Women are making the desert bloom

In recognition of this year’s International Women’s Day, I attended two events. Though the character of the two events differed, they shared a common element: women around the globe are a force for change in their communities and in the world. From the macro to the micro level, women are creating streams in the desert places of human society.

World Day of Prayer 

The first event that I attended was the 2014 World Day of Prayer. The World Day of Prayer has its origins in the 19^th century in the missionary activity of women. Held annually since 1927, women from 170 countries participate.

This year, the women of Egypt prepared the ecumenical service, and not surprisingly, given the importance of the Nile River for life in the Sahara Desert, water featured prominently in the readings and prayers. The spiritually evocative theme, “Streams in the Desert”, pointed to God’s love and mercy in the parched places of human life.

As the women reflected on Egypt’s history and anticipated the future, the life-giving character of water was a metaphor for individual and community transformation.  Through faith in action, the women of Egypt aspire to “become channels of living water to the world” (Women's Inter-Church Council of Canada Ecumenical Service World Day of Prayer 2014). 

Egyptian women are continually discovering ways to make their world bloom with possibilities. From the daughter of Pharaoh, who in the biblical story of salvation defied her father to rescue the Hebrew baby who would lead an enslaved people to freedom, to the women who stood with men in Tahrir Square protesting a repressive regime, Egyptian women are agents of change, claiming their “right to freedom, justice and equality” (Ecumenical Service World Day of Prayer 2014).  Their vision extends into the future as they look for ways to preserve the waters of the Nile for future generations, and to enhance opportunities for women and girls. 

Unbreakable: One Girl Changing the World

The World Day of Prayer service prompted me to look inward for the parched places of my life that could use a little sprinkling of life giving water, and it prepared me for the second event, the screening of the film Unbreakable: One Girl Changing the World. This event took me out of my self, leading me to reevaluate my commitment to social justice at home and in places oceans away.

“Women Creating Change”, a project in the Lower Columbia region where I live, screened the film.   Before the film, we watched a video presentation that depicts some of the barriers – isolation, unaffordable housing and childcare, food insecurity, transportation costs, and claw backs to social assistance – women with low incomes struggle to overcome.  

Unbreakable: One Girl Changing the World tells the story of Malala Yousafzai who is internationally renowned for her courageous efforts to promote education for girls. Malala survived and recovered from a Taliban attempt to assassinate her, and remains committed to her mission. Not unlike Pharaoh’s daughter, the baby she plucked from the waters or the women who protested in Tahrir Square, Malala refuses to be silent against injustice; her inspiring example to empower girls through education is a stream in the desert of ignorance.

The Malala film was a natural fit with the goals of “Women Creating Change”. Tara Howse, project co-coordinator, explains, “Our project is based around identifying what prevents women in our local region from having a secure and stable future. We know that education is directly linked to the empowerment of women, which has been demonstrated to a better quality of life for their families and the rest of society.” To this end, the project hopes to establish a bursary for women. Projects like this one are made in Canada examples of women working towards the transformation of society.

The women of Egypt, Malala and “Women Creating Change” share a common goal; all want to see an increase in the opportunities for individuals to live with dignity, to realize their potential, and to live in harmony with others.

Collaborating with others, we become streams in the desert

These are matters of social justice in which we can participate, although I admit that there are times when I feel quite useless in the face of injustice. Despite these sometimes feelings of uselessness, I believe that often even a small action makes a significant difference, and that when we collaborate with others, we become like streams in the desert, helping individuals and communities to bloom.

Barbie doesn't belong in a men's magazine

"The partnership of Barbie and SI Swimsuit has nothing to do with empowering choices for girls no matter how the executives spin it."

A controversial marketing campaign

Advertisers have long used women’s bodies to make a buck, and every so often a controversial advertising campaign, like the marketing of the Barbie doll as a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit supermodel, creates a stir in the marketplace.

Coinciding with the 50^th anniversary issue of the magazine’s swimsuit edition, Mattel released a limited edition SI Swimsuit Barbie. Barbie sports a contemporary version of the doll’s original 1959 black and white swimsuit, fashionably accessorized with strappy black high-heeled sandals, jewelry and sunglasses.  

The magazine includes a four page-advertising feature of the doll, and features Barbie as an SI Swimsuit supermodel on 1,000 cover wraps with the headline “the doll that started it all”.

The Barbie debate

This latest rebranding of Barbie has reignited the debate about the appropriateness of the doll.  Some say the doll’s proportions give girls an unrealistic idea of beauty that is harmful to their self-esteem, and as evidence, they point to the number of mutilated Barbie dolls on tables at garage sales. Others argue that Barbie represents choices for women.  Mattel describes Barbie, who apparently has had about 150 careers including a run at the presidency of the United States, as “unapologetic” about her career as a SI Swimsuit supermodel.

