Persecution targets Christian women

Persecutors are not gender-blind. Maltreatment of women often includes sexual violence.

Stories on abductions of Christian girls in Nigeria and rapes and violence against their faith-sisters in Pakistan, has caused shock and resentment around the world. A newly released report made by Open Doors, document that there is a pattern behind the religiously related harassment of women. Christian women are more at risk for persecution than men. The persecution against women also takes other forms than the violence men are facing.

Sexual violence
According to the report from Open Doors, “Christian women are specifically and most frequently targeted through forced marriage, rape, and other forms of sexual violence.”

– Far from being gender-blind, persecution exploits all the available vulnerabilities that women have. The pressures faced by Christian women are twice as numerous as those experienced by Christian men, states the report.

The report underlines that the aim of the violence is to destroy the Christian community no matter what form the persecution it takes.

Disturbing
– It is deeply disturbing to consider that Christian women are exposed to nearly twice as many persecuting factors as men. I urge my colleagues, in Open Doors and everywhere, especially the men, to consider what more we can do to strengthen these persecuted women and push for the protection of the most vulnerable, such as widows, single women and girls. May God move us to pray more, speak up more and make such women a priority in the service we provide to the persecuted Church, says Dan Ole Shani, the CEO of Open Doors International, in an interview with Open Doors´ news agency, World Watch Monitor.

Read the full report from World Watch Monitor here.