Archive for the 'multifaith' Category

Life in developing countries is often harder for women and girls. They face higher levels of discrimination, abuse and violence. They often have less opportunity to participate in education and civic society. In many developing countries women are unable to own property. It’s a very tough life.

Consider this:

• Seventy percent of all people living in poverty are women.
• Medical complications from pregnancy are the leading cause of death among girls aged 15 to  19 worldwide.
• Seventy-five percent of 15 to 24 year olds living with HIV in Africa are female.
• One quarter to one half of girls in developing countries become mothers before the age of 18.

But people are beginning to realise just how important women and girls are in the fight against poverty. In particular, educating women and girls often means they marry later, have fewer children and are able to find work outside of the family.

A recent report by the Center for Global Development states: “Most important, girls matter because they are human beings.”

• An extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10-20 percent.
• When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90 percent of it into their families, as compared to only 30 to 40 percent for a man.
• Countries with greater gender equality tend to have lower poverty rates.

But there is something more important than all of these statistics. As a recent report, Girls Count, by the Center for Global Development, stated:

Most important, girls matter because they are human beings. Girls have equal rights to human dignity, self-determination, freedom from violence, good health, education, and participation in economic and political life.

Find out more. Have a look at http://www.girleffect.org/ but if you’re at all musically sensitive, turn off the sound first (inconspicuous button in top righthand corner). I hadn’t realised that this was possible so I forced myself to watch the first video to the end although the soundtrack behind it made me feel unwell.

The Girl Effect is sponsored by the Nike Foundation.  This provides me with an ethical dilemma because I am unhappy about a number of Nike’s practices (see this info at the Oxfam site), but I believe strongly in this cause and The Girl Effect provides some excellent info and resources. I personally am not suddenly going to start buying Nike because of this site. YMMV.

The Washington Post and Newsweek have a joint weekly on-line feature called On Faith at which they pose the general question “in a time of extremism — for extremism is to the 21st century what totalitarianism was to the 20th — how can people engage in a conversation about faith and its implications in a way that sheds light rather than generates heat?” They say: “At The Washington Post and Newsweek, we believe the first step is conversation-intelligent, informed, eclectic, respectful conversation-among specialists and generalists who devote a good part of their lives to understanding and delineating religion’s influence on the life of the world.” On Faith provides a such a forum. It has twelve regular panelist from a range of religious traditions. There are sometimes guest panelists as well, and there is always the opportunity for readers to comment.

Recently, it posed the question “International scientists have raised a new alarm about the dangers of global warming. Should care for the environment be a major priority for people of faith? Why or why not?” and here are the responses of the panel members.

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On December 4 last year, an innovative new document with perspectives on climate change from a wide range of faith communities in Australia was released. Bishop George Browning, Anglican Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, was a key organizer behind the document which was produced by The Climate Institute, a multi-sectoral organization committed to raising public awareness for action on climate change in Australia. The document “Common Belief - Australia’s Faith Communities on Climate Change” can be accessed at: http://www.climateinstitute.org.au/cia1/downloads/041206_common_belief.pdf”

This 40 page document in .pdf format contains statements from:

Australian Aboriginal People, Anglicans, The Australian Christian Lobby, Bahá’í Believers, Baptists, Buddhists, Catholics, Evangelical Christians (The Evangelical Alliance), Greek Orthodox, Hindus, Jewish People, Lutherans, Muslims, The Salvation Army, Sikhs and The Uniting Church

The primary authors from the groups with which I am familiar have significant credibility and each statement finishes with an outline of the basic philosophy of the particular group. Well worth reading.