[Buddha-l] Petition on the Inclusion of Women's Voices (Parliament of the World's Religions)

[Benito Carral]

      Petition on the Inclusion of Women's Voices

On  July  12,  2004,  70-100  Parliament  participants,
included  the  undersigned, met to express our concerns
regarding  the  notable  absence  of  a  full  range of
women's  voices  and  points  of  view  that would have
brought  needed  balance  to  the Parliament's dialogue
about the issues of:

      access to clean water,

      the impact of religiously motivated violence on
      women and children,

      elimination of third world debt,

      and  the  plight  of refugees, 80% of whom are
      women and children.

We  are moved to reflection and action by a spontaneous
upsurge of energy caused by the desire to hear the full
spectrum  of  women's  experiences  and  perspectives,
including that of feminists.

We  respectfully  offer  a list of recommendations that
move forward the religious commitment to the well-being
of  women,  as described in the Global Ethics Statement
of the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions.

In  conclusión,  we stand ready to contribute and apply
our collective expertise and first-person experience as
women.

Without  the  adequate  representation  of a rainbow of
women's  voices,  religious and spiritual dialogue will
be  irrelevant. It is our hope that by opening the door
further  to  include  a wider range of voices, you will
enable    fuller    participation    for    all   the
underrepresented and marginalized.

The organizing committee

Loletta Barret (wchrmp at hotmail.com)
Janet Bregar (LadyRevJAB at aol.com)
Benito Carral (bcarral at hotmail.com Spanish wellcome)
Denielle Charel (dchere at aol.com)
Anna Crews (jeremiah_ch29wsll at hotmail.com)
Helene Egnell (Helene.Egnell at ted.uu.se)
Alejandra Español (alejandraev at terra.es)
Jeannine Hill Fletcher (hillfletche at fordham.edu)
Annie Imbens-Fransen (imbensan at wxs.nl)
Shirly Strong (sstrong at projectchange.org)
Carlotta Tyler (ctyler at odconsultant.cem)
Susanne Zimmermann (sanne_zimmermann at hotmail.com)


 Recommendation to the Council for a Parliament of the
                   World's Religions

The   focus  of  the Parliament "agenda" should include
the  gender  inequality  in  the  world's religious and
spiritual traditions.

Equal members of women and men should be present on all
programs.

There  are gender issues embedded in every topic. Women
experiences     ofter     differ     from     mainstrem
interpretations.  This should consistently be reflected
in the presentations.

Scholars  of  women  in  religion and feminist scholars
should be included in every program.

The interpretation of religious and spiritual text from
the  perspective of women's and children's human rights
should be given priority.

Broader  criteria  for selection of "experts" must also
be   considered.  The  emphasis  upon  "experts"  as  a
criteria  for  participant selection ofter excludes the
primary  concerns  of  women  because  women  have been
denied the opportunities for professional advancement.

Experiences  from  women's interfaith project show that
emphasis   placed  on  building  relations  facilitates
constructive  dialogue.  The  format of programs should
include,   as  a  priority,  group  dialogues  and  the
creation  of  space  for  co-equal  conversations  that
produce collective insights.

Experts in the study of women and religion and feminist
scholars should be included in every program.

Women  oftern  have  less  opportunity  for  education,
employement and economic resources. This means they are
less  able  to participate in Parliament activities. We
propose  that  the Parliament actively sponsor women by
developing partnerships that provide financial support.
This also applies to other marginalized groups.

An  equal  number  of women and men (including feminist
scholars)   should   be  members  of  the  Parliament's
governing bodies, especially the program task force and
the advisors to the program task force.

(PS: Please, help us to spread the message.)