On December 20, 2025, the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women will be 25 years old.
Since that time, measures have been adopted to try to curb violence against women, including shelters. However, the number of needed shelters has grown from 700 in 1974 to over 1200 in 1993, when the UN Declaration was issued. Shelters still turn thousands of women away because they are at capacity.
Today we observe continuing and growing violence against women, a massive backlash against these rights, rape as a tactic of war, failure to hold perpetrators accountable, imprisonment of women defending themselves against abusers, and the weaponization of some courts against these rights, as in Family Court abuses.
While many cultural institutions have taken measures to work against these abuses, one major sector has remained relatively silent or even continued to support abuses through patriarchy.
This sector is organized religion. We have seen progress in overcoming the misconception that human rights abuses are legitimate parts of culture or religion. Examples of efforts to remove these violations in culture or religions are honor killings, female genital mutilation , and slavery.
A continuum of religious dogmas continue to either not speak out against women’s inferiority or actively teach their obedience to men in the name of divine order. These practices undergird or promote the believe that men have a right to control women’s bodies by any means, including violence. They promote the belief that women are men’s property and that men are entitled to that property.
We are asking faith communities to acknowledge the truth of the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and speak out on the inherent equality-physical, mental, physical and spiritual-of women and promote their safety and dignity. In this way we intend that this powerful sector will result in reduction of women’s degradation in the world.