Sermons

Preacher: Rev. Charles J. Stephens

 

Description: International Women’s Day has been observed since 1908. About 40 years earlier, Julia Ward Howe, tried to speak at peace meetings in London and Paris, but was told: “You can’t give any speeches at our meetings, because you’re ONLY a woman.” Former first lady Rosalynn Carter speaking in honor of International Women’s Day said “I hope that no one will ever tell a girl that there is something she can’t do because she is a girl.” Join us this Sunday in celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and also serves as a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

 
Hymns
212     “We Are Dancing Sarah’s Circle”
1026    “If Every Woman in the World”
109      “As We Come Marching, Marching”

 
Opening Words
Everyone – men and women – can pledge to take a concrete step to help achieve gender parity more quickly, whether to help women and girls achieve their ambitions, call for gender-balanced leadership, respect and value difference, develop more inclusive and flexible cultures or root out workplace bias. Each of us can be a leader within our own spheres of influence and commit to take pragmatic action to help include and advance women. Share amongst your friends, social networks and communities and encourage them to make a pledge as well. Together, we can accelerate the clock.

 
Meditiation
By the Rev. Carol Huston 

(March 8 has been designated International Women’s Day by the United Nations – and the day is recognized in many places, particularly developing countries. As Unitarian Universalists, let us join this celebration in words of prayer or meditation).

Spirit of Life, that divine sense within us and around us, which is the true source of hope and empowerment, In solidarity with women and men around the world on this International Women’s Day, let us hold in our thoughts today:

the 10 million women who suffer injury or death each year in pregnancy or childbirth;
the 62 million girls worldwide who are denied an education;
and one-third of women worldwide who have suffered physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes.

And may we celebrate the shining lights of hope for all the places in the world where women are claiming power and autonomy:

in the Philippines and African nations where women seek new ways to bring health, safety, and entrepreneurial skills to their villages;
in India and Romania, where women are exercising new leadership in their communities.

There are many bright pathways forward, and the future will shine when all women can find equal opportunity for life, liberty, and happiness.

May we work together with women and men from all nations to build a world where all people are respected and loved.

Blessed be and Amen.

  
First reading
“The World Reduced to Sound” by Anne Tannam

Lying in my single bed
a childhood illness for company
the world reduced to sound.

Behind my eyes the darkness echoed
inside my chest uneven notes
rattled and wheezed.
Beyond my room a floorboard creaked
a muffled cough across the landing
grew faint and faded away

My hot ear pressed against the pillow
tuned into the gallop of tiny hooves
then blessed sleepy silence.
In the morning
steady maternal footsteps
sang on the stairs.
I loved that song.

© Anne Tannam and was published in ‘Take This Life’ (WordOnTheStreet 2011)

 
Second Reading
Sojourner Truth (1797-1883):  Ain’t I A Woman?
Delivered 1851 at the Women’s Convention, Akron, Ohio

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that ‘twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what’s all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what’s this they call it? [member of audience whispers, “intellect”] That’s it, honey. What’s that got to do with women’s rights or negroes’ rights? If my cup won’t hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn’t you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain’t got nothing more to say.

 
“International Women’s Sunday” (sermon)
The International Women’s Day observance calls on us to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women. Unfortunately, women’s progress has slowed in many places across the world. Thus there is urgent action needed to accelerate gender parity. International Women’s Day is an effort to do that. International Women’s Day calls on people across the world to pledge to take action as champions of gender parity.

There exist contrasting forces for and against gender parity here within our own country. One of the leading candidates for the nomination of President of the U.S. is a woman. And yet women in the United States are paid only 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. The pay gap is even larger for women of color. On average, African American women make 64 cents for every dollar that white men make. While 2012 was a watershed year for women in terms of getting elected to public office, women still comprise only 18.1 percent of Congress, despite making up more than half of the U.S. population. …A deeper examination shows that disparities for women also exist among states. Women in Vermont, for example, make on average close to 85 cents for every dollar a man makes, while women in Wyoming make only 64 cents—more than 25 percent less than women in Vermont. On leadership, 15 states have no female elected leaders in the House of Representatives or the Senate. Lastly, while less than 10 percent of women in Vermont, Wisconsin, Hawaii, and Massachusetts are uninsured, nearly 25 percent of women in Texas do not have health insurance. (Anna Chu and Charles Posner, Wednesday, September 25, 2013, “Center for American Progress”)

The reality is that in the larger world is even more stark: 10 million women suffer injury or death each year in pregnancy or childbirth. Worldwide there are 62 million girls who are denied an education. And let us never forget that one-third of women worldwide have or are suffered physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes, many continue to be suffering such violence.

Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn wrote in their book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide: “Decades from now, people will look back and wonder how societies could have acquiesced in a sex slave trade in the twenty-first century that is…bigger than the transatlantic slave trade was in the nineteenth. They will be perplexed that we shrugged as a lack of investment in maternal health caused half a million women to perish in childbirth each year. … There could be a powerful international women’s movement if only philanthropists would donate as much to real women as to paintings and sculptures of women.”

I am personally moved to speak about International Women’s Day call for parity because I grew up with a strong, independent and outspoken mother, 3 older sisters, a strong and intelligent wife, 2 daughters and a son. I remember many stories told to me by my mother that relate to women’s rights. I want to share one with you that illustrates not only my mother’s strength, even as a small child, but also her sense of the need for share equity between women and men.

As I have said before, my mother’s parents were immigrants from Czechoslovakia. My mother’s father came from an educated family with enough money to send him to America. My grandmother, on the other hand wasn’t so fortunate. Her family was poor and less educated. Her father died at sea on the way to America. At the age of 16 with little schooling my grandmother had to make her way in a new world alone.

My mother told me she was a favorite of her father. One evening after her father had been mean and dismissive to her mother, my mother as a young girl, crawled up on her father’s lap and looking up into his face, said: “If you don’t stop being so mean to mommy, I won’t like you anymore.” Mom was adamant about women’s rights and always had a sense of equality with others, men or women. To be sure having been born in 1910, she retained some of the cultural sexism that still infuses men and women in our culture. Never the less, she passed on an understanding to her children boys and girls that equality and compassion are important.

Anne Price read Anne Tannam’s poem “The World Reduced to Sound.”

“My hot ear pressed against the pillow
tuned into the gallop of tiny hooves
then blessed sleepy silence.
In the morning
steady maternal footsteps
sang on the stairs.
I loved that song.”

That poem speaks of the comfort and hope given to a sick child when they hear the steady maternal footsteps sing on the stairs. That is the memory I have of my mother.

My three older sisters were all strong role models for me of compelling and capable women. They each lead exciting and even exotic lives to me as a young boy. My eldest sister who died a little over a year ago was 17 years older than me. She left home for Chicago before I was born and became a model during the 1950 & 60’s in both Chicago and NY. She went on to own and run her own Modeling Schools for many years. My second oldest sister, went to college, the first in our family and after graduating became a stewardess on Pan Am in the 1950’s, lived in France for a while then became a travel agent in San Francisco. My third sister was two years ahead of me in high school. She was such a great student that unfortunately, my teachers expected me to do as well. She confidently went off to college in California after high school and eventually became a physical therapist.

As you can see, my younger brother and I had no option other than to grow up with a high opinion of women. We understood that girls and women were anything other than the weaker sex.

My awareness and commitment to equity between men and women is also reinforced by being married to Alison, a woman who is warm, loving and also an extremely wise and formidably strong person. When I met her she was working as a counselor at the Augusta Domestic Violence Shelter where she courageously worked to protect women against violence. She is someone whose opinion I always honor, whether about our family or the content of my sermons.

Also importance to me is the fact that I have two daughters and a son traversing a world filled with people, especially boys and young men who don’t always respect the rights and equality of women. Such boys and men haven’t been as fortunate as I have been in living with and knowing strong women. Thus, I am more than a little concerned about the world my children have inherited. I want all boys and girls, women and men to understand the importance of what Rosalynn Carter said when speaking about International Women’s Day, “I hope,” she said, “that no one will ever tell a girl that there is something she can’t do because she is a girl.”

Our first two Unitarian Universalist Principles are crystal clear about our commitment to the need for equity between all people. We Unitarian Universalists affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person; and we affirm and promote the importance of justice, equity and compassion in human relations.

Unitarian and Universalist women have steadily claimed greater equality with men both within UUism but also within the larger society. We are familiar with the name of Susan B. Anthony, who with 14 other women was arrested when they voted in the 1872 presidential election. The wife of her Unitarian minister was at her side that day as a friend a supporter.

The District Attorney charged Anthony with voting and added, “At that time she was a woman.” It is recorded that even some members of the jury smiled at such an accusation. Anthony’s lawyer, Henry Selden, a former judge, said “Your honor, gentlemen of the jury, the defense wishes to concede that Miss Susan B. Anthony is indeed a woman.”

Anthony’s lawyer pointed out that she was on trial simply for being a woman. “If this same act [voting] had been done by her brother, it would have been honorable. But having been done by a woman, it is said to be a crime… I believe this is the first instance in which a woman has been arraigned [accused] in a criminal court merely on account of her sex.”

