As the world marks International Women’s Day, Catholic women from around the world have hailed recent steps made, but called for more to be done to create space for them in positions that matter in the Church.
They also called for a reexamination of the Church’s “complementarity theology” – the view that men and women have different but complementary roles and responsibilities in marriage, family life, and religious leadership.
The concept of complementarity has long been used as a defense of the Catholic Church’s longstanding ban on women priests, with Pope John Paul II frequently invoking complementarity as why the ordained priesthood is better suited to male gifts and talents.
During a March 6 panel ahead of International Women’s Day, Catholic women theologians and leaders urged a reexamination of complementarity, saying that while valid, some interpretations have created a split between what is considered masculine and feminine.
The panel was titled “Women Leaders: Towards a brighter future,” and was organized jointly by Caritas International and the British and Australian Embassies to the Holy See.
Speaking on the panel, Christiane Murray, deputy director of the Holy See Press Office, said women bring a “fresh and innovative” perspective to the Vatican, but lamented that when a woman is appointed to a leadership role in the curia, she is defined as a power-player, while the same is not said of men who receive the same appointments.
“It’s as if there is an aura of power,” she said, insisting the job is not about power, but service.
She also hit back against what she said are gender stereotypes, saying, “Traditionally, qualities such as graciousness, delicacy, care, empathy, these qualities are always associated with femininity.”