March 8, 2012

On International Women's Day, 8 March, staff based in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva organized special prayers and programmes to acknowledge achievements of the ecumenical organizations in the area of gender justice and to celebrate their struggles together as a community of women and men.

The World Council of Churches hosted a prayer service in the morning with the theme "What is your hunger? On crumbs and tulips" meditating on ways of overcoming fear, despair, exclusion, violence and oppression.

Dr Fulata Lusungu Moyo, WCC programme executive for Women in Church and Society along with the Rev. Dr Elaine Neuenfeldt, secretary for Women in Church and Society at the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), lead the activities for the day.

"We want to celebrate some achievements in empowering women. We want to celebrate in communion, get together and praise these actions as fragments of our struggle for justice," Moyo said at the gathering.

Presetations covered the LWF achieving equal salary certification (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=5b4ede64b85d317af287) and the ACT Alliance's publication Clapped with Both Hands (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=dd756382441cb21f35e8) promoting gender equality. The World Communion of Reformed Churches issued a call for nominations for the Sylvia Michel prize (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=89aaa844b1c737804c53) which acknowledges the contribution of women in church leadership. The World Young Women's Christian Association (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=eb779c77ad767e40e619) and the World Christian Student Federation (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=22dca33f3bb6722b7249) also participated.

More information on WCC programme on Women in Church and Society (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=3b1252ca411c4df8476b)

World Council of Churches