- Feminist thinkers have hit back at the Catholic Church
after a Vatican statement criticised the female liberation movement and
insisted that men and women are fundamentally different.
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- Published yesterday in the form of a letter to all Catholic
bishops, the statement says that feminism can persuade women to become
"adversaries of men" and that this can have "lethal effects
in the structure of the family".
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- The 37-page document was signed by the hardline conservative
thinker Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who heads the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, and was approved by Pope John Paul II.
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- It said women should be respected and have equal rights
in the workplace, that but differences between the sexes must be recognised.
It criticised feminist attempts to erase gender differences, saying they
have "inspired ideologies which, for example, call into question the
family in its natural two-parent structure of mother and father, and make
homosexuality and heterosexuality virtually equivalent".
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- The Vatican called for greater recognition of motherhood
and urged society to recognise caring for children as real work. Yet women's
access to positions of authority should not be limited, it said. Governments
should make it easier for women to hold jobs without "relinquishing
their family life".
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- Erin Pizzey, founder of the international women's refuge
movement, said: "I don't think the Catholic Church - whose own priests
and bishops cannot marry - is in a position to make such statements. It
is one of the most emotionally illiterate organisations I know, and they
need to put their own house in order first."
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- Angela Phillips, a lecturer at Goldsmiths College, London,
said: "Social changes are uncomfortable for people who are part of
structures of a previous society, and so they try to maintain the status
quo that women have fought against."
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- The letter, titled "On the collaboration of men
and women in the Church and the World", is an attempt to take account
of the changing role of women. Catherine Pepinster, editor of The Tablet,
a liberal Catholic weekly, said that the document is less "anti-feminist"
than the hostile reaction suggests. In Vatican terms, it is a breakthrough
because it recognises the wider debate, she said.
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- "It does emphasise that there's a physical difference
that you can't deny or ignore between men and women. It talks about men
and women being complementary. But that's not the same as saying women
should be subservient or acquiescent," she said.
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- "Much as people may want to welcome what this document
has got to say, many would also like to have seen more recognition for
the role of women in the Church. We're starting to see that, but only very
recently."
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- It is an irony, she said, that much of the document has
been informed by feminist thinkers - but this fact is not acknowledged
by the Vatican.
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- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=546756
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