he Dignity of Women 

The Catholic Church stands

proudly proclaiming the value 
of every human being in the
sight of God and the world.
Below are links to bookmarks within article
Let us value each human life
Let us Build a Better Family
Both man and woman are human beings to an equal degree
Dignity and Vocation of Women
The Dignity of Women is to be Respected
Vocation and Mission of Women in the Church
Womanhood revealed in Motherhood
Women in the Family
Husband to appreciate Wife
Priestly Ordination is Reserved for Men
References
 

    Let us value each human life

Our world is a better place because man and woman in mutual cooperation have
subdued it.  The love of God for His creation is such that God, over and over, says
“Yes, I love you” to humanity, every time a baby is born.  The value of every human
life is enhanced by the love of God for His creation.  Woman and man are like sugar
and egg in a custard.  Can you separate them?  Can you say that one is more
valuable than the other?  Each one has a specific function and value in life, and no
one is like the other.  Let us treasure each human life and not underestimate its
value.
 

    Let us Build a Better Family

Humanity in many instances has underestimated the value of a woman.  To hear a
young woman say: “To be a good wife I have to learn to be submissive to my
husband,”  translates to saying, “I will deny anything I am to be a good wife.”  Is it
meant to be that way?  That is not God’s plan.  Women are to stand and be counted
with their talents and gifts adding to the strength and gift of men.  United in God’s
love we build a better family and a better society.
 

    Both man and woman are human beings to an equal degree

 The Bishops of the United States of America elaborate on the teachings of the
church about the dignity of women in the document, “When I Call for Help: A
Pastoral Response to Domestic Violence Against Women.”
A theme throughout Scripture, beginning with Genesis, is that women and
men are created in God’s image. As John Paul II has said, “Both man and
woman are human beings to an equal degree.” In the New Testament, Jesus
 consistently reached out to  those on the fringes of society, those without
power or authority, those with no one to speak on their behalf. He taught that
all women and men are individuals worthy of respect and dignity.

Jesus unfailingly respected the human dignity of women. John Paul II

reminds us that “Christ’s way of acting, the Gospel of his words and deeds, is
a consistent protest against whatever offends the dignity of women.”  Jesus
went out of his way to help the most vulnerable women. Think of the woman
with the hemorrhage (see Mk 5:25-34) or the woman caught in adultery (see
Jn 8:1-11). By his actions toward women in need, Jesus set an example for us
today. Like him, we are called to find ways to help those most vulnerable
women in our midst. We also need to find ways to help the men who want to
break out of the pattern of abuse.

As a Church, one of the most worrying aspects of the abuse practiced against
women is the use of biblical texts, taken out of context, to support abusive
behavior. Counselors report that both abused women and their batterers use
scripture passages to justify their behavior.

Abused women say, “I can’t leave this relationship. The Bible says it would
be wrong.” Abusive men say, “The Bible says my wife should be submissive
to me.” They take the biblical text and distort it to support their right to
batter.

As bishops, we condemn the use of the Bible to condone abusive behavior. A

correct reading of the Scriptures leads people to a relationship based on
mutuality and love. Again, John Paul II describes it accurately: “In the ‘unity
of the two,’ man and woman are called from the beginning not only to exist
‘side by side’ or ‘together,’ but they are also called to exist mutually one for
the other.”

Even where the Bible uses traditional language to support the social order
common in the day, the image presented is never one that condones the use of
abuse to control another person. In Ephesians 5:21-33, for instance, which
discusses relationships within the family, the general principle laid down is
one of mutual submission between husband and wife. The passage holds out
the image to husbands that they are to love their wives as they love their own
body, as Christ loves the Church. Can you imagine Jesus battering his
Church?

    Dignity and Vocation of Women

In the Apostolic Letter, MULIERIS DIGNITATEM, Pope John Paul II writes about the
vocation and dignity of women.

THE DIGNITY AND THE VOCATION OF WOMEN - a subject of constant

human and Christian reflection - have gained exceptional prominence in
 recent years. This can be seen, for example, in the statements of the Church’s
Magisterium present in various documents of the Second Vatican Council,
which declares in its Closing Message: “The hour is coming, in fact has
come, when the vocation of women is being acknowledged in its fullness, the
hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, an effect and a
power never hitherto achieved. That is why, at his moment when the human
race is undergoing so deep a transformation, women imbued with a spirit of
the Gospel can do so much to aid humanity in not falling”.  This Message
sums up what had already been expressed in the Council’s teaching,
specifically in the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes  and in the Decree
on the Apostolate of the Laity Apostolicam Actuositatem.

Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter,”MULIERIS DIGNITATEM,” 1988

    The Dignity of Women is to be Respected

 In a general audience on June 22, 1994, Pope John Paul II emphasizes the equality
of women and men, how they are to complement each other and the necessity to
respect women’s dignity.

 We would… like to consider more particularly the role of the Christian
woman, both because of the importance that women have always had in the
Church, and because of the hopes for the present and the future which can
and must be placed in them.  In our era, many voices have spoken up
demanding respect for woman’s personal dignity and recognition of her real
equality of rights with man, so as to offer her the full opportunity to fulfill her
role in all sectors and at all levels in society.

Pope John Paul II - General Audience on June 22, 1994

    Vocation and Mission of Women in the Church

The Pope reflecting on the writings and decision of Vatican Council II, wrote the
Apostolic Exhortation “CHRISTIFIDELES LAICI” with the message to the world that
“all the lay faithful , both women and men” are called to serve the Lord.

The Council, in particular, with its rich doctrinal, spiritual and pastoral
patrimony, has written as never before on the nature, dignity, spirituality,
mission and responsibility of the lay faithful. And the Council Fathers, re-
echoing the call of Christ, have summoned all the lay faithful, both women
and men, to labour in the vineyard: “The Council, then, makes an earnest
plea in the Lord’s name that all lay people give a glad, generous, and prompt
response to the impulse of the Holy Spirit and to the voice of Christ, who is
giving them an especially urgent invitation at this moment.”
 Pope John Paul II - “CHRISTIFIDELES LAICI”
December 30, 1988

    Womanhood revealed in Motherhood

On a general audience on March 12, 1980, Pope Paul VI spoke about the value of a
woman as it is demonstrated in motherhood, and the mystery of creation of a new
human being “with the help of the Lord God.”

The Bible (and subsequently the liturgy), with its characteristic simplicity,
honors and praises throughout the centuries “the womb that bore you and the
breasts that you sucked” (Lk 11:27). These words constitute a eulogy of
motherhood, of femininity, of the female body in its typical expression of
creative love. And they are words referred in the Gospel to the Mother of
Christ, Mary, the second Eve.

Pope John Paul II, General Audience - March 12, 1980

 
  Mary’s light can spread throughout the world of woman, to embrace
woman’s old and new problems, helping everyone to understand her dignity
and to recognize her rights. Women receive a special grace; they receive it to
live in covenant with God, at the level of their dignity and mission. They are
called to be united in their own way - in an excellent way with Christ’s
redeeming work. Women have a great role in the Church. This can be
understood very clearly in the light of the Gospel and of the sublime figure of
Mary.

Pope John Paul II - General Audience

June 22, 1994

    Women in the Family

Pope John Paul II in the Apostolic Exhortation “Familiaris Consortio” talks about the
role of the Christian Family in today’s world, in the following paragraphs addressing
the role of the woman in the family:

…the family finds in love the source and the constant impetus for welcoming,
respecting and promoting each one of its members in his or her lofty dignity
as a person, that is, as a living image of God. As the Synod Fathers rightly
stated, the moral criterion for the authenticity of conjugal and family
relationships consists in fostering the dignity and vocation of the individual
persons, who achieve their fullness by sincere self-giving.

In this perspective the Synod devoted special attention to women, to their

rights and role within the family and society. In the same perspective are also
to be considered men as husbands and fathers, and likewise children and the
elderly.
 Above all it is important to underline the equal dignity and responsibility of
women with men. This equality is realized in a unique manner in that
reciprocal self-giving by each one to the other and by both to the children
which is proper to marriage and the family. What human reason intuitively
perceives and acknowledges is fully revealed by the word of God: the history
of salvation, in fact, is a continuous and luminous testimony of the dignity of
women.

