Women in the Window tout 'joy'

The friends and supporters of women's rights and protection gathered for the annual Palm Beach luncheon of Women in the Window International, a faith-based global women's empowerment organization.

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The 'Jubilant Joy" event took place Nov. 16 at the Sailfish Club.

Christy Brady Janssen and Jean Bowen-Smith were honorary chairwomen for the event, which included a reception, silent auction, luncheon and keynote speaker Cherifa, from the WiW's Middle East mission area.

Cherifa, a North African woman who for security reasons uses only her first name in public, left her native country in 2019 after the Islamic government banned Christian gatherings and persecuted Christians. When she and others refused to leave their church, the military forced them out.

Cherifa described how women in her country are oppressed on many levels. They are required to ask permission to visit their families, obtain medical care and more. For more than 10 years, Cherifa and other women in the Islamic world received WiW training in personal and family health, leadership, trauma healing, Bible study and mirobusiness.

She uses her training to teacher other women in her underground church and described WiW as a pioneer of women’s training throughout the North African and Middle Eastern nations.

Women in the Window focuses on the oppression of women and girls in the "10/40 window," a geographical region located 10 degrees to 40 degrees latitude north of the equator, spanning from the west coast of Africa to the east coast of Asia.

In the 10/40 window, women and girls are are frequently marginalized and considered less valuable than men, and thus deprived of education, professional opportunities, health care, proper nutrition and basic human rights . They are subject as well to atrocities such as genital mutilation and dowry deaths, according to the organization.

More than 150 people attended.

Proceeds from the afternoon assist Women in the Window, a non-profit based in West Palm Beach that seeks to replace poverty and injustice with dignity and purpose in Christ for women in the 10/40 window.

Shannon Donnelly is the society editor and columnist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at sdonnelly@pbdailynews.com. Help support our local journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach Society: Luncheon helps fund global fight to protect women