The Beijing Platform for Action was adopted in 1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women. The platform includes 12 tenants that detail many of the issues that still need to be addressed for the advancement of women around the world. However one of the biggest challenges of the Platform is making it relevant to each of us, in our local communities and in our relationships with each other.  In order to make these issues relevant and real, the Beijing Circles movement was created by the Office for Women's Ministries at the Episcopal Church Center.

The Beijing Circles movement calls women and men into community with one another around the issues of the Beijing Platform. Formed around the imagery of the circle, with everyone equal and given equal voice, Beijing Circles are safe forums where women and men can meditate and learn more about the Millennium Development Goals and the tenants of the Beijing Platform. Beijing Circles make use of a printed resource that is available to the group so that the group can collaborate, support and advocate for the further advancement of women and their families in the US and throughout the globe.

The Beijing Circles resource is most easily thought of as a curriculum.  Yet in addition to having a curriculum where one is learning a pre-set content of ideas and points, the resource allows for individual additions and spiritual growth. Ideally a group is formed to have regular meetings and at each meeting, a story is read or told that reflects one of the issues in the Beijing Platform.  This story can be supplemented with individual stories from the group, such as an experience with violence towards women, or women in leadership positions. Then a related text might be read with time given for reflection and follow up questions to examine the call to action and our personal responses to the stories we hear. The resource functions as a guide, a foundation through which we can hear each other’s stories and the stories of women across the world. We are asked to listen, reflect, pray, and grow. Through this growth take our understanding out into the world to address issues of women's equality as a Church, a group, and as individuals.

The Beijing Circle resource allows for women and men to come together around these issues and understand them at a personal and spiritual level. Without hearing the stories of why these issues are important and relevant in the world, the work of the advancement of women based on the Beijing Platform is empty and faceless. The Beijing Circle resource provides a base through which these stories are heard, and where our own stories as women can be heard and shared and then taken out into the world for the good of others.

There are Beijing Circle groups already happening in many dioceses across the US.  More information about the Circle movement, the resource and the structure of the program can be found in the following places: http://www.beijingcircles.blogspot.com/ - with a link to download the resource. Give some thought to starting a circle for the women and men in your community.

Facebook – Search for Beijing Circles and become a fan.

Karen Longenecker, Diocese of San Diego

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