In creating the human race “male and female,”  God gives man and woman
an equal personal dignity, endowing them with the inalienable person. God
then manifests the dignity of women in the highest form possible, by assuming
human flesh from the Virgin Mary, whom the Church honors as the Mother of
God, calling her the new Eve and presenting her as the model of redeemed
woman. The sensitive respect of Jesus towards the women that He called to
His following and His friendship, His appearing on Easter morning to a
woman before the other disciples, the mission entrusted to women to carry
the good news of the Resurrection to the apostles-these are all signs that
confirm the special esteem of the Lord Jesus for women. The Apostle Paul
will say: “In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.... There
is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male
nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation “FAMILIARIS CONSORTIO,”#22

November 22, 1981

    Husband to appreciate Wife

Within the conjugal and family communion -community, the man is called
upon to live his gift and role as husband and father.

In his wife he sees the fulfillment of God’s intention: “It is not good that the
man should be alone, I will make him a helper fit for him,” and he makes his
own the cry of Adam, the first husband: “This at last is bone of my bones and
flesh of my flesh.”

Authentic conjugal love presupposes and requires that a man have a

profound respect for the equal dignity of his wife: “You are not her master,”
writes St. Ambrose, “but her husband; she was not given to you to be your
slave, but your wife.... Reciprocate her attentiveness to you and be grateful to
her for her love.”  With his wife a man should live “a very special form of
personal friendship.”   As for the Christian, he is called upon to develop a
new attitude of love, manifesting towards his wife a charity that is both gentle
and strong like that which Christ has for the Church."

Love for his wife as mother of their children and love for the children
themselves are for the man the natural way of understanding and fulfilling his
own fatherhood. Above all where social and cultural conditions so easily
encourage a father to be less concerned with his family or at any rate less
involved in the work of education, efforts must be made to restore socially the
 conviction that the place and task of the father in and for the family is of
unique and irreplaceable importance.   As experience teaches, the absence of
a father causes psychological and moral imbalance and notable difficulties in
family relationships, as does, in contrary circumstances, the oppressive
presence of a father, especially where there still prevails the phenomenon of
“machismo,” or a wrong superiority of male prerogatives which humiliates
women and inhibits the development of healthy family relationships.

Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation “FAMILIARIS CONSORTIO,”#25

November 22, 1981

    Priestly Ordination is Reserved for Men

Pope John Paul II published the Apostolic Letter “ORDINATION SACERDOTALIS,”
clarifying the reasons why the Catholic reserves priestly ordination for men alone.

Although the teaching that priestly ordination is to be reserved to men alone

has been preserved by the constant and universal Tradition of the Church
and firmly taught by the Magisterium in its more recent documents, at the
present time in some places it is nonetheless considered still open to debate,
or the Church’s judgment that women are not to be admitted to ordination is
considered to have a merely disciplinary force.

Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of

great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution
itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I
declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly
ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all
the Church’s faithful.

Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter “ORDINATION SACERDOTALIS”

 May 22, 1994

 
In Jewish Palestine women were considered less.  In the Jewish morning prayer,
according to William Barclay’s New Testament Commentary, a man would thank
God that he was not made “a gentile, a slave or a woman.”  Paul’s view of women
was revolutionary, when he states:

“Now there is no distinction between Jew and Greek,

nor between slave and freeman,
nor between man and woman.”
Gal 3:26-28

  
 The ways we, as women, see ourselves is influenced by what others expect of us,
and by what we think God expects of us.  A woman’s life is a book written in many
chapters.  Every ten years a new chapter seems to be written in the life of an
average woman.  There are not two human beings alike, there are not two women
alike.  Baby, child, teenager, young adult, adult, career, volunteer, religious or wife,
housewife, mother, at all of those stages of life, there are questions that need to be
answered by each woman:  Who am I?  What does God want of me?  What is
expected of me?  How does society view me?  How do I see myself?  The answer
will be different for each woman, but there is on thing that is the same for all: God’s
love. Let us recognize God as our master and Lord and try to do good for others in
our different and various roles.  As women, we can make our daily prayer, the prayer
of the Virgin Mary:
"My soul magnifies the Lord,
my spirit finds joy in God my Savior...
God who is mighty has done great things for me,
holy is His name." 
Luke 1:46-49 

