The following is the second half of the introduction to the document:
When viewed in its broader context, the discrimination against women in present day society is one of many symptoms of an ailing social order. We live in a world with rampant conflict and injustice. Individuals and groups compete with one another in pursuit of narrow self-interests. Insecurity and violence are common place. For the most part, dominant social institutions, structures, and processes have not been set up in ways that effectively serve the common good and when people attempt to work within these systems to advance the common good they often face systemic constraints or outright political challenges. What is needed is a profound questioning of the assumptions underpinning the social systems and world views that enable and perpetuate these conditions. Otherwise the betterment of humankind and the advancement of civilization in both its spiritual and material dimensions will continue to elude humanity’s best efforts. Our aim cannot be only to open room for women to participate in the affairs of society within the present social order. Rather, women and men must work shoulder to shoulder as they apply spiritual principles to the construction of a new social order characterized by justice, peace and collective prosperity.
Building social institutions and developing social practices that advance the equality of women and men, and promote the principles of unity and justice, will demand profound changes in the minds and hearts of people and in the structures of society. Individuals and groups working towards this goal may wish to consult and reflect on some of the questions and challenges that arise as they strive to apply these principles to different aspects of their individual and collective lives.
engendering equality 
After reading this segment, I began to reflect on how I, as an individual, could begin to initiate the type of “profound questioning” called for in the document into my own life, particularly with regards to the issue of gender equality. I realized during my short meditation, really how effective it would be for all of us to actively think about and question the different images, comments, ideas, actions, etc. that we see every day.
How are they influencing our understanding of the reality of men and women? In this process of questioning we might come out with a spectrum of different responses, ranging from realizing that something is completely backwards or stereotypical, to being uncertain whether or not a particular notion has a valid place or not. Probably there will be many things that we don’t even recognize as things that need to be changed.
Since it is impossible for the individual to remain totally unaffected by the environment and society in which we live, it is important to realize that, no matter how firmly we adhere to our belief in the equality of men and women, we will have notions and ideas that sometimes stray from this reality. So it cannot stop at believing in an idea, or even just questioning the things we see around us, but also questioning our own actions and taking ourselves into the process of change. Our my actions enforcing stereotypes? How are stereotypes influencing my behavior toward myself, to other women, and to men? There are numerous questions to reflect on.
Anyways, I’m not totally sure if this thought was conveyed effectively, but I am just really excited to be able to begin to put this type of questioning, reflecting, and learning about equality into my daily life and not just as a belief that I only think about occasionally and when the opportunity arises. And hopefully become part of this process that seeks to bring about “profound changes in the minds and hearts of people” and to rid society of false assumptions about the reality of men and the reality of women.
I agree, Andrea. It seems to me that we have to be willing to engage in a daily struggle to recognize our own behaviors that do not promote equality–and those that do. If we do this every day over a long period of time, gradually we can become aware of those “blind spots” in our hearts, where we let ourselves off the hook or our actions are inconsistent with our values. Somehow, we need to do this with other issues as well–race is a big one, but also class and biases relating to level of formal education, culture and ethnicity, etc. Western culture has become sensitive to some of these issues, at least in terms of superficial “political correctness,” but somehow other areas of injustice are “allowed” (for example, jokes about obesity, sight-gags in movies and tv shows victimizing overweight people, etc.) There is actually an endless variety of ways that human invention can manifest injustice and “malfunctioning” of society. I think the only way out of this mess is through individual, daily self-examination.
Pingback: Advancing Towards the Equality of Women and Men — Part III « engendering equality
Pingback: Advancing Toward the Equality of Women and Men — Part IV « engendering equality
Pingback: Advancing Towards the Equality of Women and Men — Part V « engendering equality