Gender Bias Increases Poverty

By Rori Picker, Associate for Interfaith Relations, RFP-USA

Can inequality between men and women lead to health problems for children and poverty for the entire family? According to a new study, it most certainly does.

The study released by UNICEF today, entitled “Women and Children: The Double Dividend of Gender Equality,” asserts that there would be 13 million fewer malnourished children in South Asia if women had an equal say in the family.

UNICEF surveyed family decision-making in 30 countries around the world and found that whoever brought in the greater share of household income and assets decided whether those resources would be used to meet family needs. In situations where men controlled the household, less money was spent on health care and food for the family, resulting in undernourished children and an increased number of health problems.

The study also found that women worked longer hours than men in the developing world. In many families where women worked, daughters were taken out of school to perform household chores and take care of the younger children, continuing the cycle of undereducated females with inferior employment opportunities.

We must remember that these dialogues cannot exist independently. We cannot discuss peace without discussing poverty. We cannot discuss poverty without discussing equality. And we cannot discuss any of it without committing ourselves to taking concrete steps to improve opportunities for women around the world.

Women must enter this discussion. Our children depend on it.

Make Poverty History

**Listen to an interview with Bishop Hanson on RFP-USA's podcast.**

By The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)

Sometimes I pause. Three seconds pass. A little girl has died because she didn’t have enough to eat. Three more seconds pass. A father infected with AIDS has died because he could not afford life saving medicine. Three more seconds pass. A little boy has died from malaria, a preventable and treatable disease. Three more seconds pass. A mother has died giving birth because she had no access to proper medical treatment. The seconds pass quickly. People are dying because they lack the basic resources of life to survive. I can’t help but pause to consider the inequality and injustice.

I pause to consider the great opportunity. We are the first generation in the history of the world with knowledge, resources, and capacity to end extreme poverty. What will history say about our success or failure in building the moral and political will to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, an holistic framework to save the lives of more than eight million people who die because of extreme poverty each year?

I pause to hope. The world is organizing itself under the banner of “Make Poverty History” in order to build the political will to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. I am proud that the church I serve, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has established a unique partnership with the U.S. expression of this movement called ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History. ONE by ONE, Lutherans are joining the growing movement of 2.5 million Americans committed to making poverty history.

Have you paused to consider your power? You have a role to play in Making Poverty History. Join the ONE Campaign. Build a relationship with your legislator. Find out how your community of faith is engaged in the effort to end extreme poverty and the emergency of AIDS. Tell a friend about the Millennium Development Goals.

Let us pause together. Consider the opportunity. Hope. Act on our power. Make Poverty History.

Government + Religion = Unsure Future?

By Rori Picker, Associate for Interfaith Relations, RFP-USA

Facebook, an online social networking service with a rapidly expanding membership has recently added a new category of groups to which its members may subscribe: campaign issues. Within these categories people have created groups for every conceivable platform addressing issues relating to social welfare, nuclear proliferation, and even religion. In fact, with a membership nearing 40,000 and still growing, one of the most popular groups to date is entitled, “Government + Religion = Disaster.” This Facebook group is only a small representation of what has become a widespread sentiment among the American public. Millions of people view religion as a source, if not the source, of conflict in the modern world and demand the removal of religion from the political process in order to pave the way for sustainable peace.

If religion is to remove itself as the source of conflict, it must become part of the solution. At the VIII World Assembly of Religions for Peace in Kyoto, Japan, over 800 senior religious leaders from across the world spoke in one voice and declared:

As people of religious conviction, we hold the responsibility to effectively confront violence within our own communities whenever religion is misused as a justification or excuse for violence. Religious communities need to express their opposition whenever religion and its sacred principles are distorted in the service of violence. They should take appropriate steps to exercise their moral authority to oppose attempts to misuse religion. What can we do as individuals? - Resist and confront any misuse of religion for violent purposes, including the promotion of religious stereotypes in sermons and in the media; - Become effective educators, advocates and actors for conflict transformation, fostering justice, peacebuilding, and sustainable development; - Draw upon our individual spiritual traditions to educate our members on our shared responsibilities to advance shared security; - Strengthen peace education on all levels.

To help accomplish these tasks, Religions for Peace - USA has made available themed papers on Confronting Violence and Advancing Shared Security, Conflict Transformation, Peacebuilding, and Sustainable Development, along with a toolkit on the Millenium Development Goals, and new resources will constantly be added.

Together we can ensure that Government + Religion = Peaceful Future.