Gender Equity and Reconciliation International (GERI) was founded by Rev. Cynthia Brix and William Keepin—an ordained interfaith minister and a mathematical physicist—who built a rigorous, spiritually grounded process for healing the oldest wound in the human family. Inspired by the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Truth and Reconciliation work pioneered by Archbishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa, GERI applies those same principles to gender injustice. Tutu himself endorsed GERI’s work in 2013, saying the organization “has done wonders in helping to recover the humanity of women,” and drawing a direct parallel to apartheid: “We have undermined our humanity by the treatment that we have meted out to women, just as much as racists undermine their humanity by treating others as less than human.” The work has reached over 30,800 participants across 18 countries, with 330 trained facilitators carrying it forward on six continents.
Why it matters: GERI matters because it is proof of concept—demonstrating that the chasm between genders is not fixed, that healing is not naive, and that when people are given a safe container and skilled facilitation, something genuinely transformative becomes possible. The GERI process brings women, men, and people of all gender identities into carefully held spaces where unspoken truths can finally be spoken without shame or blame. As Brix describes, participants come not as victims but as witnesses, “sharing our story where it can be heard with compassion.” Keepin identifies the transformative moment: “It’s a key healing bridge when men can experience the pain of women as their own pain, and vice versa.” This is gender reconciliation co-created together, moving through pain to the other side.
