American Woman
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[0 Comment]The question has stayed with me for nearly three years. It pops up in my consciousness every now and then like a buoy, making me a bit uncomfortable. But I'm learning that's not such a bad thing.
When I first heard the question, I was in California visiting my friends Sandie and Estera, two women I'd met the year before at an overseas conference for women in Christian publishing. Since my friends were both missions-minded and poised at crossroads in their lives, I knew we'd enjoy stimulating conversation about life, purpose, and direction. I couldn't wait.
During my visit, Sandie gave a presentation at a nearby Christian college about the work she and her husband had done to combat the sex-trafficking industry during their recent ten-year missions stint in Athens, Greece. I sat transfixed as she explained the global phenomenon of women tricked, forced, or sold into prostitution. Staring at pictures of the hollow-eyed women Sandie had helped through her ministry, I wondered what I could do to help combat this evil industry.
The following day, I headed to the offices of Open Doors International to interview one of their directors for a TCW article. This ministry to the persecuted church worldwide had launched a sub-ministry five years earlier to serve the unique needs of women in the persecuted church.
As I listened to the director, Jane, describe female genital mutilation, incest, and denial of jobs, literacy education, or biblical teaching to women in different parts of the world, my heart felt as heavy as it had the day before when I listened to Sandie's presentation.
What struck me most was that one of Sandie's colleagues, a sociology professor, and Jane both posed the same tough question in our separate conversations. "Women in the U.S. today have more power and influence than women have ever experienced before," they said, "and the big question is, What are we doing with it?'"
Hearing this startling question twice in two days, I knew God was up to something, and I prayed for eyes and ears to catch it.
Since then, God has opened my eyes and heart to women's issues around the world. I read a recent e-mail newsletter from Sisters in Service that reported "34 percent of Egyptian women are assaulted by an intimate partner, and nearly 80 percent of women in rural Egypt testify that beatings are common and justified if a wife burns food, neglects children, answers back, denies sex, or wastes money." Recently I watched a documentary on women in Afghanistan, where in most places women still must wear a burka and can't travel in public without a male relative.
And I recalled a conversation with Daniella, a woman I met at the Christian publishing conference where I met Sandie and Estera. Daniella asked me to critique Leah, the Christian women's magazine she edits in Bulgaria. When we paused at one page toward the back of the magazine, she shared her difficulties in finding photos of women who look Bulgarian. She pointed to one photo and said the model's coloring was right, but the readers would know she wasn't Bulgarian.
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