I obviously grew up the US and so I grew up blessed in a society where as a whole women are valued. I grew up with the belief that really I could do whatever I wanted and didn't have to be stopped because I was a girl. Coming to India I knew that women aren't always held in that same regard. To even apply for my visa since I had to give information about my dad because I was an unmarried female student. While in India I have not felt like I've been treated differently because I am a female (mainly stared at because I'm white) and have interacted with plenty of females who are doctors, residents, etc. so I know that depending on the area and the circumstances women are held in high regards. But I also know that is not the case everywhere in India nor the rest of the world.
On Tuesday in the pediatrics department we saw the labor and delivery ward and asked about ultrasounds. We found out that in India they do have ultrasounds to check on the health of the baby, but that it is illegal for people to find out the sex of the baby. That is because families don't want to have girls and will have abortions, etc. if they know it is a female. The resident who told us this said that these things obviously still happen and even though it is illegal people still find out what the sex is. A few other doctors have also made comments about how parents will go to extreme measures to make sure that their sons are taken care of when sick or have a life threatening condition, but if it is a girl these same measures aren't taken. This is of course a general statement and there are exceptions to these rules where there are families who value the heath of their female children as well as their male children.
Tuesday afternoon I also started reading the book Half the Church: Recapturing God's Global Vision for Women by Carolyn Curtis James. It tied in very nicely to what I was learning about India and I just finished it. The book goes off of another book/documentary called Half the Sky, which discusses the treatment of women throughout the world. How women today in many societies aren't valued and their voices aren't heard. When this happens half of the world is left silent with little/no contribution and this doesn't make a healthy world. So Half the Church is almost like a response to Half the Sky and what the Bible says is a women's role in the world. The author does a great job of explaining how it is important to see what the Bible says about women and how it applies to all women around the world-not just in the west.
She does a great job of talking about women in the Bible and explaining how important it is that their stories are included in the Bible because they would have been living in very patriarcal societies where they often would have had little value. God chooses to include women from the beginning, which goes to show how much he values us and how important we are as his creation. She talks about how we (along with men) are God's image bearers and it is our role to all work together for the church to function as it should. As women (and really men too) we should also be outraged by the treatment of women throughout the world and if we all truly worked together to do something about these injustices then we could have the kingdom here and now.
I'm still processing a lot of what I read and I probably didn't do the best job of explaining things, but it is a great book and so I would encourage you to read it if you have the chance. I also have watched the documentary Half the Sky and would encourage you to watch it as well. I haven't read that book, but may soon do that.
On Tuesday in the pediatrics department we saw the labor and delivery ward and asked about ultrasounds. We found out that in India they do have ultrasounds to check on the health of the baby, but that it is illegal for people to find out the sex of the baby. That is because families don't want to have girls and will have abortions, etc. if they know it is a female. The resident who told us this said that these things obviously still happen and even though it is illegal people still find out what the sex is. A few other doctors have also made comments about how parents will go to extreme measures to make sure that their sons are taken care of when sick or have a life threatening condition, but if it is a girl these same measures aren't taken. This is of course a general statement and there are exceptions to these rules where there are families who value the heath of their female children as well as their male children.
Tuesday afternoon I also started reading the book Half the Church: Recapturing God's Global Vision for Women by Carolyn Curtis James. It tied in very nicely to what I was learning about India and I just finished it. The book goes off of another book/documentary called Half the Sky, which discusses the treatment of women throughout the world. How women today in many societies aren't valued and their voices aren't heard. When this happens half of the world is left silent with little/no contribution and this doesn't make a healthy world. So Half the Church is almost like a response to Half the Sky and what the Bible says is a women's role in the world. The author does a great job of explaining how it is important to see what the Bible says about women and how it applies to all women around the world-not just in the west.
She does a great job of talking about women in the Bible and explaining how important it is that their stories are included in the Bible because they would have been living in very patriarcal societies where they often would have had little value. God chooses to include women from the beginning, which goes to show how much he values us and how important we are as his creation. She talks about how we (along with men) are God's image bearers and it is our role to all work together for the church to function as it should. As women (and really men too) we should also be outraged by the treatment of women throughout the world and if we all truly worked together to do something about these injustices then we could have the kingdom here and now.
I'm still processing a lot of what I read and I probably didn't do the best job of explaining things, but it is a great book and so I would encourage you to read it if you have the chance. I also have watched the documentary Half the Sky and would encourage you to watch it as well. I haven't read that book, but may soon do that.
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