Living Behind the Veil

I'm often asked what I wear in Afghanistan and what it's like to wear a veil. It's freedom. Freedom to have a bad hair day, freedom to arrange my chadar to conceal the curve of my breasts and backside, freedom to not be an expatriate for a little while. It means freedom to hide even on the street from the Afghan men's eyes which seem to strip me naked.
When I relax my shoulders and walk less purposefully, less confidently, my eyes downcast and covered by sunglasses, I pass for an Afghan woman. I hear the men whisper in Dari, "Is she a foreigner or local woman?" I chuckle but am silent. On the street, I'm also a free target....freely exposed to groping, sexual innuendos whispered to me as a man bicycles by, free to have stones thrown at me, freely seen as no one's wife, daughter, sister, mother, friend, or boss. I step inside my gate, and remove my chapan and chadar. Now I'm someone's boss, motherhood returns to me as little steps run to greet me, and I receive a kiss from my adoring husband. Now I'm free to his loving and gentle eyes which know and enjoy my curves, free to once again be under the protective umbrella of being a wife, mother, friend, colleague, boss, niece, sister, daughter, woman.

Showing posts with label cross-cultural risk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cross-cultural risk. Show all posts

Friday, October 5, 2018

Sexual Harassment in Cross-Cultural Work

I think back to my earliest experience of sexual harassment.  A young man saw my fully-clothed-shadow through an opaque window and said something that caused me to jump in fright and sob for a full 2 hours afterward. I never forgot what he said and my response as a young teen girl.

I remember almost being raped...twice in Russia.

I remember how many times an Afghan man walked or bicycled by me on the street, whispering something inappropriate to me, just loud enough for me to hear but not loud enough for my husband to hear.

I remember the numerous times being brushed against on my backside or front side when in the bazaar, whether Bombay (Mumbai), Kabul, Islamabad, Peshawar, London.

I remember the time a single missionary colleague made a comment that made me incredibly uncomfortable. I told my husband and made sure to never be alone in the same room with that man again.

I remember how many times men's phone cameras were pointed in my direction.

I remember how many times the taxi driver stared at me while he drove. I made a point to always get in the side of the taxi where he couldn't easily see me in his rear view mirror and purchased mirrored sunglasses which I use to this day.  If the eyes are the window to one's soul, I wasn't going to let just any man look at my eyes.

I remember how many times I felt stripped naked by men's eyes walking the streets of Central Asia, and my sickness in my stomach when I saw them begin to look at my cute little 6 year old girl.

Sexual harassment was a regular, almost daily experience for all women on the street - expatriate and Afghan women.  It was one of our "low stress" risk experiences, because it was so common and so frequent we had to learn to deal with it in order to persevere.  And of course, the men who knew us, who we worked with, were not like that in the office.  It was a street and bazaar experience.

Of course we women all over the world experience sexual harassment, and much, much worse. See my blog post on Women's Bodies as Battlefield. 

It's the fruit of humankind choosing to go our own way, and the resulting millenia of war between men and women.

Not God's design or plan.

A right expectation of unregenerated mankind is that this abuse of women will continue, especially among unreached people groups, but even in the Paris subway.

What will it look like between us when His Kingdom comes in full? 

In a time in history when European and American women are speaking up about sexual harassment and abuse, it seems we are not equipping our young people at the pre-field level for the amount of sexual harassment they will experience whether on the subway in Paris or the bazaar of Afghanistan.

In many countries, no amount of speaking up, no amount of female empowerment, no amount of going to the police will really do anything other than to get the woman jailed and/or thrown out of the country (UAE, for example, among many, many other Arab/Muslim countries). We can pass all the laws we want. We can be like the French and make "wolf whistling" illegal. It's not going to change men's hearts and inner purity. 

That doesn't mean a woman shouldn't do something.  

I've been told recently by a team leader that her Millenials are not coming with resilience to deal with sexual harassment on the subway.  They are asking for trauma counseling after a man rubs up against her.  The female leader responded with some practical equipping: Step on his feet, and yell loudly at him to stop.

So again I ask, in the pursuit of giving our lives to furthering Christ's kingdom in dark areas, what will cause you to panic, to melt?

