Newsletter of the Asian Women's Resource Centre for Culture and Theology
Vol. 8, No. 2, October 2003
Feminist Theology seminar in KL
The Asian Women's Resource Centre for Culture and Theology will hold a seminar on an introduction to feminist theology in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 17-18 January 2004.
Topics of the seminar will include: "Doing Contextual Theology: An Introduction to Feminist Theology"; "Women and the Old Testament"; "Women and the New Testament"; and "Feminist Interpretation of the Texts in the Bible".
The seminar will feature four feminist theologians in Asia: Lilith Usog, from the Philippines; Anna May Chain, Myanmar; Ellen Malini Devananda, Sri Lanka; and Hisako Kinukawa, Japan.
 Lilith
Usog, a Catholic lay woman, teaches theology at the Institute for Formation & Religious Studies and courses in women's studies at St. Scholastica's
College in Manila, Philippines. |
 Principal of Myanmar Institute of Theology in
Yangon, Myanmar, Anna May teaches women in world religions, feminist spirituality, reading the Bible with women's eyes and feminist theology. |
 One of the first women to be ordained as deacon in the Anglican Church of Sri Lanka just recently,
Ellen
Malini Devananda is director/ secretary of the Church of Ceylon Board of Christian Education. |
 Hisako Kinukawa is adjunct professor at several seminaries and universities in Japan, teaching Bible, feminist theology, and gender studies. |
Planning Team to meet on Feminist Theology modules
AWRC has tasked a planning team to explore the possibility of developing training modules on Asian Feminist Theology. The team will meet on Jan. 16, 19 and 20 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
As per the mandate of the AWRC Coordinating Team Members, the modules will consist of theological reflection, biblical studies, and leadership development.
Aimed to assist Asian women who do not have access to formal theological training, the modules are meant to use non-formal education and learning.
In 2002, AWRC collected several syllabi from members and friends teaching feminist theology in different Asian seminaries.
For three years in 1999-2002, AWRC developed and used a syllabus for the Women's Alternative Leader-ship for Transformation (WALT) program, especially designed for grassroots women in Cambodia.
In 2002, AWRC published a module on sexuality following a series of reflections and a workshop on the theme.
In January 2004, a seminar on an introduction to feminist theology will be held in Kuala Lumpur.
All materials used in these cited program activities will be used as references by the planning team.
AWRC hopes to fulfill the need of many Asian women for theological education that is free from institutional and academic requirements or demands through non-formal learning or popular education as an alternative.
Planning team members are: Ellen Malini Devananda, Anna May Chain, Hisako Kinukawa, Lilith Usog, Hope Antone and Yong Ting Jin. Jessica Richard will serve as recording secretary. This planning meeting and the feminist theology seminar were originally scheduled in 2003 but the postponement due to the scare of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) had affected many people's schedule.
Women's groups wage campaign against rape
On 3rd August 2003, the All Women's Action Society (AWAM) submitted a petition called Citizens Against Rape signed by various non-governmental organizations, trade unions, consumer groups, religious groups and community-based organizations.
The Asian Women's Resource Centre for Culture and Theology was one of the signatories.
The campaign, titled "Citizens Against Rape: Make Public Spaces Safe - Towards a Violence-Free Community" (CAR), arose due to a recent spate of publicized rape cases, particularly the brutal rape and murder of Canny Ong, which raised concerns about the safety of public spaces in Malaysia.
CAR's main aims are to:
- gain public support and foster community involvement in the fight against rape;
- provide authorities with recommendations for improving the standard of security in public spaces;
- set up a monitoring body to keep track of the situation regarding rape; and to monitor the authorities' commitment towards addressing rape and making public spaces safe; and
- raise public awareness on proposed amendments to laws relating to rape.
The petition, initiated by AWAM and endorsed by the signatories, demanded the following from the government of Malaysia and the Royal Malaysian Police:
 | provide effective and efficient enforcement of law and order (including, but not limited to, the recruitment of more police officers, frequent pa-trolling in streets and public spaces and the set-ting up of specialized crime teams); |
| set up an effective information network that includes a computer system for immediate and easy access to information on crimes committed; and |
| conduct publicity campaigns to inform the public of the actions and procedures that should be taken in the event of a violent crime. |
The group demanded the following from the state government, Ministry of Housing Development and Local Authorities:
| enact and enforce mandatory security measures, which are to be complied with by owners of any public place (be they private corporations or government bodies). These precautionary measures may include, but are not limited to, the installation of adequately monitored closed circuit television (CCTV) systems, adequate lighting and frequent patrols by trained security guards; and |
| install and maintain emergency telephones in strategic public spaces (particularly streets, car parks and pedestrian walkways) for easy access and use during emergencies. |
From the Ministry of Education, the group demanded that they introduce and implement, as part of the National Curriculum, properly conducted sex education, where boys and girls are taught to respect each other as human beings, as well as courses on personal safety and violence against women.
East Asian women meet
The 5th East Asian Women's Forum will meet at Hong Kong Baptist University in Kowloon, Hong Kong, on 19-22 December 2003.
With the theme "Embracing New Challenges: Women in Action", the meeting aims at the following:
| analyzing the situation of women and the causes of gender discrimination; |
| sharing experiences and information of women's actions and struggles; |
| empowering women and strengthening women's movement to create alternative society based on gender justice, ecological sustainability and grass-roots global democracy; |
| building solidarity through regional networking among NGO women. |
Conference sub-themes will be: (a) gender main-streaming, (b) globalization and feminization of poverty, and (c) traditional value or family dynamics.
Held every two or three years in one of the East Asian countries, the Forum is organized by women NGOs, including the Hong Kong Women Christian Council.
Materials on womenet may be quoted and copied provided that womenet is acknowledged as source. Printed copies of womenet are available on request from the AWRC Office.
