1983-05 A Resolution on Women's Rights

WOMEN’S RIGHTS

With the Equal Rights Amendment having died June 30, 1982, three states short of ratification, and with its reintroduction into this congress, studies still show that for every dollar a white man makes, a white woman makes 59¢, a black woman makes 55¢, and an Hispanic man makes 52¢.

Women are consistently forced into low-paying, dead-end jobs where advancement is constricted or denied altogether. Many of these women are single and have families to support. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that, in every field in which there are 50,000 or more people employed, men earn more than women do. Moreover, equal employment laws currently in effect in separate states may be repealed at any time.

Seventy percent of the world’s poor are women and children.

In every state in the U.S. there are laws which regulate the full personhood of women and establish barriers to their independence. Women are denied equal control over their bodies and their futures. (This resolution does not address the controversial issue of abortion). Among the areas discrimination limits women are insurance rates and coverage, inheritance, and property rights. There are thousands of state laws which, if amended one by one, with our present court process, would take decades or even centuries to amend, thus effectively depriving women of full and equal participation in society and of full human dignity.

The World Council of Churches has stated that “the teaching of the churches which require women to be subordinate to men in family, church and society, are in flat contradiction to the gospel lived and proclaimed by Jesus…. Women today are challenging any assumption in the teaching of the churches that the role of women is that of subordinate or unequal partners. Some….. are even leaving the church. Many more, however, in their deep commitment to the gospel, are saying that the good news of Christ must itself be set free so that women and men can become more human in a new community, partners set free to enjoy the glorious liberty of being God’s children” (Issue Paper I, “Witnessing in a divided world”).

THEREFORE, be it resolved that all affiliates of LSM-USA support and work actively by whatever means they deem necessary (e.g. writing letters to church officials and congresspersons) for the passage of all legislation designed to end sexist discrimination; and

Be it further resolved that the Lutheran Student Movement-USA be committed to the full and equal participation of all members of the body of Christ regardless of gender both within the church and within society.