A blast from the past - my "swimsuit Barbie"

I am neither a Barbie doll detractor nor apologist.  Like most girls growing up in the 1960’s, I had a Barbie.  The only thing I ever learned from Barbie was how to mix and match outfits and accessorize them.  I never confused Barbie with reality. I was quite sure she came from an impossibly rich family while everyone I knew worked hard for a living. No one I knew even remotely resembled her physically, let alone possessed her extensive and glamorous wardrobe.  Nor did Barbie have a negative affect on my self-image. I never felt inadequate because I had no hope of looking like her, and once I outgrew her, I never gave Barbie a second thought. She was not a major factor in my emotional development.

But then, the technology to bombard my impressionable young psyche with sexual images and messages did not exist. I grew up in the age of black and white television, watching wholesome shows like Leave it to Beaver and The Brady Bunch. We had party line telephones, not smart phones. There was no such thing as social media where today’s marketing gurus have Barbie blogging and tweeting her “#unapolgetic” message that it is okay to be a model and wear a bikini. 

Of course it is okay; girls can and do model swimsuits - for catalogues like Sears, and other department stores that sell kids clothes.  They should not be posing in swimsuits for a sexy issue of a magazine for men, and those women who are old enough to do so are not playing with Barbie dolls, following her blog, or tuning into her tweets.  

The messaging says something quite different

The marketing of this Barbie, and not the look of the doll itself, bothers me. The marketing conveys and reinforces the idea that women are sex symbols. Playing to both the imagination of children and adults, the marketing campaign links a little girl’s doll to a magazine for middle-aged men devoted to provocative photos of scantily clad women.  

Company executives want us to think that Barbie’s association with successful SI swimsuit alumni celebrates women’s accomplishments as entrepreneurs, but in proclaiming Barbie as “the doll that started it all”, the messaging says something quite different; women are dolls, and in this case, dolls are playthings for men. It is a poor, if not disturbing, message for everyone.

The partnership of Barbie and SI Swimsuit has nothing to do with empowering choices for girls no matter how the executives spin it. It is, unapologetically, about making a profit for companies. And while there are those who think the campaign is clever and witty, in my view, it is unprincipled and sad.

Gender hierarchy: a dangerous paradigm

"Every expression of male arrogance over women demeans the dignity of both sexes."

Have you heard about the Clothesline Project?  

A coalition of women's groups came up with the idea back in 1990. They were responding to a most alarming statistic: 58,000 American soldiers died in the Viet Nam war, and during that same period, 51,000 women in the United States were killed by their intimate partners. 

While the project initially focused on domestic abuse, the aim of the project is to heighten awareness regarding violence against women.  The Clothesline Project does this in a simple, but powerful way. Victims of violence paint a T-shirt to communicate their experience of abuse, and hang the T-shirt on the Clothesline. 

No community is exempt 

From the Clothesline Project, Trail BC
L. McEwan photo

We might like to think that our communities are exempt from the reality of violence against women and girls, but this reality is present in every community in every country on the planet. Some acts of violence against women and girls, like the 1989 Montreal Massacre, the shooting of Malala Yousafzai, or the rape and subsequent suicide of Rehtaeh Parsons, become part of the public domain.  Others remain private, occurring behind closed doors, hidden under clothing, and concealed in a web of lies.  The Clothesline draws our attention to these private acts of violence against women. When T-shirts flutter in the breeze outside the local supermarket, the presence of violence in our community becomes a harsh reality. 

Culturally and religiously conditioned, gender hierarchy distorts the fullness of our humanity

Gender hierarchy is one of the underlying causes of violence against women. Gender hierarchy is culturally, and religiously conditioned. Culturally accepted (think of  “honor killings”), and Biblically rationalized (think of “wives obey your husbands”), gender hierarchy reduces male/female interactions to domination and subordination.

Domination has many expressions. Some, like Muslim women walking around in tents because men perceive their bodies as sexually provocative, are blatantly obvious. Others, like North American men describing strong, talented women in the boardroom as “bitches”, are subtler. Every expression of male arrogance over women demeans the dignity of both sexes.

Gender hierarchy distorts our understanding of what it means to be fully human.  Over the millennia, this distortion reduced men and women to a series of stereotypical and opposing traits. The so-called male traits (strength, aggression, rationality and intelligence) were placed on a higher level than the so-called female traits (weakness, meekness, irrationality and emotion).  Instead of integrating strength with compassion, self-assurance with humility, and rationality with nurture, cultural assumptions diminished men and women to an “either/or” proposition. It is time to cast off this ratty, old mantle of distortion that fuels violence against women, and tears the soul apart.

Gender hierarchy crops up everywhere. We find it in myth, in literature, in the art forms, in our institutions, and in our places of worship.  It has inserted itself into this column in the conventional word order that places “male” before “female”. We incorporate it into our psyches, and propagate it unconsciously, passing it onto our children in a myriad of ways, including the repetition of nursery rhymes that appear innocuous:  “What are little boys made of?/ Slugs and snails and puppy dog’s tails. /What are little girls made of? /Sugar and spice and everything nice.”  Men are supposed to be nasty, and women are supposed to be nice. It’s a dangerous paradigm.

