“The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called 'woman,' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken." That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.”
"By creating the human being man and woman, God gives personal dignity equally to the one and the other" (Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 2393). This means that God, by granting equal dignity to men and women, invites us to build together a human community in dignity.
Despite the fact that in 1975, United Nations proclaimed 8th March as "International Women's Day" and that we have been almost 20 years of the 21st century, violence and discrimination against women persist in the social position, in the opportunities and treatment. Even in democratic countries where the law is supposed to guarantee equal rights between men and women, the media continues to denounce the existence of rapes and attacks against women.
The problem lies in the normality with which this situation is assumed. So in families, in workplaces, in neighbourhoods ... violence and sexual harassment leave them defenceless; and in the name of the tranquillity of the system and economic prosperity, the female workers are still exploited physically and morally without strength to resist.
All this shows that, to change this culture of violence against women, we still have a long way to go. And the first step is to develop a solidarity struggle for justice and liberation to recover identity and dignity as "face of God".
For our voice to be heard we need to organize locally, nationally and internationally, in groups, acting in solidarity and contributing to the establishment of a true policy of protection for women affected by domestic violence, discrimination, sexual harassment, wage inequalities, labour precariousness, temporary employment, with low salaries that do not allow them to subsist.
On this International Women's Day, we demand concrete measures against these injustices: sexual education that sensitises on gender equality and denounces the irrationality of certain practices towards women (such as excision of girls, for example), female slavery, forced labour of girls, forced marriage of young migrants.
“Jesus said to Mother, ‘Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come’ His mother said to the servers, ‘Do whatever he tells you’" (John 2:4-5).
As Jesus responded positively to his mother's request, the Gospel tells us that Mary was an enlightened being and that she played an active part. The woman is not a weak and insignificant being, but a respectable being who fulfils in society a specific role that only she can fulfil.
Message written by the Korean Worker Movement
(30th January, 2019)
WORLD MOVEMENT OF CHRISTIAN WORKERS
