Adults

In India, tens of millions of women face discrimination and abuse for being single, divorced or widowed.
Pray for fair treatment for women everywhere.

I am fifty, single, straight and female.  I have experienced discrimination on the grounds of gender, marital status and age.  I have experienced sexual harassment in the (secular) workplace and inappropriate advances from married, male Christians, including ordained ministers.  It may be the case that under UK law women have rights, but it does not always translate in to lived experience.  I am not for a moment comparing my experiences with the horrendous injustices in other nations, rather I am noting that that it is a topic that resonates, and that this will shape my response.

Holy Spirit, Sophia, wisdom, you personify the feminie within the divine

Jesus, you compared yourself to a mother hen

God you are beyond any labels, yet you mother as well as father us...

We pray for the women of our world

In all their wonderful diversity

In the richness of their life experiences

We pray for justice so that

The single woman

The married woman

The divorced woman

The widowed woman

The educated woman

The illiterate woman

The straight woman

The gay woman

The X-Y woman

The by-surgery woman

The rich woman

The poor woman

The healthy woman

The sick woman

The dying woman

The mother woman

The childless woman

The warrior woman

The pacifist woman

The career woman

The homemaker woman

The woman with learning disabilities

The woman with physical disabilities

The woman with mental health concerns

The powerful woman

The powerless woman

Indeed

Every woman

May be treated fairly

And having discovered what that means

May share that experience with every child, man and woman

Until your justice reaches all people.

Amen.

My pledge

Today - one prayer

Total - £23.75, four prayers, one rant and one e-petition signed

I was searching online to find the equivalent words or phrases used in non-English languages for a specific expression, in readiness for Sunday's all agey bit.  In the process I stumbled on this fascinating page which allows you to read the Tower of Babel story in oodles of different languages, and so spot similarities and differences.  If you have a few minutes spare it's worth a quick gander!

Adults

Women make up 64% of the world’s illiterate.  Have a look at one of your bookshelves.  Give 10p for each book by a female author.

OK, so I have to begin with a pet grouse of mine... I dislike adjectives being used as nouns, especially when they are prefaced with the definite article.  I know it's a practice of which even Jesus appears guilty ('the poor will always be with you'; though to be pedantic ptokos IS a noun, and the distinction gets lost in translation) but in recent years I have come to appreciate, from some minority groups, how awful it is to be lumped together as an adjective "the disabled", "the disadvantaged" etc.  So 'the illiterate' makes me immediately think "the illiterate what?  cabbage? goldfish? ah... person".  I blame that ministerial college where I trained, it was them what got me into this habit!!  (As an aside, I always find the title "disabled toilet" disconcerting - I'd rather they supplied one that was functional...;-) )

So, back to the point in hand, and actually the little rant illustrates precisely the privilege of being a literate woman, able to determine meaning from squiggles on piece of paper.

As it happens, I am doing this at home, so the book shelves to hand are filled mostly with fiction.  Were I at church, and choosing to look at a shelf of theology books, I expect it would prove a cheaper day!  I have elected to use the top shelf of the bookcase in my living room, knowing, even before I do the count that there are nine Susan Howatch novels, two by Marilyn Robinson and one by Barbara Kingsolver up there...

Ulp!  No less than 21 books on that shelf are written by women, so that's £2.10.  For curiosity, I have picked another shelf where my old engineering text books are located and there is nothing written by a woman... maybe that of itself says something about access to education, gender stereotypes and societal norms?

My Pledge

Today - £2.10

Total - £23.75, three prayers, one rant and one e-petition signed

Having discovered the pleasure of jigsaws, I am now embarking on another...

Will keep me occupied in my free time - and is undoubtedly more 'healthy' than watching television, social networking, or playing games on the computer.

The have way mark, or near enough, for those counting carefully!

Adults

Every day approximately 800 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. 99% of these deaths occur in developing countries.

Give 20p for every pregnant woman you know who received a decent standard of medical care in the Last year.

Every women I know, or every woman I know of... I seem to be turning into a semantic nightmare this year!  I have one friend in England who gave birth in the last year, so that bit is easy.  There are currently two women who regularly share in the life of the Gathering Place who are pregnant, two who come occasionally with a babies I think are under a year old , and at a slightly further remove at least one other newish grandchild.  But then there's the Toddler group which has lots of bumps and babies... should I count them in or not?  Oh decisions, decisions... I think I'll keep it simple and opt for £1! 

My Pledge

Today - £1

Total - £21.65, three prayers, one rant and one e-petition signed