In reflection on my recent trip to India, my heart was saddened by observing the status of women, particularly of younger women, in a very religious country. The social caste system and the marriage dowry system, both of which have been legally abolished, have created a culture where women are oppressed. Of course, there are remarkable aspects of Indian culture, but while many Indian women find fulfillment and many rise to achievement, such as the country’s female president, the evidence of oppression is everywhere.

But the oppression of women isn’t bound just to India. Other societies, including our own, have institutionalized and systematized oppression and even violence to women and girls. Female infanticide and circumcision, human trafficking, polygamy, pornography and prostitution are only a few examples. In the United States, domestic violence and sexual abuse against women are epidemic. Inadequate or no health care, which plagues many living in the United States, especially affects women and children. Political, business and religious institutions are nearly dominated by men who enact laws, make decisions, set policies and issue proclamations that can adversely affect or sometimes even demean women. It is most likely unintentional, but that’s part of the problem – that the effect on women and girls is not considered or remembered.

This year’s Nobel Laureate for Literature is Doris Lessing who is cited as “the epicist of female experience who with skepticism, fire and visionary power, has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny.” Indeed civilization is divided in many ways but none more brutal than along the lines of gender. Male pride and hubris is evident in so many cultures and ethnicities and many times at the expense of women. Worldwide, there are women who are denied basic human rights, stripped of their potential and have their lives ordered by the men. May God have mercy on us.

In reflection on the life and ministry of Jesus, my heart was gladdened by observing the way He elevated the status of women. He not only called women to be his disciples, healed their infirmities and offered them forgiveness, but he included women as a part of his inner circle. In an amazing text in Luke, we are told that Jesus went from town to town proclaiming the Kingdom of God accompanied by the twelve apostles and a group of women. Three names are mentioned – Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Susanna. Then we are told that “there were many others who provided for them out of their resources.” (Luke 8:1-3) A group of women actually provided the financial resources for the itinerant Galilean ministry of our Lord.

On other occasions Jesus converses with a Samaritan woman, defends a woman against the religious establishment that wanted to kill her and welcomes the devotion of a woman when even his disciples are judgmental of her. The radical equality that Jesus creates between genders is what would inspire the Apostle Paul to declare “there is no male or female, but all are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) May God be praised.

In reflection on a recent book review in the New York Times, my heart was stirred. Darcy Stenke reviews Mary Gordon’s best seller, “Circling my Mother,” and begins by referencing a number of Catholic authors in the mid twentieth century, (Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Flannery O’Conner, Evelyn Waugh) who instead of pontificating about religion, sought to engage culture in conversation. She then writes the following,

“These days we have two kinds of religious books. Those like The Purpose Driven Life, the pastor, Rick Warren’s self-help book, insipidly set out conservative precepts encouraging us to join churches, obey doctrines and center our spiritual lives around them, no matter how limiting those lives might be in that context alone. At the other end of the spectrum are gleeful repudiations of religion like Christopher Hitchins’ atheistic manifesto ‘God is Not Great.’ But Hitchins’ definition of religion is child-like and reductive: He completely discounts the longing many of us feel for Divinity. What’s inspiring about Gordon’s deeply personal portrayal of her mother is not someone who feels she must have large ideas about what’s wrong with Catholicism, instead like those famous mid century Catholics, Gordon’s mother attends to the nourishment of her own particular religious vocation, a vocation less glamorous than Merton’s or Day’s, but no less divine – a vocation as a single mother, as one afflicted by polio, as a woman in full belief of the love of God.”

I know a number of women who are “attending to the nourishment of their religious vocation in full belief of the love of God.” Some famous, but most not famous, they live with courage, dignity and grace. They set an example for all of us. May God bless them.

Finally in reflecting on the women in my immediate family, my heart is filled with love. My wife, Earlene, of 41 years is my companion and best friend. My mother, Marie Vestal, and my mother-in-law, Rebecca Black, are godly matriarchs. My daughter, Anne England, is an exemplary Christian woman as are my two daughters-in-law, Melissa Vestal and Elise Vestal. Two granddaughters, Hallie Vestal and Daya Vestal, are sheer joy and delight. I love them, knowing full well that God loves and cherishes every woman in the world and considers each a valuable family member. God’s love for each woman exceeds any human love or devotion. God’s care for each woman makes them a treasure of inestimatable value and worth. And even as I hold each female member of my family in my heart by name, so God holds each female family member near and dear. God knows each name and cares for each personally. Each is beloved.

No woman should be exploited, abused or violated. No woman should be made subservient to the machinations of men. No girl should be sold into slavery or not have the opportunity for education and equality. No woman should be robbed of the dignity or the honor due her because she is a child of God.

While in India, one of our CBF field personnel, Sam Bandela and I distributed sewing machines to young girls in coastal villages that had been devastated by the tsunami three years ago. Though poor, they wore saris, bangles and beautiful smiles. To each we gave a sewing machine – a simple piece of equipment that will change their lives. They can now earn income and have a chance at a better future. With the certificate we presented each girl, they can now seek even further employment or education. And with the Bibles we gave, each girl now has the opportunity to discover the gospel of Christ in her own language. Perhaps in a small way we were empowering and enabling them for something great. Perhaps in a small way we were helping release them into God’s potential for their lives. Perhaps in a small way we were doing what the Church of Jesus Christ ought to be doing for all women. May God grant it for those young Indian girls, for other oppressed women and girls around the world and for us.

Daniel Vestal is executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, serving since 1996.