Brazil: Women of all faiths march and pray for women's rights

"Religions for Women's rights" was the theme of an event which brought together women of all faiths in Brasilia on 5 March, ahead of International Women's Day today. The initiative, which was organized by the National Council of Christian Churches and by other faith groups including Bahai, the Conference of Religious of Brazil, Abriwica, the Ubanda Federation and Candomblé, provided moments of prayer, reflection and a celebratory march.

"We want to reaffirm our commitment to dialogue, the promotion of a culture of peace and, above all, we want to draw attention to the high rates of violence against women that occur in our country", explained the Secretary General of CONIC. "Every year, many women are killed in our country. Many die because of their social commitment, we cite the example of Sister Dorothy and other women related to social movements, others are killed because of religious intolerance".

"We must unite for women's rights in order to obtain more and more places in our society" emphasized the President of the Conference of Religious of Brazil, Sister Mariaines Vieira Ribeiro. She said women still face the problem of discrimination: "We are still far from a path of equality and respect for women". Consecrated women, participate in this initiative as they are seen as protagonists of a new history, because they carry out demanding jobs without fear of going to the suburbs of human existence.

"Regardless of support or recognition, consecrated women try to occupy their own space in the Church and in society. We must therefore support an event like this", concluded Sister Mariaines Vieira Ribeiro.

Source: Fides