Here are some suggestions for what I did and many other women did in Afghanistan. Consider some of the following for Cross-Cultural Work (In cultures where local men do not know Christ):

1. Emotional Resilience and Perspective - being able to handle hardship without melting.  It doesn't mean you ignore sexual harassment, but it doesn't send you in to a total meltdown.  I'm talking about the everyday stuff here - a man rubbing against you, a wolf whistle, a look. Keep the harassment "outside" of your core.  Your body, while yours, is an objectified body, which means often the harassment is not personal, it's to your body, which doesn't Totally define YOU. You are more than your body. What they do to your body, they do to Christ's Body. It's wrong, and should not happen. 

2. Discernment between everyday type harassment and injurious harassment that requires trauma help, counseling, and further intervention. We would agree that if a rape occurs on field, it is often best to leave the field to get the necessary trauma and medical help.  There's a scale of sexual harassment - from the look all the way to the rape. 

3. A person to regularly "offload" the bad culture days - the days when you experience sexual harassment. As one veteran woman reminded me after I told her about one particular bad experience I had just had, she said, "Let it roll of your back."  Again, it was an experience with an Afghan man on the street - it would be a different response if it was a Christian man.

4. Physical Equipping  - my daughter will not leave my home when she is 18 without being skilled in this: Krav Maga Self Defense for women. I'm making sure to get this training (1-day) before my next international trip.   Get some pepper spray.  Learn to keep your keys and phone handy, with an emergency number typed in at the top of your phone list. Get a boat horn - noise will often make an attacker stop.

5. Practical Equipping - get the local women to tell you in local language what to say when a man harasses you on the street. My favorite line is said with dripping sarcasm and disrespect:  "You Son of A Donkey." If you forget your language in the stress of the moment, just say it in English (or your primary language) and they WILL understand. Non-verbals cross-culture.

In shame-honor cultures, use shame to your advantage.  "Don't you have a mother, a sister?" or "I'm a good Christian woman."  etc.

I quite often would scold Muslim men for how they were treating me.  Workers often use the "turn the other cheek" incorrectly.  Sometimes, often, we need to point out evil and injustice, if not for our own souls for our children watching.

Of course, do dress appropriately, but I quickly realized it truly didn't matter what I wore - on the street in Afghanistan, women are fair game, apparently.  So I veiled like the most conservative local women to minimize attention to myself.

If a situation seems to be moving into a rape situation, consider rebuking the demon of rape.  One of the 2 times I was almost raped this was what came to mind and worked. The other time I simply fled.

As far as dealing with Christian men:

6. Don't engage in Salem Witch Trials behavior - don't accuse men of sexual harassment for the slightest thing.  State your boundaries clearly and keep them. Keep a personal boundary around yourself with what you are comfortable.  You can do side hugs or just an outstretched hand.

7. Keep a detailed journal. If you are having problems with Christian men, Christian workers, keep a journal of details of what happened. THIS will help if/when you are in a court of law.

8. Do Speak up, and Do attempt to confront, Biblically. Get help if possible. Don't tolerate sexual harassment, abuse, or assault.  Some agencies now use "Red Flag Reporting" or some other ethic reporting service.

Don't confuse behavior from men who follow Jesus and unregenerated men in the cultures we are trying to reach. 

We women need to have a different standard of response to different men in different situations.

Learn to discern the difference, and what to do when you are treated wrongly by men who profess to follow Christ. This blog post is primarily focused on dealing with unregenerated men. If you are a woman headed into an abrasive culture, and you have sexual trauma in your past, consider if your are truly recovered enough to be able to handle it.  It's OK if you decide you can't.

I do know of one woman who had been severely raped prior to coming to the field, and she had recovered and had perspective that she was able to do very well in Afghanistan despite the challenges for women. It is possible to heal from sexual trauma, but don't "beat yourself up" if you realize you can't.  We are human beings and are limited.  Have compassion on yourself.

What we do and say and how we conduct ourselves communicates to the next generation of women how we view ourselves.

We are daughters of The King. 

Related Posts
Women's Bodies as Battlefield - conservative Evangelicals highest domestic violence rate in USA.
Christianized Purdah
#silence is not spiritual
response to #missionarywomentoo
#missionarywomentoo
What if the Good Samaritan was an Orthodox Sunni Muslim Woman?
Sexual Harassment in Cross-Cultural Work
Women with a Wartime Mentality
A Tribute to the Single Woman Missionary
Androcentric Translation: A Poem

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Faith Under Fire

One Sunday in 2017, Neal and I each gave the same sermon title, "Faith Under Fire."  The sermon was based on Exodus 17: 7-16.

