Lent Reflection 8

International Women's Day

Every minute, around the world, there are over 240 babies being born. Pray for the mother's who are giving birth. A vast amount of these mothers giving birth are not in sterile, safe and warm maternity units. Pray for them.

Even in the year 2012, there are still areas of the world where women are not allowed equal rights and opportunities to access education and work. Pray for them.

According to Amnesty International:
"Around the world, women are:
■Missing: More than 100 million women are missing from the world's population - a result of discrimination against women and girls, including female infanticide.
■Illiterate: Two thirds of the 774 million adult illiterates worldwide are women - the same proportion for the past 20 years and across most regions.
■Forced into marriage: More than 60 million girls worldwide are forced into marriage before the age of 18.
■Dying in pregnancy and childbirth: Each year 358,000 women die from pregnancy and childbirth-related causes.
■ At risk: An estimated 3 million girls are estimated to be at risk of female genital mutilation/cutting each year." Pray for them.

In this country women are underpaid, undervalued, will always have to work harder to prove themselves in employment, and continue to work the dual life of the lion share of housework and childcare combined with employment outside of the home. Young girls are encouraged to be decorative, and conscious of their appearance from a young age.

BUT

My fellow sisters and I can vote, have a voice with which to argue our case, can seek and gain employment, can choose (based on income) whether to stay at home or go out to work, can give our children a different message and instill a different sense of self to the ideal portrayed by the mass media.

All this considered, this International Women's Day, I give thanks for the generations of strong, upright, successful and determined women who paved the way for us. I give thanks for the women, who offered me role models and guides.