The rights of women

by Editor · Published May 9, 2007 · Updated September 21, 2017

Motherhood is a noble vocation which is rightly celebrated in many parts of the world, including South Africa, in May the month dedicated to Mary, the mother of Our Lord.

This is a good time to show mothers the appreciation they should receive all year around, and, for those who have lost their mothers, to remember theirs with gratitude and admiration.

The hazard in celebrating Mother’s Day, apart from its lamentable commercial aspects, resides in our temptation to reduce women mainly to their vocation of motherhood.

Indeed, recent Letters to the Editor published on this page suggest that in the view of some, women’s role in society should continue to be limited to home-making and rearing children.

For many women this role is a deliberate, entirely gratifying vocational choice. Others, however, seek fulfilment in a professional career. The notion that this should not be desirable, never mind socially licit, is absurd, and indeed, sexist.

Of course, gender roles are deeply entrenched in all societies, most of which have allocated a submissive and secondary role to women. In Western culture it took the rise of feminism, some of it understandably radical, to revise social codes by which women were subordinated and exploited.

The Christian Church itself has been historically complicit in fostering discrimination on grounds of gender. Some might even argue that in certain areas it continues to do so, even if one leaves aside questions surrounding the ordination of women to the priesthood (which the Catholic hierarchy feels unable to authorise on theological grounds).

Even in these more tolerant times, women continue to experience discrimination. A recent British study found that generally women still receive lower salaries than their male counterparts for performing the same tasks.

Matters are much worse in regions yet untouched by feminism.

Human trafficking, for example, affects mostly women and girls, many of whom are subjugated in sexual slavery, in an environment where men create the demand for their exploitation.

Gender discrimination re-mains ingrained in Africa’s patriarchal societies, especially when poverty is involved. Women’s desperation often leads to their sexual exploitation, contributing materially to the spread of HIV/Aids.

Meanwhile physical, mental and sexual abuse of women permeates through all societies.

Though many Catholic dioceses and agencies provide relief services for abused women, it is unsatisfactory that the Church, especially in Africa, is not commonly regarded as being in the vanguard of the fight for women’s rights.

Therefore the recent call by Archbishop Celestine Migliore, the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio to the United Nations, for special emphasis to be placed on the education of Africa’s girls and women must be strongly welcomed. (Indeed, the archbishop is putting together an admirable record of eminently sensible statements at the UN.)

He said: As women become better educated, they gain greater respect; they become breadwinners; they acquire maturity in parental responsibility and a greater say in family affairs.

We must pray that his words have been heard by those who can facilitate the education of girls and women in Africa and to forcefully amplify and replicate the archbishop’s call.

The Catholic Church must on all levels become more outspoken on women’s rights. But this would require greater representation of women in positions of influence within it. (The Church in Southern Africa, it must be said, is ahead of many regions in this regard.)

The Roman curia continues to be dominated by men, with little doctrinal or theological justification for this. Likewise, many parish pastoral councils are inordinately dominated by men, which suggests that women tend to feel disempowered in the decision-making processes of the Church on all levels.