Written by Marta
Published by LEAP OF FAITH
© 2001  Marta - February 21, 2001

LEAP OF FAITH - www.faithleap.org 

References:
1. National Conference of Catholic Bishops, “When I Call for Help: A Pastoral
Response to Domestic Violence Against Women.” 1992, USA.
2. Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter, MULIERIS DIGNITATEM, 1988.
3. Pope John Paul II, “The Dignity of Women is to be Respected,” General Audience
on June 22, 1994, Vatican.
4. Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation, CHRISTIFIDELES LAICI, 1988 –
Vocation and Mission of the Laity in the Church
5. Pope John Paul II,  General Audience on March 12, 1980, Vatican.
6. Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation, FAMILIARIS CONSORTIO, #22, 1981,
Vatican.
7. Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation FAMILIARIS CONSORTIO, #25, 1981,
Vatican.
8. Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter ORDINATION SACERDOTALIS, 1994,
Vatican.
9. Vatican Council II, Pastoral Constitution GAUDIUM ET SPES.
10. Vatican Council II, Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity APOSTOLICAM
ACTUOSITATEM.
11. The Vatican in the Internet :  www.vatican.va
12. The National Conference of Catholic Bishops :
www.nccbuscc.org
 
I N H I S G R E A T T E A C H I N G W O R K O F 1 9 8 8 ,

“ M U L I E R I S D I G N I T A T E M , O N T H E D I G N I T Y

A N D V O C A T I O N O F W O M E N , ” J O H N P A U L

P R E S E N T S S O M E O F H I S I N S I G H T S O N T H E

S U B J E C T O F W O M E N . B E G I N N I N G W I T H A

Q U O T E F R O M T H E C L O S I N G M E S S A G E O F

T H E S E C O N D V A T I C A N C O U N C I L , I T

S T A T E S :

“ T H E H O U R I S C O M I N G , I N F A C T H A S

C O M E , W H E N T H E V O C A T I O N O F W O M E N I S

B E I N G A C K N O W L E D G E D I N I T S F U L L N E S S ,

T H E H O U R I N W H I C H W O M E N A C Q U I R E I N

T H E W O R L D A N I N F L U E N C E , A N E F F E C T

A N D A P O W E R N E V E R H I T H E R T O A C H I E V E D .

T H A T I S W H Y A T T H I S M O M E N T W H E N T H E

H U M A N R A C E I S U N D E R G O I N G S O D E E P A

T R A N S F O R M A T I O N , W O M E N I M B U E D W I T H A

S P I R I T O F T H E G O S P E L C A N D O S O M U C H

T O A I D H U M A N I T Y I N N O T F A L L I N G

( M U L I E R I S D I G N I T A T E M ) . "

T H I S I S P R E C I S E L Y W H Y T H E N E E D I S S O

U R G E N T T O U N D E R S T A N D T H E P R O P E R

R O L E A N D D I G N I T Y O F H U M A N I T Y , A N D

W O M E N I N P A R T I C U L A R . W E N E E D T O

E X P L O R E T H E M Y S T E R Y O F W H Y T H E
C R E A T O R H A S A S S I G N E D E A C H H U M A N

B E I N G T O A L W A Y S A N D O N L Y E X I S T A S

E I T H E R M A N O R W O M A N .

