On Sunday, March 8, millions around the world mobilized in honor of International Women’s Day. The day has occurred for over a century, providing a voice to international, intergenerational, and cross-gender efforts concerning the conditions of women across different religions, countries, and social classes.
In a Sunday morning Tweet, His Majesty King Abdullah ll said: “On #InternationalWomensDay and every day, we are grateful for and proud of the inspiriting achievements of Jordanian women and their dedication to the prosperity of our nation.”
Now an official holiday in 27 countries, women across the globe celebrated the day in their own way. Crowds in many countries, from Turkey or Peru to the United States, partook in demonstrations. Others commemorated the day using creative expressions, such as one group that organized a flash mob in Switzerland. To mark the day in Bangladesh, wheelchair basketball players gathered for a co-ed game.
While women around the world made the day their own using varying approaches, it is also formally observed as the United Nations’ Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace. This year, the official International Women’s Day theme was “Each for Equal.” Drawn from the notion of collective individualism, the website explains, “We are all parts of a whole. Our individual actions, conversations, behaviors and mindsets can have an impact on our larger society.”
The theme reinforces the idea that the efforts for gender equality and empowerment do not belong to one single person, organization or body of people. To me, this strongly parallels the common Christian theme of operating as a united Church body.
1 Corinthians 12-14 reads, “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body -- whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free -- and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.”
If we are one body, I believe each of us should feel the pain of our other parts. Therefore, it matters what happens to the community of women in the areas furthest away from me, but the life of the little girl who lives across the street is just as important. If we are a body, we should rejoice when the Church and businesses and families edify and love their sisters and mothers well, but we also need to be sensitive to how and why things are not always that way.
Before I look at what the world can offer, I first look to Jesus as the ultimate example and encouragement of how to interact with women. Jesus was a man who healed women, who visited the houses of women, who does not accuse the woman taken into adultery, who praised the generosity of a widow, who received the anointing of women, and so much more.
As a female who lives in the West, I am aware that my privilege, even though I am a woman, greatly surpasses most of those from around the world. But regardless of where I live, my gender is what provokes me to stand with my sisters around the world in whatever we face. Gender issues are not meant to break down a pre-existing part of the Body, but to build up the parts which may be overlooked or misused.
In a letter, one female bishop from Australia discussed the topic this way: “Today we wish to reaffirm our commitment to nourishing the positive experience of women in the Church while addressing the negative in real and constructive ways... As we look to the future, all of us who are part of the Body of Christ, are challenged to imagine new ways that women can participate more fully in the life of the Church. In this, we remain always open to the fresh stirrings of the Holy Spirit who dwells among us all, inspires us and leads us onward together in faith."
