Living in a Man's World?

This phrase, found whilst trying to come up with a suitable quick post for facebook has really stuck with me today.  It's so simple, and yet there is such truth in it.
It's one of those phrases that you look and and go "Well, obviously".  Then you look at it again and have a moment of "Oh!"

The world today spends so much time telling us that, as women, to be valuable we need to be the same as men.  Equality has become the keyword, with equality meaning "the same as."  Any organisation who doesn't treat women exactly the same as men must, obviously, be part of the patriarchy and therefore evil.

On the other side, feminism seems to have become a dirty word.  It seems to mean women who are trying to be exactly the same as men. Women who fight too hard, women who aren't prepared to "know their place," women who are too outspoken.

In a world like this, what's a girl to do?

Me?  I look to the Catholic Church (as you may have been able to guess...)

Now I know that to many people, the Church is a symbol and symptom of the oppressive patriarchy. After all, it won't let women become priests, which obviously must mean that it doesn't value women... right?

Wrong.

So very very wrong.

Whilst I'll happily admit there are many things wrong with the administrative side of the Catholic Church, and women currently are not represented well enough, I don't think it's really any worse than many other organisations.  A lot of the problem comes not from the fact that they are women, but that they are laity.

There are plenty of high powered women in the Vatican - the archaeologist in me was delighted to hear about the appointment of Barbara Jatta as director of the Vatican Museums (and yes, Barbara is a female name). This puts them in a minority amongst major museums where the vast majority have male directors. The Pontifical Council for Culture and Voices of Faith are just a couple of examples of things that the Vatican is doing to ensure women's voices are heard more.

This isn't a new thing either.  Throughout the history of the church, there have been important women.  Most of the ones we know about now are because they've been declared saints, but there will be many more who have been forgotten about. It is worth saying at this point that this also applies to men.  Very few of those who have been declared saints have been lay people, although this seems to be changing more in recent years.

Another good place to look to see what the Church actually thinks of women is the veneration it gives to Mama Mary.

In the Catholic Church, we honour Mary because God honoured her first.  Whilst there is no doubt that women have perhaps not been treated as they should have been during history, this wonderful lady has always been held in extremely high regard.  Quite honestly, what higher honour can womankind be given than that one of their own was chosen to give birth to the redeemer of all mankind?  I love the quote above from Redemptoris Mater, because to me it shows the true regard that the Church holds women in.  What more do I need to say?

There are numerous examples of quotes from throughout the history of the church showing the high esteem women are held in. One of my favourites is from the Venerable Fulton J Sheen:

Whilst obviously a woman's value does not come from how inspiring she can be to men, we also need to remember that this is a part, and an important part, of the feminine beauty.  Throughout the Bible we see instance after instance of women inspiring men to better and greater things (Esther, Ruth, Mary to name just a few).  There are also, of course, plenty of examples of women doing the opposite: Delilah betrays Samson; Salome requests the head of John the Baptist; Eve encourages Adam to try the apple.

My message to all my female friends, no matter your age, race or religion is this.  I want you to remember that you have dignity and value because you are you. Not because of whatever successes you may have had, or because of your abilities.  Not because of the way you look or dress or act. Because you are you.

Don't try and be a man in a man's world. Be a woman, and try and make the world better by being you.  You are all that's needed.

You have been called "for a time such as this" (Esther 4:14)