We spoke at different venues on the same morning, and if you'd like to hear the differences between our teaching style, listen to both sermons here! :)

Friday, November 3, 2017

What Pierces Your Heart?

New Video/Audio teaching on Luke 2:25 and an invitation to join what God is doing globally, especially among Muslims.  You will be inspired to join His work!  Go to the Teaching page, or click the links below.

For the video, please contact me with a verifiable identity and I will send the link and password.

For Audio, simply click here. 

Make sure to follow along with the power point here. 

Let me know what God stirs in you!

--Anna

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Intuition in Risk: Can you Trust Your Gut? Part 1

Uncertainty, ambiguity, confusion, time-pressure, and continuous and sometimes direct threats - the cross-cultural risk environment is a shockingly difficult one to be immersed in, trying to do ministry (often complex projects in challenging environments) as well as manage a household, cook entirely from scratch, and raise a family, all in a foreign language and culture far away from family, with the goal of furthering the Good News.

Many times I had this secret question, "What's a nice girl like me from a farm in Minnesota doing here having to evaluate what Islamic militants will potentially do next and how can I protect my children?" College and pre-field did not prepare me for this!

Usually, a few things need to be in order almost immediately when faced with this environment:  Remembering one's calling, tools to navigate emotions (see Chapter 10 in Facing Danger), and then a good night's sleep so that decisions are made with one's best energy in the risk environment.

While we need to always be listening for the Holy Spirit's leading, the role of intuition, "a gut feeling," should not be dismissed.  There are some specific aspects to when we should "lean in" to what our intuition is telling us, and other situations when it would be less wise.

Firstly, listening to one's intuition does not mean that we can ignore responsible Risk Assessment and Management (RAM), also discussed in Facing Danger and elsewhere. This step cannot/should not be ignored simply as a stewardship principle and to responsibly be able to answer the partners and stakeholders back home, as well as God Himself when we see Him. 

Agility in decision making is an important skill in Risk decision making, although we can learn the RAM method quite fast and do it on the back of a napkin in order to "see" more clearly through all the ambiguity, confusion, and uncertainty of risk as described at the beginning.

(Neal and I have strong opinions on the importance of Agility in conducting RAM, because some of the software out there provided for leaders in cross-cultural risk is too difficult and time-consuming.  RAM needs to be able to be done by any of the 445,000 cross-cultural workers world wide.  A housewife should be able to do RAM based on the probability analysis of the 4 factors and taking into account the 6 pages of stewardship outlined in the RAM Action Guide.)

 But sometimes, we've done RAM analysis, we are listening to the Holy Spirit, but we still don't feel we have clear leading.  Then what?

This is where our intuition, our gut feeling may come in. Sometimes, intuition may lead us to make decisions that contradict our deliberate reasoning, and it turns out we were right in that case. Gut feelings enable us to make the quick decision that needs to be made. 

The Gaze Heuristic is often used in both baseball and in aviation.  This "rule of thumb" is defined in baseball as:  "Fix your gaze on the ball, start running, and adjust your running speed so that the angle of gaze remains constant."  In popular wisdom in the field, this concept would be implemented in evaluating one threat over another.  One legitimate threat may attract our attention, but sometimes, our gut will tell us we should be watching another one more closely.  The example used for this is the example of U.S. policy discussions:
When U.S. Senator Russ Feingold noted that the Bush administration was clamping down on Iraq while Al-Qaeda was bubbling up elsewhere, he said, "I would ask you, Secretary Wolfowitz, are you sure we have our eye on the ball?"
This would be a good rule of thumb to apply to the current cancerous spread of Jihadi cells around the world, especially in light of the recent killing in New York by the Uzbek Isis sympathizer.

The gaze heuristic (also called a gaze "rule of thumb) simplifies complex decision making and ignores an amazing amount of information to focus only one aspect of a decision rationale. This unconscious thought, or intelligence is when we make a judgment:
  1. That appears quickly in consciousness, 
  2. whose underlying reasons we are not fully aware of, and
  3. is strong enough to act upon. 

