December 21, 2011

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – Representatives of the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa heard about the urgent need for churches to promote positive masculinity to counter the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Prof. Ezra Chitando told a Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa (LUCSA) consultation that prevailing notions of manhood contribute to the global HIV and AIDS crisis, and sexual and gender-based violence.

Speaking at the 12 – 15 December LWF "Gender and the HIV and AIDS Epidemic" consultation in Johannesburg, he stressed the need to change attitudes that make it difficult to respond to the spread of HIV and AIDS from a theological perspective.

"The time to transform boys and men is yesterday; tomorrow may already be too late," the consultant of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA) told the 50 participants including bishops, pastors and HIV and AIDS activists.

The meeting was organized by the LWF HIV and AIDS desk at the Department for Mission and Development.

Chitando said the social construction of men as strong and powerful makes it difficult to accept that women can lead, make their own decisions and contribute to a functional society. "The challenge before us is a massive one," he noted.

Quoting an African proverb, the EHAIA representative noted that "The speed with which you run depends on that which is chasing you. […] The church in Africa is being faced by a challenge that keeps accelerating.

Acceleration of the response will not happen without the key involvement of boys and men," he noted, adding it was "easier to build boys than repair men." Chitando emphasized the important role men play. "Positive masculinity is not a call for men to become angels overnight. As human beings, men will continue to strive to do better. However, positive masculinity reminds men that they are not passive onlookers in the struggle against sexual and gender-based violence and HIV," he said.

Uphill Battle A Presbyterian church minister Rev. Phumzile Zondi told the consultation participants that changing people's attitudes on gender roles will be an uphill battle.

"Men are a product of a patriarchal system and the same culture that has given more rights to men than women has cultivated the belief that women must be submissive, accept things without questioning," she said.

"Men tend to impose their will on powerless women even in the church and this has perpetuated the spread of HIV and AIDS, with women denied an opportunity to use preventive measures," Zondi noted.

According to the United Nations AIDS agency, there were an estimated 11.3 million people living with HIV in Southern Africa in 2009. UNAIDS reported that 10 countries in the sub-region accounted for 34 percent of the people living with HIV globally, with women representing around 40 percent of all adults living with the virus. More than 33 million people across the world are living with HIV.

Zondi noted that some church leaders shun people living with HIV from their churches, branding them as sinners and preventing them from disclosing their status.

"I have tried to use gender activism with theological backing to raise thorny issues that remain in our churches and the Bible gives excellent role models who we can learn from," said Zondi. She spoke of the need to find ways to scale up efforts that help change views "such as those that suggest that women cannot be ordained in churches." Ms Colleen E. Cunningham, a member of the LWF Meeting of Officers and regional coordinator for the LWF Women in Church and Society (WICAS) desk said there was a need for conscious engagement on gender policy to promote equal opportunities for women in the church.

"We need to deconstruct the fallacy that women are there to be enjoyed but not contribute to society," said Cunningham, a member of the Moravian Church in South Africa. In 2004, she was part of the team that trained gender liaison officers of the16 LUCSA member churches.

LUCSA is one of the three LWF sub-regional bodies in Africa. All its churches have HIV and AIDS programs with either full-time or part-time workers.

Read about LWF HIV and AIDS work at: http://www.lwf-assembly2003.org/lwf-interspire/link.php?M=2227&N=580&L=130&F=T.

Order your LWF Calendar 2012 today: http://www.lwf-assembly2003.org/lwf-interspire/link.php?M=2227&N=580&L=116&F=T.

Lutheran World Information
Written for LWI by Munyaradzi Makoni