5
INTRODUCTION
One of the
projects of World Student Christian Federation which started this quadrennium
focuses on the woman question, i.e. her
oppression and liberation. The
Federation recognises the double oppression of women
in societies where the majority of the people suffer
and are exploited by the few who hold and wield economic and political power.
WSCF
Asia even earlier had expressed the need to seriously deal with the oppression
and liberation of women. Thus, the staff have given special emphasis in several issues of
PRAXIS on this question with the aim of helping the national movements grapple
with the problem within the historical and specific characteristics of the
struggles of the Asian people for liberation and self-reliance. However, some national movements made their
desire to delve into the issue with more depth and understanding, which
hopefully, will lead to greater and more effective action and participation in
the movements in the region. So, the
regional staff articulated a more cogent Women's Project for the region,
start-ting last year, 1978.
As
perceived by WSCF Asia, the woman's question should be situated in the greater
struggle of the Asian people for justice and liberation. It means then that those who are in the
struggle, both women and men, should consciously take up the issue so that the
liberation of women is not set aside but shall be worked out simultaneously
with the liberation of the total society.
This
being its point of departure, the region adopted an integral approach to the
question; thus, national movements participating in the 1978 phase of the
project, selected a team: a woman and a man, who together studied particular
areas of problems which reflect the reality that women are indeed more
oppressed even among the exploited workers and peasants of Asian
societies. The results of these studies
were shared in the Regional Workshop which was held in
The
Regional Workshop contributed much in sharpening the understanding of our stance
vis-à-vis the woman's question. The
workshop was characterised by an atmosphere of the participants -
wanting to learn from each other, looking more deeply into
6
the
oppression of women by men as male and by social traditions, structures and
systems, seriously and correctly considering the resources of faith, scriptural
and theological, examining the historical conditions which have brought about
the oppression not only of women(although more) but
of the majority of the people in Asian societies, sharing strategies and
methods which have been used in the struggle of women and the whole society toward
liberation. The participants expressed,
at the end of the Workshop, the need to go further, deeper and equipping our
national movements in the region not only with the analysis but with a fervor
and courage to be involved in the liberation of women and of the whole society.
This book, WSCF ASIA BOOK NO. 5, presents the inputs,
the position papers and the corporate acts of worship of the workshop in Part I. The national teams studies of
the seven national teams are presented in Part II of this book.
To
demonstrate further that the regional staff are not merely quibbling with words
in adopting the integral approach to
this problem, the two team-staff practised this
approach in implementing the project.
Thus, although Ruth was designated as over-all coordinator, the four of
us worked together on this special concern as we have been doing so in the past
five years. We feel that some substantial
grounds have been laid for the project to be followed through the coming years.
We
would like to thank the following for their contribution to the project in its
initial phase:
1.
the national teams/groups,
2.
the Local Organising Committee of
India SCM led by the General Secretary, Ebby Prabhakar,
3.
the resource persons who provided additional in-puts during
the workshop,
4.
our partner agencies abroad for their continued concern and
solidarity,
5.
the other regions of WSCF for sharing their resources and
studies, and
6.
the supportive community in
Ruth and Nael Cortez Wiwil and Supardan
March
1979