Archbishop Desmond Tutu – “It’s stupid for us to sideline Women!”

It is “stupid” to sideline women, says Archbishop Desmond Tutu

It does not make sense to sideline women who make up over 50 per cent of the world population.

That’s what Archbishop Desmond Tutu said at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Thursday where he participated in the observance of the first International Day of the Girl Child.

UNITED NATIONS / WASHINGTON: South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu said Thursday he was “devastated” by the Taliban’s shooting of Malala Yousufzai, who had campaigned for girls’ rights to education.

“I can’t imagine how anyone can justify maiming a child for what they consider political reasons, because they want women to be subjugated,” he said at a press conference here.

Archbishop Tutu said that it is only in recent times that women have been recognized as being as capable as men in holding office or leading religious orders.

“There has been a great deal of injustice done to more than 50 per cent of the world’s population. And we need to do something about it. I mean it’s stupid! It’s stupid for us to sideline 50 per cent! What is wrong with your mathematics? Fifty per cent you shove to the side. It doesn’t make sense at all!”

Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu explains how manmade customs need to be changed in order to include the talents of women and girls. He is a proud supporter of Women and Girls Lead — a Public Media initiative designed to focus, educate, and connect audiences worldwide through film.

About Women and Girls Lead

Women and girls everywhere are stepping into leadership roles, working to improve their communities, and innovating in science, the arts, business, and governance. Yet there is still much to do to deliver on the promise of equal access, justice, and opportunity for women and girls worldwide. Women and Girls Lead is a strategic media initiative to support and sustain a growing movement to empower them, their communities, and future generations.

Learn more at womenandgirlslead.org

Bishop Desmond Tutu was born in 1931 in Klerksdorp, Transvaal. His father was a teacher, and he himself was educated at Johannesburg Bantu High School. After leaving school he trained first as a teacher at Pretoria Bantu Normal College and in 1954 he graduated from the University of South Africa. After three years as a high school teacher he began to study theology, being ordained as a priest in 1960. The years 1962-66 were devoted to further theological study in England leading up to a Master of Theology.

From 1967 to 1972 he taught theology in South Africa before returning to England for three years as the assistant director of a theological institute in London. In 1975 he was appointed Dean of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg, the first black to hold that position. From 1976 to 1978 he was Bishop of Lesotho, and in 1978 became the first black General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches. Tutu is an honorary doctor of a number of leading universities in the USA, Britain and Germany.

Desmond Tutu has formulated his objective as “a democratic and just society without racial divisions”, and has set forward the following points as minimum demands:

1. equal civil rights for all
2. the abolition of South Africa’s passport laws
3. a common system of education
4. the cessation of forced deportation from South Africa to the so-called “homelands”

The South African Council of Churches is a contact organization for the churches of South Africa and functions as a national committee for the World Council of Churches. The Boer churches have disassociated themselves from the organization as a result of the unambiguous stand it has made against apartheid. Around 80 percent of its members are black, and they now dominate the leading positions.