STATEMENT

Inter-religious Consultation on Gender Justice and
Genuine Partnership of Men and Women
Wongsanit Ashram, Nakhon Nayok, Thailand
14 - 19 May 2004

WE

Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist and Christian women and men coming from India, Pakistan, Laos, Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia

living our faiths in community and celebrating the richness and diversity of our cultures and traditions here at Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand on 14-19 May 2004,

having honestly reflected and humbly consulted each other on Gender Justice and Genuine partnership of Men and Women,

and acknowledging our common victimization and complicity to patriarchy in varied manifestations in our Asian context,

pronounce the following:

Towards attaining our envisioned Asian community where

  • women and men are treated equally as full human beings
  • men and women are equal partners in decision making in all spheres of human life - in the economic, social, political, religious and domestic
  • the marginalized and the oppressed are liberated and empowered;

we recognize patriarchy embedded in our cultures and religions as the root cause of the issues that we confront now and manifests itself in

  • Prohibition of women from access to power and decision making in social life and structures
  • Relegation of women in the domestic sphere that undermines women's full realization of their potentials
  • Misinterpretation of sacred texts and traditions to perpetuate the marginalization and violation of women
  • Justification of traditions and practices which are oppressive to women to maintain the interests of the powerful and the rich represented by elite men in communities
  • Ignorance, which has kept Asians in the dark of oppression and hindered them from realizing their full human potentials
  • Globalization and its evil effects that has kept majority of Asians in the depth of poverty and exploitation.

In this context, we positively acknowledge the liberating themes and efforts that emerge around Asia:

  • Building of inclusive communities that
    1. promotes interrelatedness, mindfulness and loving kindness among all created beings
    2. supports women's participation in all areas of life and genuine partnership with the men
    3. encourages the voiceless to speak towards genuine dialogue
critiques the practices and traditions that negates the dignity of human beings
  • Women's attempts at reading and interpreting sacred texts in context and recover its liberating, empowering and transforming themes

We believe that we can take actions to address the issues we have named. Therefore, towards a genuine partnership of women and men, we commit ourselves to do the following:

On Violence Against Women

Awareness building on the issue

Outreach and service to victims

  • Legal and para-legal assistance
  • Economic support and empowerment
  • Shelter for victims

Advocacy and mobilization

  • Organize public pressure and support
  • Document cases
  • Research and publication, documentation to expose issues
  • Generate support from religious authority figures (e.g. Islamic scholars)
  • Organize women's groups and support groups

On Gender Participation
Advocate the equal participation of women in policy and decision-making bodies

  • Equal participation of men and women in the revision and implementation of legislation towards equal representation (include HR experts, NGOs, rep from all religions of communities)
  • Awareness programs (Campaigns, workshops, seminars, literature, media, consultation, dialog, training)
  • Re-reading and re-interpreting all sacred texts by men and women

On Gender Discrimination in religious education

  • Publication of inter-religious materials
  • Inter-faith critique of education materials to identify to identify gender discrimination and to do re-reading of texts
  • Interfaith development of curriculum for religious education that promotes culture of peace
  • Inter-faith efforts of doing justice and sharing in interfaith consultation
  • Networking of inter-religious educators
  • Dialogue between cultures and religions

On Globalization and consumerism

  • Publications (for awareness building)
  • Contemplative mind retreat (to reclaim women spirit)
  • Promote and educate value-based product and fair market in religious establishments and communities
  • Trainings on feminist religious perspective
  • Seminar on "sustainable economy and fair market analysis"

We ended the Consultation in prayer and hope that in our return to our respective communities, we are able to start transforming our selves and our faith communities towards attaining our envisioned Asian community.

May divine wisdom fill us and enlightenment guide our path. So be it.

9 May 2004