Her Global Snapshot - Warning: content may disturb!

It's 2013, and her picture is bleak. It's a picture of inequality. It's a picture of injustice.

New Zealand - She's a single mum in her late 20's, she has a degree and 2 kids. Barely surviving on the benefit. She can't afford new shoes for the kids, or a car to transport them to and from school. She's paying off debt and it's a struggle. The kids father pays child support. It's more than her benefit, but she doesn't see a cent of it. It goes straight into the governments pool ... somewhere? She's not 'entitled' to it until she has a job, of which there are none around.

Injustice

New Zealand - She's been beaten. Black and blue, again. But not where anyone can see. She's got good at hiding the bruises now. No one knows. She's withdrawn these days. She doesn't have friends, he won't let her. She doesn't have money, he controls it. Every day his hands don't beat her down, his words do. They hit hard and cut deep. She can't escape she's trapped. Domestic Violence. It's a cycle she can't break free from.

Injustice

New Zealand - It's harder for her to find a job simple because she's female. She's less likely to climb the corporate ladder if she has a family. Equal pay is a dream. Generally women earn 10% less then men.

Injustice

Cameroon, Africa - A 13 year old girl has her breasts ironed by her grandmother. The purpose; to prevent her from becoming sexually active too early. Her grandmother had warmed a small grinding stone on the fire and pressed it against her breasts. The pain was excruciating. She was left with scars. If she ever has a baby, she'll most probably struggle with mastitis and other breast complications. Mutilated. Physically and emotionally. Interestingly the ritual has had the opposite effect to that intended and in areas where the practise is common teenage pregnancy is on the rise.

Injustice

Cambodia - She's 15. Her family had run out of money. She hears about a job as a maid in Thailand through a job agent. She and some friends travel to Thailand with him, where he hands them over to a gang who take her to Kuala Lumpa. She is a victim of Human Trafficking. She is taken to a brothel and when she refuses to sleep with her first customer, (who pays more for her, than the others in the brothel because she is a young virgin) she is beaten into submission. She is given drugs to subdue her while she sees customers. She works 16 hour days, 7 days a week. She isn't given clothes so she can't run away, and she isn't given condoms to use. She will more than likely be exposed to and contract HIV.

Injustice

China - A baby girl dies. If she'd been born a boy, her chances would have been greater. If she had been born a boy her parents would have taken her to a hospital as soon as they noticed she was getting sick. That's if they hadn't already dumped her at birth. As a girl she wasn't given the same medical treatment and now she is dead. Ultrasound technicians are banned from telling parents the sex of their baby to prevent abortion of female foetuses, but instead baby girls die as infants by being denied basic necessities.

Injustice

Pakistan - A young women is accused of having a love affair after being found talking with a man in a sugar cane field, She becomes the victim of an 'honour killing' when her own brother hangs her. All in the name of keeping the families honour. It's not uncommon, other women who have brought dishonour on their families by refusing to go through with arranged marriages, demanding divorce or eloping have been hacked to death, burned alive and shot.

Injustice

Yemen- She's 8 years old and a child bride. Her husband is 26. She says goodbye to an education, to the possibility of a vocation in the future. She's more susceptible to violence and abuse within her marriage relationship having married young. The risk of complications during pregnancy and childbirth increases because her body is still developing. She will quite possibly die during childbirth.

Injustice

Sudan - She's 6. The midwife that was there when she was born looks down on her. Her Grandmother and Auntie are in the room to. They hold her down as the midwife begins to circumcise her with a kitchen knife. She cuts off the little girls clitoris. Yet another practise that is all to common, Female Genital Mutilation. They hope it'll decrease her libido. The risks associated with pregnancy and childbirth later are enormous and the possibility of ending up with a fistula is more than likely.

Injustice

Congo - Rape is a tactic for war. A 4 year old girl is raped by soldiers when she tries to cross the river with her pregnant mum and sister. One after the other the soldiers do as they please with the child. Often after raping a woman or girl, soldiers will take a stick, or sharp object and insert it into the woman's vagina rupturing the vaginal wall and causing a fistula. One story reported how after raping a 3 year old girl, they placed a gun into her and fired.

Injustice

Ethiopia - She lacks adequate maternal health care. Her last baby died. She couldn't deliver, and after days of being in labour, finally a midwife arrived to assist. The baby had begun to decay inside her, and with her baby, the walls of her vagina and bowel. A fistula developed.  Complications like this can result during childbirth when the mother is too young and her body hasn't fully developed yet, or because of female genital mutilation. Midwives are either small in number or don't have the skills to deal with these kind of complications. Because of the fistula she has a constant flow of fluid. She smells terrible. She is cast from society, left alone in a hutt out the back of the family home, or in the desert with the risk of being attacked by hyenas.

Injustice

She is Beautiful. She is Strong. She is gifted. She is a Woman.
And she deserves better than this!

This post is to raise awareness about the injustices faced daily by women around the globe. These stories are not contrived and they are not exaggerated. They are based on real women around the world, a global snapshot of the injustices and inequalities women face. It is just a snap shot, by no means in depth, and really does only brush the surface of what some women go through. In many instances these stories are not limited to the specific country mentioned. In some places these are culturally acceptable practises. In some countries there is positive activity happening to make right these wrongs. While the stories in western areas seem tame, (first world problems) the issue of injustice and inequality against women festers at the root. My purpose is to raise awareness so that we can stop living in ignorance and start thinking about the part we have to play in bringing about equality and justice for all.

