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ASSESSMENT REPORT OF WOMEN’S PROGRAM

The HRD Leadership Formation Program in Asia/Pacific Region is one of the most educational projects which brings together young committed people to grapple with questions concerning their personal development and understanding of their role in their respective countries. This year in Taiwan a self-evaluation was made collectively by HRD ex-participants and national representatives. Besides this a re-assessment on Women's Leadership Formation was held along the way/ as it is deemed a priority in the Regional Leadership Formation.

A significant difference this time was that the women did not meet outside the scheduled program time-table because special time was allowed to the women participants to evaluate their work. Due to conscious efforts taken by the Steering Committee, the women participants did not feel overworked (meeting daring free time) nor did they feel the need to fight their way through official time-schedule.

Fourteen women caning from India, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan met in the first session to share their experiences as women in their respective countries. The participants also remembered their sisters in the A/P region who have been fighting over their "fate" in spite of immense difficulties and pressure.

After sharing many common afflictions of being Asian Women, the group looked at their own local SCM and the Regional network to see whether these areas were contributing towards women leadership or hindering it. It was sad to note that because of the prolonged negligence at the Regional level, many programs, recommendations and visions had not yet been realized. Another factor, which stood out during the course of discussions was the sexual discrimination, which is so entrenched in most of our national movements that it prevents women from getting into leadership positions. The group used the following two guidelines for further discussions:

1) The needs of women's concern in national movements and on regional level.

2) Difficulties foreseen/experienced in carrying out women's work at the national/regional level.

(See appendix 'I' - for details)

In between the assigned sessions, the group met two extra times to cope with an emerged incident. To the group's great disappointment, few male participants went out for blue movies during the women's meetings. This news was very painful for the women as they considered them to be friends. At the meeting, these individuals had spoken on human rights and dignity and stood against the exploitative system that treats women as sex objects. The whole process of the discussion that followed was quite painful as the women participants vented out their anger and frustration at those individuals who were their friends. After much careful deliberation, the women felt and saw the need to make known their stance

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to these few individuals. Therefore, a statement was posted outside the meeting roan to state how the women felt betrayed by sane of the male participants.

(See appendix 'II' for Statement)

It was a bit awkward for the men to respond to the contents of the poster, but slowly and gradually, positive and negative responses were voiced. Distorted understanding or misconception of the women's movement and hidden discriminative attitudes surfaced. The discussion that followed was partly confrontational but more so, awakening and educational.

The women's caucus felt empowered through their struggling and working together. Visions which were envisaged helped to keep up personal beliefs. Afterall, it is the continuous uncompromising spirit and greater capacity for being self-critical that preserves SCMs vitality.

Appendix

Evaluation Report of the Women Participants

Guideline

1) The needs of women's concern in national movements and on regional level.

2) Difficulties foreseen/experienced in carrying out women's work at the national/regional level.

Needs of Women in National Movements

* Ensure that the constitutions and by-laws of national movements guarantee leadership and participation of women (particularly established movements with a poor record: Bangladesh, Burma, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand).

* Educational process for both men and women.

* Self-criticism by national movements on cultural and other influences of patriarchy in both formal structures and deep interaction: a need for REPENTANCE.

* Confidence and assertiveness building for women.

* Encourage alternative kinds of analysis and process that take account of women's experience and style of operating.

* Encourage men to consider whether their support is appropriate support (not patronizing).

* Encourage churches to greater awareness and concern on women.

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* Encourage men to see link between THEORY and PRAXIS - not enough to express solidarity if in personal politics they still treat women as sex objects or in an insulting way.

* Relate issues specifically to STUDENT women, CHRISTIAN women, SCMs specific areas.

* Need for men to build up support and communication skills - not rely on women for emotional support.

* Men should work with wanen to gain skills and cannon understanding.

* Use more creative methods (e.g. role-play, personal interactions) rather than just discussion to raise issues of women's concern in educational process.

* Ensure that language in ALL aspects of SCM life (liturgical, academic ...) is GENDER - INCLUSIVE.

* Need theology and ecclesiology, doctrine etc. from Women's perspective to counter patriarchal traditions.