Gut feelings consist of simple rules of thumb which take advantage of the capacities of the brain. This approach to decision making helps when there isn't time to weigh all the pros and cons, and decisions need to be made in an extremely fluid environment (often the risk environment).  It also helps to simplify extremely complex problems and should not be dismissed, even by the most logical and trained folks in the group. But again, self-awareness is important here, especially so that one's emotions are taken into account.  Gut feelings are separate from our emotions, and are often unexplainable.

It's important to realize that making a gut decision is not usually acceptable in our agencies and even in a court of law. But everyone uses gut feelings, or "hunch," or just a "knowing," and this is clearly and scientifically proven to be different that the Holy Spirit's leading, because everyone has a gut feeling but not everyone has the Holy Spirit indwelling.

Part 2 - More on when to use Gut Feelings and when not to: Less is More:

This blog post based on Chapter 1 of "Gut feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious" by Gerd Gigerenzer.


Friday, October 27, 2017

Personality Type for RMT/CRT (Risk Management Teams and Crisis Response Teams)

It will come as a surprise to most that I do not feel I am the best suited person, personality-wise, to be a member of a Crisis Response Team, or even a Risk Management Team. I love writing about risk, researching risk, thinking through exegetically how the Bible can specifically help us address Cross-Cultural Risk analysis, management, as well as stewardship issues. I also love consulting on risk because it helps me think through another unique angle on a Theology of Risk and I get to hear what God is doing in another challenging situation to further His kingdom through His saints.

But when it comes to Crisis Management Teams, "that's a whole 'nother ballgame," as we like to say in America.

I recognize that there are few with my experiences and understand what is involved, so I have on occasion accepted to be part of a Crisis Management Team. Neal is really much better suited to this. Really, in the end, the reason we have RMT's and CMT's is because of threats against a team or individuals or because a field worker has been kidnapped or killed, or some other major risk event has taken place or is threatening to take place.

We do this difficult work for the love of our King and His saints serving in dangerous places. But there is wisdom in working to get the best team together for Risk and Crisis Management, and this includes self-awareness and awareness of the personality mix of the individuals and the RMT/CMT mix of folks.

Research has demonstrated fairly accurately the personality type best suited for Risk and Crisis Management and Leadership, and when I compare the results of the studies with those men and women who I have leaned on in crisis, they really match the following descriptions. 

How can you tell that a certain person has the personality type?  I know it when I see it, which really isn't helpful to everyone else.  But it's really a mysterious mix of calmness, reticence to speak until a certain amount of data has been gathered, decisiveness in ambiguity and total clarity of thought and purpose despite immense stress and pressure.

This person, at the exact same time all this is going on, is able to speak calmly and generally graciously but directly and with confidence. It is not more a male trait than female, but seems to be distributed in both genders.  The best Crisis Response Team member and leader is not typically an "A-Type" dominant leader, (usually not), and it is not always a phlegmatic personality, either.

Here are the brief conclusions from a study copied and pasted from this source: 

The results from this study suggest that personality assessment can make a useful contribution to identifying and selecting individuals that are most suited to crises management roles.
It can also help to provide individuals with a more detailed level of feedback in order to understand their own reactions and behaviors under challenging circumstances, and to inform future training programs.
The key areas to assess are:
  • Extraversion
  • Leadership
  • Group orientation
  • Emotional stability
Those that are socially confident, influential and comfortable taking the lead are most likely to perform well in crisis situation. Being able to communicate and work well in a team is critical to managing crisis situations, as well as remaining calm under stressful circumstances.
 In addition, other important areas to assess are:
  • Ease in decision making
  • Work pace
In a crisis, the situation can change at a very rapid pace.
New information can arrive at any time, which may change the course of action that needs to be taken and shifting work force allocation. Individuals need to be able to assimilate this information and make decisions that could have far reaching consequences in a short space of time.
Some unexpected results that emerged from the study were:
  • Variety seeking
  • Conscientiousness (low)
During a crisis, the situation may be changeable and  ambiguous.
Therefore individuals that are able to cope with ambiguity and change maybe more effective during a crisis. Individuals that have a high need to follow rules and be supervised, may find managing a crisis more challenging.
Those that are too analytical may also find emergency situations challenging – overall too much conscientiousness could get in the way – certainly in emergency situations.

References and further reading:

Choi, J. N., Sung. Y. S. & Kim, M. U. (2010). How groups react to unexpected threats? Crisis Management in Organizational Teams. Social Behavior and Personality, 38 (6), 805-828.
Flin, R. & Slavin, G. (1994). The selection and training of offshore installation managers for crisis management. Health and Safety Executive – Offshore Technology Report, OTH 92 374.
Seeger, M. W., Sellnow, T. L. and Ulmer, R. R. (1998). Communication, organization and crisis. Communication Yearbook 21: 231–275.