The destructive results of this cultural paradigm hung on the Clothesline in my hometown for all to see. While I was talking with the organizers of the event, I observed that the majority of passers-by ignored the Clothesline. Were they too busy to stop, or was the subject matter too upsetting to ponder? 

Let the T-shirts speak

The Clothesline presents us with a choice. We can walk by or we can stop to discern its message. It was a message that surprised me with its optimism. Where I expected to see dark and disturbing images, I saw T-shirts that communicated healing and forgiveness. 

From the Clothesline, a challenge for human society
L McEwan photo

We can let the T-shirts accomplish their goal of opening our consciousness to violence against women.  We can change the cultural paradigm if we begin to challenge the assumptions that first created the problem so many centuries ago. However, if we persist in nurturing a false understanding of what it means for us to be human, gender hierarchy will continue to leave its sinful stamp on individual lives and on human history. 

Speaking about God

The almost exclusively female congregation had just finished singing, “Let there be peace”, when a friend turned to me and remarked that the Catholics had gone for gender-neutral language. The original words of the song, “with God as our Father, brothers are all are we/Let me walk with my brother” had been rewritten, “with God our creator, children all are we/Let me walk with my neighbour”.  “In my dreams,” was my first thought, but I responded with, “We prefer the term inclusive language.”

This exchange took place at the conclusion of this year’s World Day of Prayer, an ecumenical event that celebrates the determination and achievements of women around the world in overcoming poverty, oppression, and human rights abuses.  It was the turn of the Catholic women in my hometown to host the event, and they had opted for an inclusive language version of the closing song.
http://www.worlddayofprayer.net/

Their choice seemed appropriate to me for what has traditionally been a women’s event that gives voice to the many women worldwide who live with the unjust systems of patriarchy.  Male dominance and violence consistently figure in the lives of women everywhere.  The image of God as a benevolent male is contrary to the lived experience of many people, female and male alike.

Language shapes and reflects values

I was recently reminded of this encounter at the World Day of Prayer service while listening to a discussion on gender neutrality in Sweden. The discussion centered on language, and the use of one little word, “hen”.  The most recent edition of the Swedish online “National Encyclopedia” proposes replacing “han” (he) and “hon” (she) with the gender neutral pronoun “hen”.  Sweden, the most gender equal country in the world, would like to eliminate traditional gender stereotyping and roles, and views language as an effective tool to accomplish that goal.

The Swedish example and the example from the World Day of Prayer illustrate the ability of language to both shape and reflect the values of a society or a community. The power of language to express a specific worldview underlies the feminist push for gender-neutral or inclusive language when referring to God.

Androcentric language for God remains the norm

Since the 1980’s, the application of gender-neutral language to God has been a common practice in many seminaries, Bible colleges, and theological schools.  This practice is clearly not catching on very quickly; three decades later, most churches persist in referencing God as male in their worship and official documents.

Christianity has inherited centuries of androcentric language, language that is centered on and around men to the exclusion of women, to describe the ineffable God. While theologically God is spirit, possessing neither a male nor female form, linguistically God is typically described, and visually depicted, as male.

"Creation of Adam" Michaelangelo

The almost exclusive use of androcentric language to describe God, particularly in public worship, perpetuates the stereotype of male superiority, implies that women are subordinate, and that male dominance is divinely ordained. The persistent metaphor of God as a ruling (usually white) male legitimizes social systems that glorify men, exclude women, exploit the marginalized, contribute to racism, and justify environmental degradation.  These are the very same social systems that many churches recognize as sinful, and seek to transform through acts of social justice.

Balance androcentric language with feminine images of God

The language of public worship, if it cannot be gender-neutral, should at least aim to be more inclusive.  Specifically masculine language can be balanced with Biblical images of God as mother, wisdom, and spirit.

"Sophia, Godess of Wisdom" by Pamela Matthews

A priest visiting my parish on Mother’s Day provided a good example of this.  He opened his homily with a description of God as a mother’s love.  He used an image from the Hebrew bible to speak of the unconditional, everlasting love that God, like a mother, has for each one of us.  For me, his homily functioned as a counterpoint to all the prayers that followed which referenced God as “he”.

There are many images of God as female, and as part of the natural world, that can be incorporated into worship. Incorporating some of these images more systematically into our speaking about God might just change the way we think. And therein lies the rub. Long held beliefs about the very structures of society, both religious and secular, will come under scrutiny and may be found wanting. 

Two sides of the same coin

As the Swedish drive for gender-neutral language indicates, linguistic change and structural change are two sides of the same coin.  Religions that speak about transforming unjust systems need to take a hard look at their language for God. In my view, it is time to stop making God into the image of men. 

Recommended post on "Biblical Maternal Images for God"

http://3dchristianity.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/biblical-maternal-images-for-god/

For more on inclusive language see  Isabella Moyers blog, Catholic Dialogue, http://catholicdialogue.com/2012/05/28/pondering-inclusive-language/