J O H N P A U L S T A R T S H I S M E D I T A T I O N O N

W O M E N B Y L O O K I N G A T T H E M O T H E R O F

G O D . M A R Y O F N A Z A R E T H I S A C E N T R A L

P L A Y E R I N T H E G R E A T E S T E V E N T I N T H E

H I S T O R Y O F T H E U N I V E R S E ; N A M E L Y G O D

R E V E A L I N G H I M S E L F C O M P L E T E L Y I N

J E S U S C H R I S T . A L L T H E D E S I R E S O F T H E

H U M A N R A C E , A L L T H E Q U E S T I O N S T H A T

P E O P L E H A V E O F T H E I R O R I G I N A N D T H E I R

D E S T I N Y , I S F U L F I L L E D W H E N G O D C H O S E

T O C O M E D O W N T O E A R T H A N D T A K E O N

O U R H U M A N N A T U R E . T H E R E V E L A T I O N O F

G O D I N J E S U S C H R I S T C A M E A B O U T

T H R O U G H A W O M A N . T H I S U N I Q U E A N D

S I N G U L A R E V E N T R A I S E S T H E D I G N I T Y O F

W O M A N T O H E I G H T S T H A T C O U L D N E V E R

B E R E A C H E D N A T U R A L L Y . I N A L L H E R

F E M I N I N I T Y , A W O M A N B O R E T H E

R E D E E M E R . T H R O U G H H E R F R E E W I L L M A R Y

S A I D Y E S T O B E C O M E T H E M O T H E R O F T H E

S A V I O R .
M A R Y R E P R E S E N T S T H E E N T I R E H U M A N

R A C E I N H E R A C C E P T A N C E O F T H I S D I V I N E

G R A C E . S H E A T T A I N S I N T H E M O S T

E M I N E N T M A N N E R P O S S I B L E

“ S U P E R N A T U R A L E L E V A T I O N T O U N I O N

W I T H G O D I N J E S U S C H R I S T ( M . D 4 ) . ”  

W H E N T O L D B Y T H E A N G E L T H A T S H E W A S

C H O S E N T O B E T H E M O T H E R O F T H E S O N

O F G O D , M A R Y S A I D “ B E H O L D I A M T H E

H A N D M A I D E N O F T H E L O R D , B E I T D O N E

U N T O M E A C C O R D I N G T O Y O U R W O R D

( L U K E 1 : 3 8 ) . ” T H I S R O L E A S

“ H A N D M A I D E N ” I S N O T I N A N Y W A Y A

L E S S E R O R C O N D E S C E N D I N G R O L E . I N

G O D ’ S E Y E S , T O S E R V E I S T O R E I G N .

C H R I S T H I M S E L F S A I D T H A T H E C A M E T O

S E R V E , N O T T O B E S E R V E D . H E I S T H E

S E R V A N T O F T H E L O R D A N D M A N I F E S T S

T H E S U P R E M E R O Y A L D I G N I T Y O F S E R V I C E

T H A T A L L O F H U M A N I T Y I S C A L L E D T O .

O U R H U M A N D I G N I T Y L I E S I N T H E

F U L F I L L M E N T O F O U R N A T U R E , W H I C H I S

F O U N D S O L E L Y I N U N I O N W I T H G O D . M A R Y

I S T H E H E I G H T A N D E X P R E S S I O N O F

H U M A N D I G N I T Y A S S H E T R U L Y A T T A I N S
T H E H I G H E S T I M A G I N A B L E U N I O N W I T H

G O D I N W H O S E I M A G E S H E I S M A D E .

J O H N P A U L I I S E E S I N M A R Y A N O T H E R

E X A M P L E O F T W O V O C A T I O N S O F W O M E N ,

T H A T O F V I R G I N I T Y A N D M O T H E R H O O D . I N

M A R Y B O T H O F T H E S E C O M E T O G E T H E R

A N D D O N O T E X C L U D E O N E A N O T H E R ( M . D

1 7 ) . H I S I N S I G H T I N T O M O T H E R H O O D

S H O W S T H E M O T H E R A S T H E U N I Q U E

P E R S O N W H O H A S A G R E A T E R P A R T I N T H E

M Y S T E R Y O F T H E R E G E N E R A T I O N O F N E W

L I F E . T H E N E W L I F E T R U L Y A B S O R B S H E R

O W N B O D Y ’ S E N E R G Y , A N D W O M A N H A S

T H E P A R T I C U L A R P R I V I L E G E O F C A R R Y I N G

T H I S C H I L D I N I T S P R E N A T A L S T A G E S .

T H E M A N O W E S A S P E C I A L D E B T T O T H E

W O M A N I N T H E I R S H A R E D P A R E N T H O O D .

T H E M O T H E R H O O D O F T H E W O M A N

E X T E N D S B E Y O N D H E R R E L A T I O N S H I P W I T H

H E R C H I L D , A S T H E P O P E E X P L A I N S :

T H I S U N I Q U E C O N T A C T W I T H T H E N E W

H U M A N B E I N G D E V E L O P I N G W I T H I N H E R

G I V E S R I S E T O A N A T T I T U D E T O W A R D S

H U M A N B E I N G S - N O T O N L Y T O W A R D S H E R

O W N C H I L D , B U T E V E R Y H U M A N B E I N G -
W H I C H P R O F O U N D L Y M A R K S T H E W O M A N ' S

P E R S O N A L I T Y . I T I S C O M M O N L Y T H O U G H T

T H A T   W O M E N   A R E M O R E C A P A B L E T H A N

M E N O F P A Y I N G A T T E N T I O N   T O A N O T H E R

P E R S O N ,   A N D T H A T M O T H E R H O O D

D E V E L O P S T H I S P R E D I S P O S I T I O N E V E N

M O R E ( M . D 1 8 )