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Unhelpful Things People Say in Risk #7

This series is based on real statements actually heard in risk situations.

#7 "This Too Shall Pass."

A worker is sharing a risk situation with a veteran on the field or supporter back home, not knowing what to do, and receives this response, "This too shall pass." Being on the receiving end of this statement, a "tape" of synonymous thoughts implied by this statement begin playing in my head:
  • "I'm making too big of a deal about the risk, threat, danger - whatever it is that is causing my anxiety.
  • "I'm being weak, not strong like the other person, because clearly that threat isn't bothering them.
  • "I'm reading the situation wrong"
  • "I would know this if I had been here as long as him/her.

I've always found Daniel 4:3 to be so inspiring and calming - God's Kingdom will go on forever and ever. It helps me to keep my eyes up to know that one day, all will be made right.  But it still doesn't answer the urgent question, the urgent demand, of knowing what to do TODAY.

There are no guarantees that "it shall pass," so it seems a bit condescending and arrogant to suggest that one knows this.

As with all the previous unhelpful statements discussed, a worker needs help in discernment and decision making when they share.  Giving a trite statement like this is really self-serving for the individual saying it, and is slothfulness of soul because there is an unwillingness to really help the worker sort through what is the risks, dangers, threats.

Let's be the spiritual mothers and fathers needed by all those serving in dangerous places and graciously and humbly help those trying to work out what it means to persevere in hard situations.


Go To:
Unhelpful Things People Say in Risk #6

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Sloth In The Soul


"There is an evil which most of us condone and are even guilty of: indifference to evil. We remain neutral, impartial, and not easily moved by the wrongs done to other people. Indifference to evil is more insidious than evil itself; it is more universal, more contagious, more dangerous. A silent justification, it makes possible an evil erupting as an exception becoming the rule and being in turn accepted."(1)

"Patience, a quality of holiness, may be sloth in the soul when associated with a lack of righteous indignation."(2)

Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7, 8 states, "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: ...a time to keep silence and a time to speak, a time to love, and a time to hate."

The Oxford Dictionary defines "Sloth" as "Reluctance to work or make an effort; laziness."

One saint defined sloth as this:
 "sluggishness of soul or boredom because of the exertion necessary for the performance of a good work. The good work may be a corporal task, such as walking; or a mental exercise, such as writing; or a spiritual duty, such as prayer."(3)

"Man's sense of injustice is a poor analogy to God's sense of injustice. The exploitation of the poor is to us a misdemeanor, to God, it is a disaster Our reaction is disapproval; God's reaction is something no language can convey." (4) 

In other words, maturity and deep discernment in Christ results in righteous anger and just action in the face of evil, not patience and apathy. The opposite of sloth is passion of the soul that feels what God feels. It takes work to sift through our emotions and it is uncomfortable to examine our own souls. Are we being slothful of soul in the face of evil?

We live in a time when more clearly than ever wherever terrorists strike, there is a parallel movement of the Spirit happening. Reading the news with spiritual eyes takes a combination of research and hunting - we need to sign up for missionary prayer letters and search the private blogs to learn what God is doing all over the world. 

There were two terror attacks in downtown London in 2 weeks time. After the 2nd one, I kept asking myself - what is going on in London that this happened? After doing very little research on Google, I quickly was reminded that London is the base for the largest seminary training of Iranian pastors.  These terrorist attacks around the world seem random and coincidental, but actually mirror the reality of the spiritual war between God and His enemy. 

Are our hearts broken by the suffering of the Yazidi people?  While we need to pray and work to stop terrorism, and evil doers need to caught and jailed, at the same time we also know of ISIS soldiers coming to Christ.  I hear of pagans taking in refugees and helping them make a new life. Are Christians taking in Muslim refugees to help them? What about the Ethiopian Christians being placed in horrible concentration camps - this news goes unreported in the main media. I wonder sometimes, are we, the modern day church so racist that we just don't pay attention to what happens to our black brothers and sisters? 

Lord have mercy on them. Lord, have mercy on us.  

