacts how women see ourselves – as objects whose sole purpose is to satisfy someone else’s sexual, political, economic, social needs and desires. On a global scale, such dehumanization feeds the machine of patriarchal imperialist globalization. A dehumanized woman has no political voice; she is dispensable; she is a commodity. A dehumanized woman is further entrenched into a conditioned role as a mere thing that replenishes – i.e. sustenance, entertainment, rest and recreation, procreation – daily and generational labor.

Whatever rights women in developed countries may think they have are fleeting or, at worst, illusions. And whatever privileges women in developed countries may enjoy are also impermanent – whether it be having the capacity to work because you’ve hired a woman from the Philippines or the Caribbean to take care of your children or affording inexpensive clothing or foodstuffs because of a woman’s cheap labor in Saipan or at a plantation owned by Dole in the Philippines. At the end of the day women in developed countries still fear and are still at risk of being harassed, molested, raped, groped in a crowded Subway train; we still experience gender-based discrimination; we still are susceptible to the psychological, political and economic oppression brought about by the devaluation of women’s lives. This is what it means to be dehumanized.

We women cannot accept such victimization. We must refuse to be agents in a global system that pits one group of women against another that gives a false sense of empowerment to a group of women by disempowering another. Women in the US and other developed countries have a duty to support our sisters in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, the Philippines – countries where our own governments have instigated and perpetuated the oppression and exploitation of women ostensibly for our benefit. Women in the US have much to gain and learn from women abroad. 

In countries like the Philippines, where 834 activists (83 women) have already been murdered, women are putting their lives on the line. We must take inspiration from their unrelenting militancy; stand on the grounds they’ve gained and contribute to the advancement of a genuine global women’s movement.

[Source: Dorotea Mendoza, Secretary General, GABRIELA Network USA; email: secgen@gabnet.org]

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Stop commodifying women migrants!

On 8 March 2007, the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) united with women around the world in commemorating International Women’s Day. In a statement, APMM said, “It is right to celebrate and affirm the continuing struggles of women for their rights, wellbeing, and emancipation. The oppression of women can still be seen in the situation of women workers, women peasants, women migrants and other disadvantaged sectors.”

According to International Organization for Migration, in 2005, women comprised 49.6 per cent of the total number of migrant workers all over the world. In Asia-Pacific region, women migrant workers are found in various fields and mainly in the service sector – e.g. as domestic workers, caregivers, entertainers, clerks and secretaries.

Abuse of women, through physical and sexual violence, is rampant. Women migrant workers also experience various forms of discrimination. 

Undocumented women migrants are among the most oppressed section of foreign workers; they are denied many of their basic rights as workers and as women including wages, working and living conditions, worksite benefits, and health services. They are victimized by violent crack-down operations.

Women are also victimized by human trafficking, usually sex trafficking. The billion-dollar international sex trade victimizes hundreds of thousands of women especially those from rural areas. In South Korea, victims of sex trafficking usually end up in prostitution dens around the US military bases and forced to cater to stationed or arriving soldiers. Traffickers also use cross-cultural marriages to perpetuate the trade.

Women in cross-cultural marriages also face difficulties, including economic and cultural difficulties. Many of these ‘foreign brides’ have their status, hence, their stay in the host country, firmly tied to their husbands.

On the occasion of IWD, APMM affirmed its commitment to the empowerment of women migrant workers, geared towards the effective protection of their rights and wellbeing, and the resolution of the evils of forced migration.

[Source: Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants]

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Virginia Fabella honored as environment advocate

Virginia Fabella, a Maryknoll Sister from the Philippines, has been involved in environmental work since the early 2000’s when she was assigned to Jala-jala, Rizal, where her congregation is developing a mini-farm towards self-sustenance.

“At Maryknoll mini-farm, we use only ‘environment-friendly’ farming methods. Our place in Jala-jala has also been used for seminars on waste management and other environment-related concerns,” said Sr. Virginia.

When Jala-jala town celebrated its 100th anniversary in March 2007, Virginia Fabella received a certificate of appreciation from the town mayor for her invaluable support and active participation in conserving environmental resources and developing greater consciousness in caring for nature.

Sr. Virginia is a member of AWRC and the Editorial Advisory Committee of IGI. She also teaches feminist theology courses in the Institute of Formation and Religious Studies.

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