Ruth Mathen, a member of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church as well as a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Gender Justice Reference Group, co-moderated the webinar. “As faith actors on a Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and Unity, we gather today under the theme of ‘Rights! Dignity! Action! Faith in Focus for Women’s Matters,’ ” she said, noting that the WCC has been challenging churches in these areas for more than seven decades. “We’ve made great progress together,” she noted. “Yet today we also gather with the sober recognition that there is much work left to do.” The webinar offered an intergenerational discussion that called on faith traditions to positively influence community norms, values, and decision-making in advancing women’s rights and dignity. WCC programme director for Life, Justice, and Peace Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata reflected back on the journey the WCC has taken related to women’s matters. He addressed the accomplishments but also reflected “we want to lament the areas that remain unattended to—areas where women are still excluded.” In a participatory “word cloud” on the screen, participants brainstormed answers to the question: “What is the biggest challenge for women in your faith community today?” Words such as inequity, exclusion, and sustainability floated across the screen, expressions of the hearts and on the minds of those attending. Rev. Cynara Dube-Khan, from the Presbyterian Church of Trinidad and Tobago, co-moderated the discussion, inviting speakers to answer questions such as: “How do sociocultural and religious norms restrict women’s leadership?” Rev. Dr Karen Georgia Thompson, United Church of Christ general minister and president, addressed several questions, including the question of whether charity and justice are antithetical to each other. “I want to say that charity and justice have to coexist, that they ought not to replace each other,” she said, also expressing gratitude for the stories people shared. “The normalization of our traditions, I believe, are in our stories, in our social-cultural experiences, and I think the reinforcement that comes in our societies to things like gender roles,” she said. Tia Phillip, a young lay theologian of the Moravian Church Eastern West Indies Province, reflected on many angles of women’s matters, among them how faith communities respond when women experience inequality, harassment, or exclusion. “We need care,” she said. “We need to show sodality in these situations, however, compassion is not enough.” During an interlude before participants joined small group discussions, poet Praise Ayooladapo shared her work, reading, in part: “We are a force, a voice. We are powerful. But when will the world recognize this force?” Small groups then shared their challenges and ideas, including why women need to better support one another, why women silence themselves, why Jesus should be at the center, self-empowerment, and inviting younger women to lead, among many other ideas. In closing remarks, Rev. Nicole Ashwood, WCC programme executive for a Just Community of Women and Men, encouraged a strengthened commitment among participants to advocate for and implement gender-responsive actions within faith and community spaces. “We might explore, at your request, how we might be able to to collaborate for furthering these conversations,” she said, urging people to share the recording of the webinar as it appears on the WCC YouTube channel. "We look forward to seeing you sharing this with others so that the work and witness of the Just Community of Women and Men can continue.” Video recording of the webinar Learn more about the WCC's Just Community of Women and Men | 
On the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, churches and communities across the world deepened their calls for...
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