The way to break the sin cycle of slothfulness of soul, of indifference and apathy is to repent and ask for God's help.  We are to love others as we love ourselves.  Sloth is pure selfishness and self-idolatry.  This is why we need to repent. Then we need to regularly read and hear stories and cultivate awareness of what horrors others are experiencing and what God is doing to demonstrate His faithfulness in our day.  The opposite of slothfulness is work, and this includes the work we need to do in our souls to feel what God feels, to see what God sees (Divine seeing),  to be angry in the way God is angry, and to love passionately all those He loves.

Praying through the news helps us to empathize with those suffering and we begin to cultivate a Divine perspective on the human situation around the world.  Slothfulness of soul is a particularly American Church sin.  We are an adolescent church that doesn't know what it is to suffer or risk our lives to the point of death.  

The problems the American church argues over are 1st world church problems, issues that we do not have the luxury of discussing when we are in a "fox hole" engaging in the front-line battle for the souls of men, women, boys and girls. 

I plead with our generation to engage in the cosmic battle and become alert to the battle in our souls and for our souls. Slothfulness is a highly effective strategy of the enemy to blind us to what is truly happening in the world.  May we become God's voice, hands and feet to minister to all those who have no voice to cry out against the evils being done to them. May we have holy unrest because of all those who still have yet to hear. 

Resources Cited: 
(1, 2, 4) Abraham Heschel - The Prophets
(3) - The Three Ages of the Interior Life

Friday, March 3, 2017

Psalm 62 - Audio Teaching: Cultivating Silence and Becoming Unshaken

Recently, I taught on Psalm 62 in Cappadocia at a ladies retreat. These two audio recordings are now available on the Bible Teaching page. 

Listening for God when surrounded by Overwhelming Need and Uncertainty

"Jesus Christ is alive and here to teach his people himself.
His voice is not hard to hear; his vocabulary is not difficult to understand. But learning to listen well and to hear correctly is no
small task."

Richard Foster, Sanctuary of the Soul

Unshaken! In the Face of Unrelenting Violence and Evil

Both of these are an internal heart posture that can be developed within us.  What happens for you as to listen for God and consider your own resiliency and steadiness during uncertain and challenging times?

Psalms 62 - Perhaps these teachings will provoke some questions you’ve not considered in awhile, perhaps unlock some place you’ve been stuck.

What you won’t hear is a simple 3-step solution, a moralistic message on what you need to do right or more of.....Sometimes, the question IS the answer – because He wants us to sit with it for awhile.


Wednesday, February 8, 2017

White Male Effect (WME) and Cross-Cultural Risk Perception


Introduction
There are numerous secular studies on gender and socio-economic differences of risk perception.  A cursory examination will help us in the spiritual endeavor of cross-cultural risk understand how to apply some of this awareness in a wise way as we assess risk as a team in a dangerous, front-line environment.

The goal of this article is to elevate unity and more effective communication between genders and international teams as we work for a common eternal purpose.  Any time we can increase personal awareness of the individual, it will help us understand others better. This reflects the Trinity, as we seek to understand and know ourselves and each other more deeply. We love more deeply that and whom we know.

It is important to only cautiously make generalizations of risk perception between gender and culture groups.  More research and clear methodology of research needs to be done (by those in the clinical mental-health fields).  When using secular research on risk, only some of the research is really helpful to our purpose.  We need to carefully weigh the strengths and weaknesses of that data. Sometimes I re-word the research quotes in order to make it more understandable for the rest of us!

As I often repeat in our RAM Training, the secular research on risk began looking at business and gambling risk, although now it is much more broad and includes many of the modern-day risks we all face as a global family.  So we have to take the data with "a grain of salt" since we are engaged in what is clearly a high-risk endeavor but we do have the power of the Holy Spirit Who helps us to respond differently then all the data can possibly predict!

Additionally, more research on analyzing the secular data and applying it is a skill of analysis and synthesis. I welcome critical feedback on where I have wrongly interpreted and applied the psychological research.

Studies on WME
In general, numerous studies suggest that white males tend to rate risk lower, and less problematic than women and all other culture groups.1  Women in general feel more vulnerable in risk,2  especially in types of risk where there are social inequalities and where the "less powerful" are more subject to risk.  This seems to fit the scenario for men and women where Christ-following foreigners are living in a hostile extremist environment!

