The belief that men and women are created to support each other and live happily underscores the power of partnership, according to Akanisi Sobusobu Tarabe.
Ms Tarabe, from Wainika in Cakaudrove’s Tawake district, who attended a three-day GET (Gender & Equality Theology) workshop organised by House of Sarah at Vunaniu Village in Serua this week told the workshop this partnership not only enhances individual well-being but also fosters a deeper sense of fulfilment, companionship, and purpose in life.
“In this training, we focus on transforming gender norms through re-examining biblical interpretations,” Ms Tarabe told the gender and equality theology (GET) workshop at Vunaniu Village.
She said the workshop organiser, the House of Sarah, was concerned about rising statistics in gender-based violence and violence against women and girls.
“It keeps on rising? What can we do to stop this?”
“I just read the Prime Minister’s comments and the Minister for Women’s comments. They are so concerned about the three women dying in one weekend.”
Ms Tarabe said the House of Sarah takes the approach of gender equality theology.
“Through GET we re-examine, re-look at the traditional interpretation.
“And some traditional interpretations seem like they support violence against women.”
She cited the biblical interpretation that man was created first and woman later, therefore, women deserve to be violated, and “it was Eve who led the whole human race to its downfall from the perfect paradise they lived in”.
“You know how the Bible is central to us in Fiji, and whatever interpretations, we say that is what we embrace as something that’s immutable, that we cannot change.
“In Fiji, we are very religious. I am not just talking about Christianity, I am talking about Muslims, I am talking about Hindus. God is very important to all of us.
“And when we look at the statistics, it shows that the majority of those perpetrators in gender-based violence are Christians, they are iTaukei.
“So that’s quite a concern.”
She said God’s words were not the problem, rather how God’s words have been interpreted.
“The Bible has a lot of influences in the way we do gender norms, and we need to transform that. And that transformation can only happen when the mind is renewed and that renewal is by the Holy Spirit, the word of God.
“Without that there is no renewal of the mind. We just do the same thing over and over.”
She said men and women were created for a special purpose and that’s to love one another and recognise one another.
