Oh, I feel like a woman.

My parents always told me they had always wanted a daughter. They got one (that's me just in case you were wondering.) When I was little I believe I was your typical American munchkin. I wanted to be a dancer one day and a princess the next. Pink and purple were my favorite colors and I loved dressing up. I wore the same dress for years. It said "cutie-pie" and was floral. When I got older my dad told me a story. He told me that sometime after I was born he was working in some country in the Middle East. I believe he was in Turkey. He told me that he was so excited about little baby me that he was walking around and telling everyone he knew that he was a daddy. However, apparently when he told one man about his new born daughter, the man gave his apologies. How unfortunate it was that I was not a boy. In my young mind I thought what kind of a person wouldn't want a daughter? Why would anyone tell my dad that it was too bad that the first child had been a girl? It sounded great to me. After all, what's so bad about being a girl? What's not to love about a face like this. (See picture above.) Unfortunately there are a lot of places in our modern world that feels this way. They don't believe that girls and women are to be celebrated. "When a boy is born in most developing countries, friends and relatives exclaim congratulations. A son means insurance. He will inherit his father's property and get a job to help support the family. When a girl is born, the reaction is very different. Some women weep when they find out their baby is a girl because, to them, a daughter is just another expense. Her place is in the home, not in the world of men. In some parts of India, it's traditional to greet a family with a newborn girl by saying, 'The servant of your household has been born (source).'"  How sad and infuriating is that? Doesn't that make you angry? The idea that women are inferior to men is a dangerous misconception. So what makes it 'dangerous.' Think about a dowry. Isn't it a lot like paying someone for the inconvenience of your daughter? A lot like, "Oh, I'll pay you to take her off my hands."? It is estimated that 5,000 women in India are killed in dowry related incidents every year. Woah. How wrong is that? I don't understand that at all. I can't. How do you feel about abortion? How do you feel about gender selective abortions? In the city of Jaipur, India there are 2 million people and each year there are 3,500 gender selective abortions. That means that 3,500 fetuses are murdered each year just because they are female. Whatever your view on abortion is.... that is WRONG. Doesn't that make you angry? Did you know that women own only 1% of farmland but they produce 50% of all produce. What does that say about our value? We're allowed to work the land but not own it. And gender discrimination doesn't stop there. Three women are murdered every day in Pakistan in an honor killing. They are killed because they brought 'dishonor' on their families. Often times they dishonored their family when they were raped. For example a young 16 year old mentally handicapped girl was raped in Pakistan in 1999. Since she brought shame upon her tribe she was sentenced to be executed. That is injustice. Is your heart broken yet? I bet this story will do you in. In Tamil Nadu, India a women named  Lakshmi killed her own daughter. She made her baby girl drink sap from an oleander bush mixed with castor oil until she died. The death must have been extremely painful because the poor girl was bleeding from her nose as she died. Lakshmi explained her reasoning for the murder. She said, "A daughter is always liabilities. How can I bring up a second? Instead of her suffering the way I do, I thought it was better to get rid of her (source)." The third Millenium Development Goal by the United Nations is gender equality. They have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. Psalm 139:13-16 says, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." This tells us that God designed us. He created us special. He chose our gender--on purpose. He made us exactly the way He wanted us to be and it is our duty to ensure that women of all ages realize their WORTH. So let's say hypothetically, that the church got involved. Let's say they discipled families and gave women back their value. What if we as Christians demonstarted how women should be treated? What if the governments of devolping countries defended their women? What if they abolished unjust laws and punishments like the honor killings in Pakistan? What if media and the arts got involved and inspired women to stand up for themselves and demand the respect they deserve? Loren Cunningham (founder of Youth with a Mission) wrote a book called Why Not Women. I've never read it but I'd like to. It's about how God uses women specifically to further His kingdom. Women were created special and unique and it's all part of God's design. We were created to serve God in our own feminin way. And that's GOOD. I'll leave you with a video by the Girl Effect. It's an organization dedicated to eradicating poverty and changing the world by working with GIRLS. It gets me so excited. It's creative and inovative and down right AWESOME.

     “Girls are like slugs. They serve some purpose but it's hard to imagine what.”-Calvin and Hobbes

She needs to know that was created in the image of God.