Council for World Mission joins the rest of the world as it pauses, this day, to celebrate the gift of women, whose hardworking, tireless, devoted and industrious initiatives all around the world makes life livable and hopeful for most of the world’s population. In grassroots economies women shine brilliantly, demonstrating their capacity to make possible the impossible. Single mothers stand tall is shouldering their responsibility to provide education, health care, food and shelter for their children; they often go against the grain of reason, using limited resources to do the extraordinary. Women are making indelible contribution to the development of society in the fields of education, research, management, politics, business, commerce and religion. They bring insightful, imaginative and creative perspectives and approaches to their daily engagement with life’s challenges and opportunities. Indeed, women are a source of inspiration for those whose fragile hope robs us of the will and determination to persevere under pressure in trying times.
At its recently concluded Board of Directors meeting, CWM affirmed the complementarity of women and men in leadership at all levels; and committed itself to provide resources to accompany its member churches in preventing and eliminating all forms of violence and the culture of violence, which may lead to changes in churches’ constitution and policies, especially as they affect the lives and dignity of women and children.
On this, the observation of International Women’s Day, CWM reaffirms the equality of women to men and their intrinsic right to equal access to opportunity and the Earth’s resources. We pledge to play our part in dismantling patriarchy and in the building of a just community of women and men.