* Should have women theologians (and other specialists) to be Resource people.

* Need affirmative action strategy to ensure presence of women's leadership.

* Need women role models

* Recognition of women's contribution in non-traditional areas e.g. "hard sciences", engineering, politics, theology ...

* Redefinition of LEADERSHIP from a Women's perspective.

* New value system for SCM and Society.

Difficulties experienced/foreseen in carrying out women’s work in National Movements and region

* Effectiveness of men and women caucuses at HRD reduced by process – e.g. when insecurities get in the way of achieving things

– need educational process before HRD

– need men to be aware of the need for education, self-criticism, self-analysis.

* Patriarchal culture in many places inhibits a clear view of women's lack of involvement and this is reflected in SCM's women representation to regional programs.

* Men giving, only intellectual support.

* (Mis) use of the Bible to maintain or reinforce patriarchal attitudes and structures.

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* Men trying to impose their ideas, theories, and solutions rather than listening to women.

* Men, Church and Theologians suppress/or ignore those parts of the Bible, which affirm women.

* Hard for women to overcome our own socialization - to make the link between the ideological issues and our own conditionings, relationships, practices.

* Tending to judge women by men standards.

* Devaluation of things that are special about women e.g. association of menstruation with uncleanness when really these things should be celebrated.

* Trivializing sexual attitudes, double standards about sexual ethics.

* Women being made to feel that they are nothing but body.

* Women's genuine concerns not being taken seriously. Women's experience being trivialized or disbelieved.

* Man seeing feminism as an imposed western fad rather than a real response to women's experience and aspirations.

* Men apathy: there is interest in every other social issue but not about women's issues.

* Failure by national movements to include analysis of women's movements and situation in movement building and social analysis.

* Failure to take into account the Women's perspective in all areas of analysis and movement building.

* Difficulty of getting in touch with grassroots etc. factory women conscientization. Therefore, our analysis is limited.

* Christian and secular patriarchal socialization begins at an early age - Sunday School materials already present men as dominant, women as submissive; whole education system is the same.

Appendix II

Message from Women Participants

We, the women participants, would like to thank the male participants for their support. It is good to know that you have taken some initiative in reflecting on women's issues from your own perspective. In the course of this searching, more questions have arisen for both women and men. However, we see this initial step(s) taken by the men as a beginning in a more open, genuine, self-critical struggle to sincerely support women in their work of liberating themselves.

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However, we were extremely upset and felt let down by the personal attitudes and actions of some of the male participants. We where told by the Host Committee and later by others that several groups of men have asked members of the Host Committee take them in a so-called "exposure" to strip-show and adult movie.

After days of painful deliberations and discussions, we have decided to issue this statement to register our sense of anger and betrayal. We are not an abstract group of women addressing an abstract group of man. We, your friends, are addressing you, our friends. It is that friendship makes the decision of writing this painful message. We are not as concerned with what the men involved did or didn’t see as with the attitudes that underlie their actions. This has seriously made us doubt their support for women's issues. Here are the reasons why we feel this way:

(1) If this was really intended as an "exposure", then everyone should have been included, so that an analysis could have been done together.

(2) This is not just a personal issue, it is a question of the basic attitudes towards women that underpin, reproduce and perpetuate patriarchy in all the oppression of the women that we claim to oppose.

(3) Pornography reduces women to sex objects. When we find that our friends support this, we wonder how they can claim to have any respect for women.

(4) The Host Committee felt embarrassed and offended to receive such requests. As guests, we have the responsibility to respect the feelings of our Host.

(5) It is not enough to address issues intellectually but we need to self-critically look for the links between our own practice and our theories. These things should not be trivialized or laughed off. Pornography is not a separate issue for feminism, together with rape and prostitution, it reflects fundamental attitudes to women. And so it's an issue at the very heart of feminism. The attitude that see women as sex objects have very concrete effects on our lives. These are the reasons why we are afraid to walk on the streets at night, experience sexual harassment and rape and have our lives constrained in all kinds of ways. These attitudes are the very basis of patriarchy, while our men support these attitudes, any forms of working in partnership against sexism is self-deceiving.

Women’s Caucus of the Consultation

Tainan – July, 1988