F O R W O M E N W H O F E E L D R A W N T O

R A D I C A L L Y L I V E T H E G O S P E L M E S S A G E ,

V I R G I N I T Y F O R T H E S A K E O F T H E

K I N G D O M I S A N I D E A L W A Y O F F O L L O W I N G

C H R I S T U N R E S E R V E D L Y . T H I S I S T H E L O V E

O F T H O S E W H O D E S I R E T O G I V E T H E I R

W H O L E S E L V E S T O G O D I N T R U E S P O U S A L

L O V E . T H E W O M A N W H O E M B A R K S O N T H I S

P A T H R E C O G N I Z E S C H R I S T T H E

B R I D E G R O O M A N D M A K E S T H E S I N C E R E

G I F T O F H E R S E L F . H E R F E M I N I N I T Y ,

M O T H E R H O O D A N D E N E R G I E S A R E

C O M P L E T E L Y C O N S E C R A T E D T O C H R I S T

( M . D 2 0 ) . M O T H E R H O O D I S N O T E X C L U D E D

B Y T H E L I F E O F C E L I B A T E C H A S T I T Y .

S P O U S A L L O V E M A N I F E S T S I T S E L F I N T H E

R E A D I N E S S T O B E P O U R E D O U T F O R T H E

S A K E O F O T H E R S . I N M A R R I A G E T H I S I S
G E N E R A L L Y W I T H O N E ’ S C H I L D R E N , W H I L E

I N T H E C O N S E C R A T E D S T A T E I T I S T O A L L

P E O P L E W H O A R E “ E M B R A C E D B Y T H E L O V E

O F C H R I S T T H E S P O U S E ( M . D 2 1 ) . ”

J O H N P A U L I I R E F U S E S T O J U D G E T H E

I S S U E O F M A N A N D W O M A N A G A I N S T T H E

B A C K D R O P O F A S T R U G G L E F O R

D O M I N A N C E . S I M P L Y T O M A K E W O M E N

I N T O M E N , A N D T O I D E A L I Z E T H E

A M B I T I O N , P R I D E A N D A G G R E S S I V E N E S S

O F M E N W I L L N O T I N T H E L E A S T W A Y H E L P

H U M A N I T Y O N T H E J O U R N E Y T O

R E E S T A B L I S H T H E M S E L V E S A S T R U E

I M A G E S A N D L I K E N E S S E S O F G O D .

“Love is the true vocation of woman and man. ”

W O M E N B E A R I N T H E I R P E R S O N S A G R E A T

S I G N V A L U E F O R L O V E . A W O M A N ’ S V E R Y

B E I N G S H O W S T H E C A P A C I T Y A N D N E E D

F O R L O V E . T O W O M E N A R E E N T R U S T E D

H U M A N B E I N G S I N A U N I Q U E A N D

P R E E M I N E N T W A Y . B E C A U S E O F T H I S T H E

W O M A N H A S A S P E C I A L C O N C E R N F O R

P E R S O N S , A N D I N T H I S A G E O F

I N C R E A S I N G I N D U S T R I A L I Z A T I O N A N D

M A R G I N A L I Z A T I O N O F T H E P O O R , T H E
W O R L D I S I N S O R E N E E D O F T H E F E M I N I N E

G E N I U S T O T R A N S F O R M I T I N T O B E I N G

M O R E J U S T A N D H U M A N E . A S T H E P O P E

C O N C L U D E S T H E L E T T E R :

" I N T H E S P I R I T O F C H R I S T , I N F A C T ,

W O M E N C A N D I S C O V E R T H E E N T I R E

M E A N I N G O F T H E I R F E M I N I N I T Y A N D T H U S

B E D I S P O S E D T O M A K I N G A " S I N C E R E G I F T

O F S E L F " T O O T H E R S , T H E R E B Y F I N D I N G

T H E M S E L V E S ( M . D 3 1 ) . ”

I N M A R Y , E V E D I S C O V E R S T H E N A T U R E O F

T H E T R U E D I G N I T Y O F W O M A N , O F

F E M I N I N E H U M A N I T Y . T H I S D I S C O V E R Y

M U S T C O N T I N U A L L Y R E A C H T H E H E A R T O F

E V E R Y W O M A N A N D S H A P E H E R V O C A T I O N

A N D H E R L I F E ( M . D 1 1 ) .

