The Sunday Mail
A recent Vatican conference heard strong calls for female empowerment in a world in which gender discrimination remains widespread, and in which, as one speaker put it, there are places where sexual violence and social bias is so pervasive that “it’s better to be a cow than a girl.”
As part of that picture, speakers pressed the Catholic Church to live up to its own talk about the importance of women, moving from an “occasional” to a “habitual” commitment to seeing women in leadership positions, even if not as ordained priests.
The gathering took place in the Casina Pio IV, home of the Pontifical Academy for Science, and marked the third consecutive year the Vatican staged an event in conjunction with the United Nations-sponsored International Women’s Day.
There were no Vatican officials in the lineup, but rather Catholic leaders and activists from around the world.
The event, called “Voices of Faith,” was a storytelling event designed for women to share their stories “in the spirit of Francis.”
“Today we share the incredible stories of people who are making our world a better place,” said Mary Lou Falcone, chairwoman of the group’s advisory board chairwom
Notably, none of the speakers reflected on the female role as mothers, usually a hallmark of Vatican speech on women’s issues.
Instead, one thrust of the discussion was the importance of making sure that when women do become wives and mothers, it’s a voluntary choice rather than the result of coercion or social pressure. A video presentation pointed out that in a developing country, a girl with an education will likely have fewer children.
On a panel about child brides, Judy Onyango of Kenya made the case that education protects girls from being married off at a young age. Another panelist, the Rev. George Menamprarampli of India, said that in some parts of his country, “it’s better to be a cow than a girl. You’ll be more respected as a cow than a young girl.”
Menamprarampli told the story of a woman in his country who was forced to marry at 14, and whose daughter married at the same age. Today, he said, the first woman is “a grandmother at the age of 30.”
Tuesday’s conference was a reminder that Catholic women have long been at the forefront of the fight for social equality, a point Pope Francis has recognised. “(Nuns are) women of strength, fighters, with that spirit of courage which puts you on the front lines in the proclamation of the Gospel,” the pontiff said in an meeting with religious women and men last September during his trip to the United States. — Cruxnow.com
