The UUWR Annual Gathering breakfast was attended by about 20 women early on Friday morning, June 24. UUW&R co-convener Gretchen Ohmann spoke briefly on what the UUWR has been up to lately.

• completion of the revised Cakes for the Queen of Heaven curriculum
• wrapping up of the Margaret Fuller Bicentennial and the extensive resources gathered on her website
• expansion of the online and traveling Store
• Beginning the search for The Next Big Project
• Call for new core group (Board) members

Alice Carnes and MJ Lieberman of SouthEast District's Womenspirit coordinating council led us in a welcoming ritual, bonding us together in a circle of strong and creative women. We all had a few moments to share our connections to the women's circles in our lives, and inspired each other in a multitude of ways.

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Upon rereading our Women and Religion Resolution (within which the International Association of Liberal Religious Women, IALRW, is included), I see our yearning to facilitate peaceful influence. I call the means to that influence, egalitarian complementarity. It is the opposite of controlling, top/down patriarchal ways. It is a way for collaborative partnership when a relationship between two or more persons is based on sharing leadership power. Egalitarian complementarity has flexible “give and take” for idea creation as the situation for action specifically demands.

This decision making exchange naturally determines who assumes leadership through respectful exploration to find who has the best ideas and resources “to do the job.” It’s a liberating process, releasing human potential. Freedom for those involved to act from one’s best self for the good of all is a prerequisite. This attitude comes from each person’s heart and starts with practicing this peaceful process of creative liberation with those closest to us at home. As the ancient Chinese put it, the attitude of peacefulness then can spread to neighbors, cities and nations to finally becoming peace in the world.

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Support a Fifth World Conference on Women!

The first four World Conferences on Women were sponsored by the United Nations. The last was held in Beijing in 1995 and produced the Beijing Platform for Action, which if fully implemented on a global scale would make the world a safe place for women and children. This will be possible only when violence of all kinds—from domestic to war, is no longer acceptable.

Now at the beginning of the 21st century with the state of the world as it is, it is a crucial time for women to come together to make a difference. This conference would be the first since the Internet made worldwide communication easy and would likely be the largest and most effective gathering of women ever held. It would accelerate reaching a tipping point.

UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) meets in Geneva July 2011. A Written Statement was submitted to ECOSOC by Elly Pradervand, president of Women’s World Summit Foundation (Geneva) advocating 5WCW. On short notice before the April 22 submission deadline, the following UN NGO’s signed on as co-sponsors.

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Theme Introduction

Upon rereading our Women and Religion Resolution (within which the International Association of Liberal Religious Women, IALRW, is included), I see our yearning to facilitate peaceful influence. I call the means to that influence, egalitarian complementarity. It is the opposite of controlling, top/down patriarchal ways. It is a way for collaborative partnership when a relationship between two or more persons is based on sharing leadership power. Egalitarian complementarity has flexible “give and take” for idea creation as the situation for action specifically demands.

This decision making exchange naturally determines who assumes leadership through respectful exploration to find who has the best ideas and resources “to do the job.” It’s a liberating process, releasing human potential. Freedom for those involved to act from one’s best self for the good of all is a prerequisite. This attitude comes from each person’s heart and starts with practicing this peaceful process of creative liberation with those closest to us at home. As the ancient Chinese put it, the attitude of peacefulness then can spread to neighbors, cities and nations to finally becoming peace in the world.

Read more …