Men who rate risk lower than others:

"tend to be better educated, had higher household incomes, and were politically more conservative. They showed greater trust in authorities and institutions, were anti-egalitarian and did not want to share [power to make decisions on risk with the general public.]"3

Being anti-egalitarian is especially problematic in the mission field and Church. More women are serving as missionaries then men (see the discussion at the bottom on this debated statistic).4  Males in leadership demonstrate wisdom to listen to their teammates with humility because human lives are at stake in the risk situation.  The Biblical principle of stewardship of Kingdom resources means that we carefully listen to both men and women who are risking their lives on the field.

Historically, white males have generally experienced less vulnerability and perceive less injustice in their experience, thus rate risks lower than all other groups. Gender and to a lesser extent race, remains a robust predictor of risk perception.5

Another thesis on differences in risk perception are related to perceived power, control, and vulnerability.

"This thesis would suggest the gender and race differences that are regularly found in risk perception originate not just because of substantive differences in power to control risk but also because people with less power over risks feel more likely to be at risk and feel risk to be inequitably distributed" (Satterfield, et al., 2004). 

There are several influencing factors to consider when evaluating a team's response to risk and their readiness to remain in or press forward in cross-cultural risk.

Factors to consider are a person's perceived vulnerability as well as exposure to a risk and their perceived lack of power or control over the risk and outcome will cause them to rate risks much higher than others (with more power and control).

Researchers are trying to look at causes other than the White Male Effect (WME). Is it possible that gender differences are less significant than social inequity? When one group of researchers looked at this in Sweden (Olofsson and Rashid, 2011), they found that

"Ethnicity serves as a marker of inequality and discrimination in Sweden. Consequently, ethnicity, in terms of foreign background, mediates inequality resulting in high risk perception."6

This only confirms what we already know and experience on a daily basis - we feel at higher risk being a foreigner in a strange land!  I am much better educated as a white woman, having 4 degrees, but as a minority foreigner living in a Muslim extremist culture, I definitely feel much more at risk in general. I appreciate this scientific research by psychologists and Dr. Breakwell who makes it understandable for me, but sometimes I just want to say, "Of course! I didn't need research to tell me that!"

A person's perceived vulnerability is evaluated both in how they are handling it mentally and materially.  Mental vulnerability can be explored in dialogue, helping someone evaluate their self awareness of their anxiety level.  It also incorporates discussion on exposure to multiple stressors over time.  A sense of vulnerability is increased when being subject to multiple stressors and hazards.

This is similar to stress resiliency training, where we teach front-line workers that "stress is accumulative." In the same way, it seems that the feeling of vulnerability is also cumulative: exposure to multiple streams of hazards (threat of kidnapping, murder, robbery, rape, sexual abuse on the street, etc) at one time wear a person down and cause them to feel more vulnerable in general.

Some Beginning Application for Cross-Cultural Risk
The issue of gender on risk perception impacts risk decision-making, communication, and risk management. Becoming aware of the background factors of how people perceive the level of risk will help us to ask better questions of one another.  Leaders who are aware of these issues will actually cause their teams to have increased trust in their leadership, simply by taking the time to listen to the fears and the perceived level of risk, and not dismissing it.

When I shared about the WME with a group of white male missionaries in October 2016, I asked them what suggestions they have for other white men about addressing this issue.  They promptly responded with: "Include women and other nationalities in the risk assessment and mitigation."

As a woman regularly living in a risk situation with children, I would add the following: It is easy to respond to someone's feeling of vulnerability and anxiety in risk with facts, figures, and a rational danger response.  I would encourage leaders, whatever color and gender they are, to listen well and be slow to try to "fix" the other person, even when you disagree with the risk perception they are sharing. As a leader, it is important to listen for the underlying fear, but also for their intuition, and for the Holy Spirit's voice through those He has given you to shepherd and lead through risk.

