WOMEN'S RIGHTS Not just a Utopian idea

Françoise Mianda lives in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, and works for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Recently she shared some thoughts about women's rights with the French magazine Le Heraut de la Christian Science.

Women's rights have always been a strong personal interest of mine because, first of all, I am a woman, and, secondly, because Congolese women, and African women in general, face many challenges right from birth. Here, when a family gets a baby girl, they are happy—but when they get a baby boy, they're really happy. They feel the boy is the heir who will perpetuate the family's name. One of the consequences is that fewer girls than boys are sent to school, and the literacy level tends therefore to be greatly unequal. In addition, there are still teenagers who are forced to marry, and custom deprives a widow of her husband's possessions in favor of the husband's family.

Altogether, the value of a woman in Africa seems to be dependent on her father or her husband, and on the fact that she has or will have children. You could say that she is defined by the men who surround her, and that she lives in the shadow of their status. My work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has caused me to be involved directly with women's rights for several years now, and I've been able to follow closely not only many individual cases but also the general situation. I have had a chance to conduct training programs about women's rights and to work with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) on specific women's issues.

My approach to women's issues was challenged, and literally revolutionized, many years ago, when I first read the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. The author, Mary Baker Eddy, made several statements about womanhood and women's rights that I frankly thought Utopian at that time. How could she possibly think that what she wrote could be part of reality? I wondered. I especially remember being surprised at her words, "One infinite God, good ... equalizes the sexes ..." (p. 340 ). What I saw all around me had nothing to do with equality between the sexes! Women were surrounded by taboos, limitations—treated like things you could buy or throw away. I didn't have much hope that Mary Baker Eddy's message could be applicable, especially in Africa. However, I decided to go deeper into those ideas, and prayed for quite some time to be inspired to gain a spiritual vision of womanhood.

Prayer indeed helped me look beyond what I was seeing around me to perceive the real nature of man and woman. First, I thought that if "one infinite God" is the Parent of all creation, then men and women are equally His children. I became familiar with the Bible account of creation in Genesis 1, where it is stated that God created man and woman in His likeness, and gave them dominion over all things. Note this: not dominion over one another, but over all things. This opened my eyes to the fact that women's rights do not mean that women have to step over men and dominate them in order to earn status. Equality is not a matter of who fights the best for a share of the pie, but is a spiritual fact, already established by God, the Creator. This fact is the present reality, and guarantees woman's value and individuality—without measuring her with, or comparing her to, a man.

Have you noticed that the Lord's Prayer starts by identifying God as our Parent? For me, it points to the unity that we are all expressing now as God's children. In the Bible, the Apostle Paul wrote, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28, 29 ). It has been a wonderful personal discovery for me to see that if there is unity among all of God's children, both men and women possess all the qualities necessary to get beyond limitations. Even the weight of tradition cannot prevent the progress these spiritual thoughts bring to support women's rights. And it's so encouraging to know that.

Many times I have seen the transforming power that a spiritual vision of herself brings to a woman's life. This vision gives women the courage to conquer their fear, stand up for their rights, and find justice.

But limitations are not just imposed by custom and society. Sometimes women are the ones who impose them upon themselves. For example, although the law in my country states that a widow has the right to claim her inheritance from her husband, she is often intimidated into accepting the custom that everything goes to the husband's family. However, a widow I know here in Kinshasa had the courage to resort to the law to claim her inheritance, keep most of her possessions, get a job, and raise her children on her own. She even went back to college. And she did it all thanks to prayer, thanks to her understanding of the "glorious possibilities" that God gives to each one of His children (see Science and Health, p. 288 ). In other instances, I have seen situations improved for women in work and in marriage as spiritual vision takes hold.

I perceive an awakening of the general thought about women's rights in the Congo. Women are starting to be defined more and more as "complete" human beings, having their own value, their own independence. This is not yet happening as strongly in the rural areas as it is in the cities, but it is a reality that no one can deny. It's like "leaven" in thought, which is going to make the whole bread rise. Although to casual observers this may not yet be clearly noticeable, there has really been much progress. Even among churches within the Democratic Republic of Congo, some women pastors have been elected and have shown powerful leadership.

Now, I feel that Mary Baker Eddy's statements about women are the basis for real equality among the sexes. I see that the challenge is not so much societal and customary impositions on women, but the basic misunderstanding that there is a duality—an opposition between men and women. I am convinced that prayer, which brings an understanding of God as the real source of men's and women's value, is the best answer to the many challenges African women have to face every day. This kind of prayer guarantees that justice is done. I cannot help thinking that it has been an indispensable part of the progress that has already been accomplished, and that it is the basis and the future of women's rights.

Originally published in Le Heraut de la Christian Science.