LWF Staff and participants in the event to launch the new study on gender justice. Photo: LWF/Naomi Mbise
Celebrating best practices, highlighting areas of improvement
(LWI) - Progress has been made since the Beijing Declaration, but women’s advancement is still constrained by discrimination, conflict, the climate crisis, as well as violence online and offline. These are the key findings from a new publication by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) entitled ‘Towards true gender equality: LWF’s Engagement for Women's Rights 1995-2025'. The publication was launched on 23 September, during the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York.
“For decades, LWF has championed gender justice, recognizing equality as vital for a just world. It continues to advocate for women’s active participation and leadership, even as persistent barriers and inequalities threaten hard-won gains,” said Sikhonzile Ndlovu, LWF Senior Advocacy Officer for Gender Justice, at the launch event.
LWF continues to advocate for women’s active participation and leadership, even as persistent barriers and inequalities threaten hard-won gains.
Sikhonzile Ndlovu, LWF Senior Advocacy Officer for Gender Justice
Shaping policies, making decisions
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA), adopted by 189 governments following a UN conference in 1995, remains the world’s most comprehensive and visionary agenda for women’s rights and gender equality. It identifies 12 critical areas of concern including the prevention of violence against women, ensuring economic empowerment, advancing education, and promoting health, offering a global framework to realize the rights of all women and girls.
The new LWF report features reflections from gender justice advocates, promising practices from LWF member churches and country programs, whilst offering actionable recommendations to accelerate progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets. “Women are not just participants but are shaping policies and making decisions,” said Ameera Khamis, Country Representative for LWF in Jordan and Syria.
The promising practices include equal educational access secured for Afro-Brazilian and indigenous women in Brazil; women equipped with leadership and livelihood skills in Colombia; tackling sexual and gender-based violence in Zimbabwe; an education program on women’s rights in Nepal; and safeguarding girls’ rights in Kenya.
Christine Mangale- Director Lutheran Office for World Community and LWF Rep to the UN in New York giving opening remarks. Photo: LWF/Naomi Mbise
Adeline Rajkumar a member of LWF youth offers perspectives on the importance of intergenerational approaches to gender justice. Photo: LWF/Naomi Mbise
Importance of ecumenical collaborations- LWF staff and ecumenical partners at the 23 Sept event. Photo: LWF/Naomi Mbise
Recommendations for the future
At the launch event, faith leaders and advocates for gender justice and women’s human rights reflected on the current status of the Beijing agenda. Three of the panelists, Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro from Kenya, Ms. Christine Grumm and Ms. Sue Edison-Swift, both from the United States, participated in the landmark Beijing World Conference on Women.
Dr. Kanyoro reflected on the ways in which faith and feminism complement each other, while Ms. Grumm emphasized that the LWF must continue to speak out against violence and advocate for women’s leadership. Ms. Edison-Swift stressed that women are entitled to the same human rights and dignities as their male counterparts. The panel included Adeline Rajkumar, a youth and gender justice advocate, and Ameera Khamis from the LWF Jordan and Syria office, who noted that while women have made progress in several areas, change remains slow and is often absent in conflict zones.
The event included voices from LWF’s ecumenical partners including Ms. Martha Jarvis, UN Representative for the Anglican Communion. She called for the building of trust across different sectors of society, faith-based and secular, and spoke of the need to give priority to gender justice in budgets and in the sharing of resources.
“Much remains to be done - governments and institutions must deliver on their commitments under the Beijing platform, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Christine Mangale, Director of the Lutheran Office for World Community in New York. “Funding must reach women's organizations and faith-based partners leading this work,” she concluded.