Today’s event is entitled “Protecting femininity and human

dignity in women’s empowerment and gender equality policies
today.” The point of the title is to emphasize that as we think
about social protections, access to public services, and
sustainable infrastructure, it is important not to sacrifice the
dignity and distinctiveness of woman in the process.
 
True respect for woman starts with accepting, indeed
reverencing, her according to all aspects of her humanity. It
involves creating the social conditions for her to live freely and
fully, without discrimination, according to her feminine genius,
the special wisdom she has in caring for the intrinsic dignity of
everyone, in nurturing life and love and in developing others’
gifts. When women are given the opportunity to thrive in full
appreciation for all their talents and potential, the whole of
society benefits.
 
One of the most important contexts in which the full dignity of
women needs to be acknowledged, promoted and protected is
with regard to marriage, motherhood and family life. Women
cannot flourish when they are the victims of prejudice — and
one of the most common forms of discrimination against women
today happens with regard to the exercise of the maternal
meaning of their femininity.
 
The unique value and dignity of motherhood in some societies
and some versions of feminism is insufficiently defended,
appreciated and advanced, leaving women culturally and legally
in a position to have to choose between their intellectual and
professional development and their personal growth as wives
and mothers. Women’s essential contributions to the
development of society through their dedication to their
marriage and to raising the next generation are inadequately
respected. Sometimes their invisible and often heroic service is
even disparaged as an antiquated and unwholesome model of
feminine life.
 
Such criticism does not come from a genuine appreciation of
woman in her totality and her true equality, in complementarity
and reciprocity, with man. Rather it often flows from a reductive
notion of womanhood that sacrifices essential aspects of
woman’s identity to enable her, so it seems, better to compete
with men on a masculine playing field. Such flawed
anthropologies, which define equality as identity with man in all
things, prevent women from being fully themselves, something
that impoverishes both women and all of society.
 
That is why it is essential for all those who seek to promote the
cause of women’s equality, dignity and rights, who seek their
integral advancement, to advocate and safeguard that social
protections, access to public services and sustainable
infrastructure be adapted to this fuller anthropology of woman,
inclusive of marriage, motherhood, and family, rather than
requiring women to bracket those realities in order to have
access to social protections, services and structures.
 
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that
“motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and
assistance” and that the “family is the natural and fundamental
group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and
the State.” Social protections must therefore be given in a
particular way to women as wives and moms who work part-time
or full-time or who choose to make the care of their family their
full-time occupation.
 
Humanity owes its survival to the choice women make not just
to welcome children but raise them to be virtuous and
authentically human: mothers give children the trust and
security they need to develop their personal identity and
positive social bonds. Our future is already mirrored on how we,
as individuals and as a society, support mothers to raise strong
and healthy families.
 
We need more than words condemning all forms of unjust
discrimination against women. We need more than social
protections, access to public services and sustainable
infrastructure that allow women to take up work outside the
home or even to enable them to meet their families’ needs
without needing to sever their maternity from their femininity.
What is required is an effective and intelligent campaign for the
promotion of women, concentrating on all areas of women's
nature and life and beginning with a universal recognition of
their dignity.
 
We need to help women, and men, and children, better
appreciate the full greatness of woman, which includes not just
the gifts she shares in common with man but also the unique
gifts that pertain to her femininity, like her capacity for
motherhood understood not just as a reproductive act, but as a
spiritual, educational, affective and cultural way of life.
 
As Pope John Paul II wrote in his 1988 apostolic exhortation On
the Dignity of Woman, a “mother accepts and loves as a person
the child she is carrying in her womb. This unique contact with
the new human being developing within her gives rise to an
attitude toward human beings — not only toward her own child,
but toward every human being — that profoundly marks the
woman's personality.”
 
