The Church by and large has failed to have the right perspective concerning woman and the society in general. The same social evils are reflected in church, the same discrimination. towards the lower castes, classes and women. Those attitudes are reflected in all aspects of life-family relationship, marriage, appointments, social relationships, church affiliations etc.
All the traditional and cultural prejudices of the society have been adopted by the Christian community. The church policy is dominated by the elite sections of the Christian community. This strengthens the ideology of the powerful and the caste–class domination within the church. To this day, the church has not been able to do away with sexism within the church structure and in its thinking. Though there are many women who have made a mark in various fields including theological education, in the church they are not given adequate representation. They have been customarily given inferior positions even in religious orders, specially those from the lower-caste and class background. The Joint Women’s Program, therefore, cannot ignore the women in the church while it is concerned with women in general – especially those church women who are in the rural areas and urban slums. The organization of women in the church must have the twin objectives of involvement in the struggle of women in society and in the Church, However the JWP must avoid the trap of being confirmed to the elitist group of women in the church. Just as in the case of society in general, its thrust is towards the weaker sections of women in the grass-roots, in the church also its emphasis has to be on the majority of the women in the congregations who are poor, oppressed and powerless. This explains our emphasis in the various regions, where we are working with Christian women, more and more our conferences, training and action programs are through the regional languages at the grass-roots level around the issues that are of importance to them. At the same time we also work with more fortunate and educated among the women in the hope that they may gain the right perspective and become involved in the struggle for a community .
