My hairdresser routinely carries the recent version of Oprah magazine at her station so I usually check it out. Sometimes you may find something worthwhile, some times not. Oprah is doing a Change the world campaign and listed some interesting comments made by some even more interesting people. The comment that jumped off the page was a quote from Stephen Lewis, Co-director of AIDS-Free World, and former UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. It simply said: “What the world needs most can be conveyed in five words: equality between women and men. What more is there left to say? “

Whoa. Obviously, this guy is on the front lines of some global issues. This topic is high on my radar and I believe that women’s issues are humanitarian issues (since they are half the population) Check out his list of accomplishments, awards, 26 honorary degrees etc. here . In 2005, TIME Magazine listed him among the World’s 100 Most Influential People. I resonate with excepts from an Interview at Dissidentvoice.org:

“One of the most crucial factors at this moment in time before the UN General Assembly is to create an agency for women. I feel strongly the need for this at every front. How can you marginalize 52% of the population and think realistically about achieving social justice?

There is a tremendous job ahead. There is sexual violence in Eastern Congo; there is a need to compile the litany of early alarms and comments that are being made and to document the horror stories that have etched the landscape of public commentary and how much worse it has to become before we end this war on women.

The international system only deals with this on the occasional press release. Instead of a strong women’s agency, the issues get lost as only part of the broader violations of human rights. They are without precedent. Soul destroying. We don’t have an organization to speak about essential human rights components like these. It’s an idea whose time has come. It is only one of the components. There is no sexual autonomy for women right now. It is very much a major factor in the spread of the virus.�

Last week was invited to jump into a blog entitled “What Women Want� part 2 by Johnny and Jenny Baker- part one having garnered the most traffic to the site. I discussed the possibility of creating challenging opportunities outside emerging or institutional church structures. Women of faith have huge potential as world changers – but for the most part, they are muted, devalued and disenfranchised within the church. If empowered, they will in turn empower and help other women globally in tremendous need. There is some real simple math here. It is: one shall set a thousand to flight, and ten - ten thousand to flight. So if the church all of a sudden says it is all about social justice – I’m simply not buying it…How can you marginalize 52% of your constituency and think realistically about achieving social justice.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 7:25 pm and is filed under Social Justice, Women. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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