Woman is someone born with space for another. By nature she
has the capacity to care for human beings at their most
vulnerable initial stages, which is something that forms her with
a special sensitivity for the weakest and most defenseless. She
is therefore naturally concerned for the intrinsic worth of every
person, no matter how young or old, rich or poor, strong or
vulnerable, healthy or sick, wanted or undesired, economically
productive or incapacitated, worldly influential or insignificant.
 
That is why, in protecting woman’s femininity and full human
dignity, we are buttressing perhaps the greatest social
protection of all, woman herself. Her equality and empowerment
should never involve being forced to adapt to male categories in
society, but in having society adapt increasingly to her
femininity and dignity. Our superb panel will elaborate on this
further.
 
Thank you for coming to participate in the conversation.
 

The Dignity of Womanhood in the

Bible
Emerson Brown
02/16/16 - family

Critics of the Bible sometimes claim the Bible is full of chauvinist

speech that devalues women. When such arguments are made,
passages which highlight the dignity of women are conveniently
overlooked. The goal of this article is simple: to show how the
Bible exalts women as equally valuable and dignified as men.

We do not have to look far to see it. Genesis 1:27 says both

male and female were created in God’s image, and therefore
whatever dignity men have is the same women have. The
woman was made from the same “stuff” as man, being
fashioned from Adam’s very rib. From the start, Adam
recognized her equality with him when he said, “This is now
bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Gen. 2:23).

Woman was created to be man’s “helper” (Gen. 2:18-20). The

context of woman’s creation actually highlights her inherent
dignity, for she is clearly contrasted from the animals among
whom Adam found no suitable helpmeet. In other words, she is
not lesser than man like the animals but equally human.
Moreover, her God-given role as “helper” does not diminish her
value in the least; the same word is used elsewhere in the Old
Testament of God defending and protecting His people from
their adversaries (see Deut. 33:7; Psalm 20:2). Feminists (and
sometimes Christians who are influenced by similar thinking)
mistakenly assume that difference in role means difference in
essential value, but the Bible never states or implies this. On the
contrary, though it clearly delineates between the two roles from
the beginning of creation (1 Cor. 11:8-9; 1 Tim. 2:13) the Bible
speaks very highly of the woman’s worth.

Throughout Scripture, there is consistent recognition of the

woman’s purpose to give birth, raise children, and manage the
home. The world scoffs at this, but the Bible praises this as a
necessary and honorable role. Indeed, without good mothers (or
mothers at all), mankind would be extinct. “An excellent wife,
who can find? For her worth is far about jewels…Strength and
dignity are her clothing… Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised” (Prov.
31:10, 25, 31). “Honor widows who are widows indeed…if she
has brought up children, shown hospitality to strangers, washed
the saints’ feet, assisted those in distress, and devoted herself
to every good work” (1 Tim. 5:3, 10).  “But women will be
preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in
faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint” (1 Tim. 2:15).

One of most distinctive privileges of the female gender was the

promise of bearing the Savior (Gen. 3:15). The lineage of Christ
proves how many (imperfect) women were blessed to carry this
seed, including Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary (see
Matt. 1). What more significant role could a woman play in God’s
plan to redeem man than to bear the Messiah when the fullness
of times had come (Gal. 4:4)?

The same apostle who—by the Holy Spirit—prohibited women

from leading in worship saw no essential difference in worth
between male and female (Gal. 3:28). He also honored women
who had proved beneficial to him and highly influential in the
kingdom (Rom. 16:1, 3, 6, 13; Phil. 4:3; 2 Tim. 1:5). Anyone who
reads Paul’s personal greetings with an unbiased eye will see his
high regard for women. He was no male chauvinist. 

Scholars of ancient cultures have pointed out many times how

Israel’s laws—though to 21 stcentury American eyes can appear
cruel—actually give more honor and protection to women than
other cultures. Compared to the Hammurabi Code, for example,
women in the Old Testament fared far better.

Despite all this, women today are made to feel worthless and
enslaved if they do not work outside the home or make as much
money as their husbands. Stay-at-home moms are mocked.
Wives who submit to their husband’s leadership are pitied.
Ironically, a woman’s dignity is tied to how she compares with
men in independence and power. But according to the Bible, her
dignity is found in being wholly and uniquely woman, as God has
designed. And, as she faithfully and courageously executes that
purpose, she is truly dignified. “But let it be the hidden person of
the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet
spirit, which is precious in the sight of God” (1 Pet. 3:4).