1. Breakwell, Glynis. The Psychology of Risk. 72.  
2. Ibid., 74
2. Ibid., 73. 
4.  Barret and Johnson's report suggests otherwise, but see the discussion here. I would concur that Barret and Johnson's findings do not seem to be consistent with the anecdotal evidence. It would be helpful to know how they calculate there are more men then women on the mission field, as that number does not seem accurate historically or today. See their report and the discussion here: http://oscaractive.ning.com/forum/topics/shocking-mission-statsfacts 

http://www.gordonconwell.edu/ockenga/globalchristianity/resources.php
Farther down on the Oscar page, Marti Smith pasted in a portion of an article she wrote on men and women on the mission field. Marti Smith said:
In many places and kinds of work there are many more women than men... but if you add together all kinds of missionaries everywhere the trend is not so strong, as Mike points out. Wonder how they get those figures? But here are some more anecdotal things I used in a paper on the topic.
A. The Significant Presence of Women in Missions
In spite of the challenges women in many times and places have faced by following God’s call in missions, they have followed him in numbers. By 1910 more women than men were serving in missions. (1) In the coming years the numbers of women would continue to climb until women in some areas outnumbered men by 2:1. (2) Statistical studies on the topic are few, but one in the late 1980s, a survey of 19 mission agencies representing 20,333 missionaries, showed that 56 percent of them were women, with unmarried women outnumbering unmarried men six to one. (3) A more recent report, from 2002, found that some 54 percent of Southern Baptists’ 5,241 missionaries were women, about a fourth of them single. (4)
In short-term missions as well as in situations that are considered too dangerous to send families, including many areas with a Muslim majority, the foreign mission force is composed largely of workers who are single, and a majority of these laborers are women. Representatives of Frontiers, which works solely in the Muslim world, report that they are seeing women respond to the call in great numbers. In 2002 women comprised 75 percent of their short-term team applicants. (5)
Anecdotal evidence produces similar numbers. In a 2002 personal interview, a woman working with Operation Mobilization reported that of the 100 people working with her agency in one Asian country, 60 were women and 40 were men; and in ratios that seem fairly typical, these included 35 married couples, 25 single women, and five single men. Colleagues currently studying in Yemen say the expatriate community in their city includes 26 couples, two single men, and 21 single women. We must conclude that women have a significant presence in the mission force: not that of a minority, but a majority.

(1) Ruth Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya (Grand Rapids: MI, 1983), p. 232.
(2) Tucker, p. 232.
(3) Howard Erickson, “Single Missionary Survey,” Fundamentalist Journal, January 1989, p. 27, cited in John Piper’s Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1991), p. 23. The foreword to this book, which addresses single men and women, includes some very helpful thinking on the topic of singleness and includes thoughts from a number of single missionaries throughout history.
(4) Mary Jane Welch, “Obedient and Faithful,” The Commission 65:5 (July-August 2002), p. 8. Also available at www.archives.tconline.org/Stories/JulyAug02/obedient.htm. The Commission is the magazine of the International Missions Board, the mission of the Southern Baptist Convention. Most of the articles in this issue deal with missionary women serving in challenging mission fields.
(5) Frontiers, www.frontiers.org, accessed March 15, 2004.

5. Ibid., 74. 
6. Ibid., 75

Monday, January 30, 2017

Unhelpful Things People Say in Cross-Cultural Risk #1


This series is based on real statements really heard in risk situations.




"I'm ready to be blown up."

Background:


A young father shares his concerns about the current threat level against the international church. The leader responds with, "I'm ready to be blown up."  This leader fits Risk Myths #7, 8, 13, and 14. This leader did not "feel" the threats, and felt he was ready, as a man who had raised his children, that he was ready to be blown up should the building be attacked one Sunday. The leader truly may be ready, but the young father did not feel cared for, and went to another person to share his fears.

How would you have responded to this father's fears?

If it would have been with a Bible verse, that's called a "conceptual response."  The young, concerned father already knows those verses. If it would have been a statement like the one above, implying that the elder had counted the cost but the young father had not, again, it does not address the situational issue of counting the cost of attending church with little ones who have no choice in the matter.

As a leader or member care personnel, we need to be more discerning of what people are trying to communicate by "reading between the lines." Meaning: the underlying issues of the surface statements.

A situational response is what was called for here. There was a direct threat against the church, thus, a very specific risk situation.  The outcome could have been different if the leader had drawn the young father out, asked him to share more about his fears, addressed what mitigation had been done and was planned for by the church, and what more felt needs the young father was aware he had, then the conversation would not have been passed on.

The father could have felt cared for by the leaders of the church, which would have lowered his anxiety and fear level, thus increasing his resiliency in an increasing risk situation, so that the strategic work could continue to be effective as the father was encouraged and could demonstrate joy in a dangerous situation for his family and those he was leading.


Risk Myth 13 and Risk Myth 14 are available here.
Go to Unhelpful Things People say in Risk #2