Jesus totally rocked Feminism!

Hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus, Greek philosophers (like Plato and Aristotle) taught that women were evil, they were mans punishment, they were a curse, subordinate and inferior to men, deformed males, less capable than men, lacking strength unable to reason, or demonstrate self-control*.

When the Roman Empire was established much of this thinking filtered through. Romans questioned whether women were really human, women had so little value they weren’t even given their own name, it was acceptable and legal to dispose of baby girls, and wives could be killed for adultery, but men were encouraged to have mistresses and sleep with prostitutes*.

By the time Jesus was born, Jewish culture and beliefs had been influenced by the Greeks and Romans. They thought women were more likely to sin, they were possessions to be used or avoided, in fact it was better to not even look at or speak to a woman. Women were denied entry to the temple and were segregated from men, they couldn’t fully engaged in worship and were deterred from reading and studying the Torah*.

ENTER JESUS!

In walks Jesus, to kick some mysogynous (fear or hatred of women) inequality in the butt! He ventures into this society poisoned with inequality, double standards and a culture that had strayed from Gods original intention and word. My Hero!

Jesus comes and revolutionises the way women are seen. He implements what it means to live counter-culturally. I LOVE HIS WORK!

He looks at women. He sees women for who they really are. He talks to women. He listens to their fears, and failings and responds to them with kindness and love. He involves women in his own ministry. He reveals to them their real place. He teaches them. He empowers them. He commissions them. He loves them.

There are so many stories of how Jesus spat in the face of inequality and the rules and regulations oppressing women in his day. A few of my favs...


He sits next to a woman at a well, and asks HER to give HIM water. He then enters a theological discussion with her, revealing to HER that he is the 'living water'. This revelation of who he is ... he gave to a woman first. He then commissioned her to go and share her experince of him, with others. As a result of this woman, many came to believe in Jesus.


A woman who has bled constantly for 12 years pushes through a crowd and touches his cloak, believing that just by touching him, she will be healed. Jesus stops, looks her in the face, calls her daughter, affirms her and indeed heals her from her infirmity. She reaches out to him, and he responds. He doesn't turn her away, look down on her ... but he embraces her with compassion and love.


Another women, caught in the act of adultery is surrounded by men. They hold stones, ready to throw, they shout at her with insults and condemnation. The man involved, is nowhere to be seen. Jesus breaks through the crowd and says "Let him who is without sin, cast the first stone." One by one the crowd dissipates. Jesus also challenged the view that women were the only guilty party in adultery and levelled the playing field.

Mary, who sits at the feet of Jesus, taking the typical position of a student or disciple.  She hangs on every word as he teaches. Her sister in the kitchen tries to call her to her 'proper place' in the kitchen, but Jesus affirms Mary, and encourages that she has chosen what is better. He enables and empowers her to learn.

Then there is Mary who Jesus first appeared to in the garden after his resurrection. He tasked her, commissioned her with going to tell others that he had risen. Jesus, asking a woman, Mary, to share the best news ever with a bunch of men. This has to be significant! He commissions and appoints her.

Jesus turned the way women were viewed upside down. He recognised their value, their potential and responded to their needs and desires. He acknowledged and affirmed them for who they really were, despite what society said about them. He wasn't afraid to challenge the beliefs of the day, and did this not only with his words, but with his actions. He called his followers to do the same. Jesus totally rocked feminism. (Boom, dropped the 'f' bomb!)

There is no room for inequality in those who follow Jesus.

Sadly, today, equality for Women is still a dream. All around the world women are oppressed by the beliefs, traditions and values of their societies, cultures and organisations.

Jesus longs to turn that upside down!

Today, on International Womens Day 2013, know this:

Jesus sees you, he values you, he recognises your value and worth, he calls you capable and competant. He responds when you reach out to him. He offers healing, freedom and forgiveness. Jesus desires for women to be freed from oppression and to be seen as and treated equal to their male counter-parts. He wants you living life to it's fullest, and fulfilling your potential. You have value. You have worth.

As followers of Jesus, it's up to us to join him, imitate his example, and kick inequality in the butt!

Stay tuned as I attempt to delve a little deeper into this stuff in coming weeks.

Comment below with your thoughts and opinions, maybe something you’d like some more info on. Maybe even share your own experience of inequality or how you’ve been kicking it in the butt and you’ll go in the draw to win a copy of “Fearless Daughters of the Bible” by J. Lee Grady.
Exciting, my first give-away! (if you’re comment is anonymous, you won’t be able to with the book). The book isn't just for women either ... both men and women will benefit from reading it.

Itsy. Bitsy!

P.S: If you wanna do more reading aroung this topic, check out the books on Equality at the bottom of this page. In particular "Why not women?" by Cunnigham and Hamilton. It gives the cultural context of Jesus day, surrounding influences and breaks down some of the tough passages of scripture regarding women.

*Reference: Cunningham and Hamilton "Why not Women"