International Women's Day

Today is International Women's Day.

"International Women's Day has been observed since in the early 1900's, a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies."

I have not had time to write anything on the topic, but I wanted to point you to a few who did.

Julie writes:

"For women to have a voice is of utmost importance. Without women using their voice and demanding to be heard those calls for labor reforms of 100 years ago would never have been heard. Women knew what needed to happen and were in the position to effect change, I shudder to think what would have happened if they had been silenced. Many sought to silence them - appealing to assumptions about nature and what was appropriate behavior for “nice” women. Thankfully enough people believed that we are people too (as opposed to property to be managed or protected) and the voice of women was eventually heard."

Sonja says:

"Now there have been whole civilizations that rose up and were quite successful where the men were not afraid of women. Native American cultures, ancient celtic cultures, African cultures to name a few. But the predominant culture that has consumed the globe is one in which the dominant men were afraid of women."

Grace comments:

"I am as familiar as most with both sides of the complementarian/egalitarian coin. I could list the 26 different scriptures that are typically raised about this issue and give you the interpretation from both sides of the debate. I also know that if you are entrenched in the complementarian view that hearing an alternative view will not persuade you. If defending the tradition of hierarchy is important to you, you will not listen to anything else."

Pam emotes:

"I know a woman whose published bible study was pulled off of shelves when it was discovered that she was a (gasp!) pastor. For real. I'm not making this up. I know about a woman who served faithfully in cross-cultural missions in a foreign land as the leader in charge until her missions board could finally find man willing to go over and lead. When asked if she thought this was unfair, her reply, "No. It doesn't matter." I once listened to a woman explain to a room full of churched women why women ought not to pray publicly when men are present and should do all the praying instead."

Makeesha shares a beautiful work of poetry:

"The voice.
loud
quiet
strong
timid
high
low
vulgar
pious
…from deep in the belly
…from the shelf of the womb
…from the seat of the soul
…the voice forms"

Liz at The CBE Scroll quotes Ellen Alexander:

"We look forward to a day when we don’t need an International Women’s Day. When men and women will walk side by side, as God intended them to. Until then we will work toward it and live in hope of a better tomorrow."

Please take time to read their thoughtful posts in their entirety. I will add more posts to this list if I come across any throughout the day.