The Fear of Forced Marriage
The way men and women experience persecution differs based on their cultural gender norms. For 5 years, Open Doors has been researching these geneder-specific religious persecution trends. While men are targeted as financial providers and leaders, women are targeted as honor-bearers of the family and as wives and mothers. This type of persecution takes advantage of gender norms in attempt to weaken the Christian community.
Persecution of Christian women and girls targets them as sexual objects;. Women’s bodies are assaulted and controlled to shame families and communities. Unfortunately, sexual violence and forced marriages are among the main forms of persecution women face.
Jyoti – Secret believer in India
After Jyoti came to Christ, persecution was quick to follow. She was brutally beaten and openly humiliated by extremists in her community.
Following this incident, her family wanted to cut ties with her completely. They found a non-Christian man and married her off.
They warned her that she should never disclose her faith or practice it again. Now married to a non-Christian, and living in fear, Jyoti is a secret believer.
She took her parents’ advice and does not talk about Christ to anyone for fear of being thrown out of the house, as she once was.
Jyoti’s situation is diffuculy, she needs your prayers.
Lucina – A Christian Recovering from Forced Marriage
Lucina didn’t choose to get married when she was 19. She was studying to become a doctor. When a girl asked if she’d like to come home to study with her, Lucina agreed and got in the car.
The offer turned out to be a trap. Lucina was drugged by her ‘friend’, she woke up she was trapped in a forced marriage to the girl’s brother, Yutas.
Several months later, she managed to find a phone and call for help. When the police rescued her from imprisonment she was malnourished, bruised – and pregnant.
Her brother Salam says, “She was almost dead. Even we could not recognize her at first glance. All her bones could be seen. She was not even able to stand and walk properly.”
Lucina’s life-changing ordeal was a punishment for her faith in Christ.
Lucina says, “Everything happened just because my family is Christian. We love Jesus. And I paid the most for it.”
*Representative photo*
Yutas was arrested for rape and eventually imprisoned. Lucina’s abusers intended to harm her family’s reputation. Yet her fathers, Boutros’ unquestioning acceptance of his ‘shamed’ daughter is testimony to the character of God.
Local culture demands a father reject an abused daughter, yet Boutros has welcomed Lucina and her newborn son back into their home. He has directed the ‘shame’ towards the perpetrator, pursuing justice for his daughter in the courts. The aim of the forced marriage was to end Boutros’ ministry, instead, he has shown the community a powerful witness of God’s love and acceptance.
Gender-Specific Persecution
The stories of these women represent thousands of Christian women who are forced into marriage as a form of extreme persecution every year. The reasons behind a forced marriage can vary, but regardless of why it happens, it’s a common and painful form of persecution.
Sadly, their experience is part of a trend: The 2022 Gender Specific from Open Doors shows that in many parts of the world, sexual violence and forced marriage continue to be used as tools to shame Christian women and girls, to punish female converts and to restrict the growth of the church. To help prepare Christians for this gender-specific persecution, Open Doors runs the Restorations project – helping churches and communities to stand strong and bringing a biblical perspective on men and women.
Please Pray
Pray for Lucina and Jyoti by name.
Jyoti: “ I cannot forget what I have face and I still live in fear. Pray for me that I maybe able to get over the past and bring the gospel to this family one day.”
Lucina: “Pray for me. I need protection and I am trying to forget everything. Pray that everything will be okay again, though I know it is hard. I am concentrating on my studies for now.”
