A TRIP to rural India exploring the link between gender and poverty has reignited Archdeacon Joanne Grenfell’s passion to energise our churches to be the change they want to see in their communities.

Shobanna, who is now earning a living wage thanks to the work of the Green Women’s Collective of Palakkad District Kerala

Joanne, the Archdeacon of Portsdown, was one of eight leading Church of England women clergy to spend a week living alongside families, whose income is less than £4 per day, cooking, cleaning, caring for children and even delivering a new-born calf.

Organised by Christian Aid, the trip was to examine how deeply entrenched attitudes about the roles of women and men lead to women losing out.

Half of the world’s population are women, yet, shockingly they make up the majority of those living in absolute poverty.

In South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, more than 80 per cent of women work in vulnerable employment, while worldwide, time spent by women on unpaid care work can be more than ten times that of men.

In addition, 35 per cent of women around the world will experience sexual violence or violence perpetrated by a partner.

Joanne said: “We could see in the daily lives of women and men, whose homes were generously shared with us, the challenges of living in exclusion and poverty.

“Being female is the single most important factor in economic, educational, and physical wellbeing: because women and girls in communities like those where we stayed lack access to employment, schools, health care, finance, and transport, they are hugely disadvantaged.

“We saw many of these challenges – though many are hidden – but we also saw signs of hope: women, aided by development organizations, who had set up their own production companies, tackled infant malnutrition, trained themselves in plumbing skills in order to bring water safely to their villages, and taken on roles in public and political life.

“They were an inspiration. We were welcomed with open arms, and shown the best of hospitality from the families with whom we lodged.

“Having returned to the UK, I am left with a sense of renewed vision to play my part in helping the church speak prophetically about the inequalities which surround us, and in energising our local churches to reach out beyond their walls to be agents of transformation in their communities.”

Josh Levene, Christian Aid’s corporate gender advisor, said the trip underlined the organisation’s commitment to creating a global faith movement for gender equality.

“Faith leaders have a critical role to play in tackling the root causes of gender inequality. They are able to challenge and change beliefs, attitudes and behaviours that make discrimination a daily experience.

“So often religion is seen as supporting gender injustice but when faith leaders speak out, real change is made possible and the lives of women can be transformed.”