Women’s concerns nationally and globally and gender issues within church structures emerged as two areas the Executive Council’s Committee on the Status of Women will concentrate on this triennium.

“We are keeping an eye on the church,” noted committee member the Rev. Canon Mary June Nestler of Utah. Of the scriptural reference, ‘if you are faithful in a little, you’re faithful in a lot,’ Nestler said, “When you are working on a small corner of this, you are doing it all.”

Bringing awareness to women’s ministries “frames” the work and ministry of the church, noted the Rev. Catherine Munz, committee chair and rector of St. Brendan’s, Pittsburgh, Pa. “One of the things I’ve learned from living in the Diocese of Pittsburgh is that framing piece.”

All Commissions, Committees and Boards (CCABs) of the Episcopal Church met in initial organizational gathering in Chicago, Nov. 15-18, 2006. Munz is the appointed chair of the Committee on the Status of Women for the triennium, the Very Rev. Cynthia L. Black, dean of the Cathedral of Christ the King, Kalamazoo, Mich., was elected vice chair, and the Rev. Thomas B. Woodward, Santa Fe, N.M., secretary.

Twelve areas emerged as focus priorities, divided between national/international concerns and internal church structure issues.
National/international areas include:

1) Human trafficking, an increasing global crisis
2) Girl-child and women’s education and Millennium Development Goals (MDG)
3) United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, (UNCSW) Beijing Circles
4) Sex education
5) Immigration issues and concerns

Church structure areas include:

1) Respond to the Windsor Report discussion as it impacts women
2) Explore partnerships with groups such as Episcopal Relief and Development, Anglican Women’s Empowerment (AWE) Beijing Circle, International Anglican Women’s Network (IAWN)
3) Examine deployment issues as they relate to women in the Episcopal clergy system
4) Support bishops who are women at Lambeth Conference
5) Respond to Lambeth Conference issues
6) Study statistics and demographics relating to gender equality for women in the Episcopal Church (Resolution D024)
7) Follow up on Imagine Conference (the first conference directed at priests who are women which met at Kanuga, N.C., fall, 2006)

Partnering on topics of shared concerns with some of the 25 other boards, committees and commissions that gathered at this joint meeting is high on the committee’s efforts to provide the most effective use of resources, wisdom, shared knowledge and energy and bring its voice to the church.

Human trafficking, one of the fastest growing areas of international criminal activity, according to the United Nations, is an area of concern the Status of Women will continue to address. Carried over from the last triennium, the committee, through work by Munz and the Rev. Canon Mary Moreno Richardson, provided an initial study guide sent to all congregations across the church last summer. Trafficking, a form of modern day slavery, primarily targets women and children, and will be a topic shared with the Standing Commissions of Anglican and International Peace and Justice and National Concerns.

Following a full day of anti-racism training with the more than 350 CCAB members,
the committee met to address its agenda and discuss it with Episcopal Church staff of the Office of Women’s Ministries, the Rev. Margaret Rose and Kim Robey.

Also meeting with the group, at times, were the Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bonnie Anderson, president of the House of Deputies, the Rev. Rebecca McClain, staff of the Church Deployment Office, and the Rev. Mike Kinman, executive director of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation. R.P.M. Bowden is appointed liaison to the Executive Council.

Ten of the 12 committee members were present at this organizing meeting. They agreed to study, address and engage in issues that point to policy and possibly programs to inform the church. The 12 subject areas emerged as a result of discussion and presentations at the three-day meeting.

With reduced budget, the committee is examining its meeting logistics and hopes to meet in April and November in 2007.

Munz and member Helena Mbele-Mbong, of Geneva, Switzerland, will join other Episcopal women to attend the United Nations Committee on the Status of Women In February and March, 2007.

General Convention formed the Committee on the Status of Women in 1988. It serves as an advisory committee to the Presiding Bishop, Executive Council and Women’s Ministries Office on issues affecting women.

Members are: The Rev. Catherine Munz (chair), the Very Rev. Cynthia L. Black (vice-chair), the Rev. Thomas B. Woodward (secretary), the Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus, R. P. M. Bowden, (Executive Council), the Rev. Nicole S. Janelle, Helena Mbele-Mbong, Sarah T. Moore, the Rev. Canon Mary June Nestler, the Rev. Canon Mary Moreno Richardson, Callie Swanlund and Martina Gardner Woods. Episcopal Church staff liaison: the Rev. Margaret Rose, Kim Robey.