About the same time, Julia Ward How, another Unitarian, was so horrified by the violence of the Franco-Prussian War which had broken out, that she called for the Woman’s Peace Convention. She called for mothers to step into matters of wars. She said that “It is the mothers who have the babies and who raise the children, and they do not want to waste human lives. Woman have a responsibility to try to get leaders to use peaceful ways of settling conflicts.” She went on to write a paper on peace that was translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German and Swedish, but when she wanted to speak at the organized peace meetings in London and Paris, the male leaders told her “You can’t give any speeches at our meetings, because you’re ONLY a woman.”

Only a woman! Sexism and male chauvinism is hardly dead. With a woman running for the Nomination to be President of U.S. we hear male TV Newscasters and political pundits criticizing the tone and strength of her voice, how her hair, cloths or face looks. These men even have the audacity to give her suggestions on how she would be a more becoming woman candidate. You don’t have to be a supporter of her candidacy to be offended by such male chauvinism. I can only imagine what my mother would say about that, but I know it wouldn’t be appreciative.

Rosalynn Carter, in talking about the International Women’s Day said, “My husband and I have visited many of the more than 80 nations where The Carter Center has worked to improve peace and health for the poorest people. Along with the growing gap between the rich and the poor, the most serious challenge we see is the deprivation and abuse of women and girls. . . . These abuses often are justified by false interpretations of religious texts, and normalized by a growing tolerance of violence and war worldwide.” Rosalynn Carter didn’t mince any words about what happens when men see women as inferior, she went on to say, “When women are seen as inferior to men in every way, girls and women are vulnerable to rape and other sexual abuse, newborn girls are killed, female fetuses are aborted, genital mutilation occurs, women are trafficked for sex and domestic labor. . . . Not only does this degrade people and cause them to suffer, but whole economies are held back because so many women on earth are not allowed to contribute their talents.”

When Bill Gates went to Saudi Arabia to speak on technology, men filled up four fifths of the auditorium and sat on the left and the center. Women filled up the remaining fifth of the space and they were dressed in black cloaks and veils and they all sat on the far right. There was an actual partition separating the two groups.

After Bill Gates gave his presentation there was a question and answer period. One of person asked whether it was realistic goal that Saudi Arabia could become one of the top ten countries in the world in developing technology. Bill Gates responded, “Well, if you’re not fully utilizing half the talent in the country, you’re not going to get too close to the top ten.” The women’s side of the auditorium erupted in wild cheers.

It would be hard to deny the extent of injustice, suffering and violence that women are forced to endure on a daily basis, not only in distant lands but right here in our country, right here in the state of Maine and yes right here in our local communities. This is why The International Women’s Day is so important.

International Women’s Day is a global celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day is not only a celebration but it also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. I urge you to go on line at the International Women’s Day website and fill out the pledge.

It is clear from studies that gender-balanced organizations and gender-balanced teams deliver stronger results than organizations and teams that are not gender-balanced. The problem is that ingrained bias is hard to root out and it slows the progress not only of equality for women but it also slows the progress of society as a whole.

Organizations, political parties and countries need to build a climate where all people feel valued and included and can contribute fully according to their capabilities not based on their ethnic background, their color, their religion, their gender orientation and definitely not based on their gender.

We need to challenge one another to learn about our own biases and then to adjust our behavior accordingly and adjusting the behavior of our whole society. When we do that we will welcome different experiences, different points of view and thus we will all grow and prosper because of it.

Margaret Chase Smith represented Maine in Congress for almost 24 years as the only female senator. She was the first woman in American history to announce her campaign for the presidency, as a Republican. Later she gave a speech in which she challenged the popular outlook on “the proper place of a woman.” She said that her answer to the question about a woman’s proper place, “…is short and simple — a woman’s proper place is everywhere” she went on to say, “…You never hear the comment that ‘Men are all right in their place’ because their place has never been restricted … If there is one proper role for women today it is that of alert and responsible citizens in the fullest sense of the word.” Senator Smith went on to say that “Citizenship is without sex. It makes no distinction between the rights and responsibilities of men and women in America.”

Today, let us press on for greater equality and never let the naysayers turn us around. And always remember, “If there is one proper role for women today it is that of alert and responsible citizens in the fullest sense of the word.” Remember, “…a woman’s proper place is everywhere.”

 
Closing Words
Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the founder of the nation of Pakistan. Pakistanis celebrate his birthday every year like people here celebrate the 4th of July.

The famous Muslim Muhammad Ali Jinnah insisted: “No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you. We are victims of evil customs. It is a crime against humanity that our women are shut up within the four walls of the houses as prisoners. There is no sanction anywhere for the deplorable condition in which our women have to live.”

Let us remember, “No struggle can ever succeed without women participating side by side with men.”