By Ricardo Andrés Ramírez Basualdo
Professor of the Academy of Catholic Leaders of Chile
The mission of women
On the occasion of the thirty-fifth anniversary of Dignitatis Mulieris, by Saint John Paul II, an apostolic letter on the dignity of women, published on the occasion of the Marian year of 1988, which is the result of reflection from the synod dedicated to the vocation and mission of the laity in the Church and in the world of 1987. It addressed anthropological and theological arguments to resolve problems about the dignity of being man and woman.
Based on the text of John Paul II, one can understand the mission of women to respect and value their dignity as human beings. Catholics should express a position of feminism, where the integral development of women, respect for their dignity, their inalienable rights and duties are considered, this being the problem that I want to raise in the reflections of this essay, all based on the social magisterium of the Church.
From the Christian anthropology, women should enjoy the same dignity as men, since both have been created in the image and likeness of God. John Paul II explains it: “man – whether man or woman – is equally a person; in effect, both have been created in the image and likeness of the personal God” (Mulieris Dignitatem, 6). Which does not mean that, because in the text of Genesis it appears that woman is to be created from the rib of man, she has to be subjected under an abusive power of the male. Pope John Paul II clarifies that “woman is created by God “from the rib” of man and is placed as another “I”, that is, as an interlocutor next to man, who feels alone in the world of animated creatures that surrounds him and does not find in any of them a “help suitable for him” (Mulieris Dignitatem, 6). He calls to understand, in the best possible way, a reinterpretation of the dignity of women. Since man and woman must participate in communion, just as God is in communion as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the case of the human being, woman and man must be in that communion for each other, in no case, one subjected by the other. This is how John Paul II indicates it: “this unity of the two, which is a sign of interpersonal communion, indicates that in the creation of man there is also a certain resemblance to divine communion (“Communio”)” (Mulieris Dignitatem, 7). Which is considered a task, since it is not only about living together, but reciprocally.
The development of women
Another important aspect to consider is the development of women, which, like men, must be integral, that is, it must cover all aspects of the person, which in the case of women it has to be more difficult socially to reconcile motherhood with their own labor and professional development. The development of society must put the human person at the center, as we had already mentioned in previous paragraphs, that gives the same dignity to both men and women. That is why all social and political actors should allow to achieve objectives that allow the humanization of the human being, no one should be left out, and no member of society should be excluded from that development.
The economy should also worry about the marginalized of society, which
globalization has often left aside, producing, as Pope Francis affirms, a throwaway culture, where unfortunately, women are found in many areas of society and the labor and political world. Although they have had greater advances and occupations, this problem has not been completely solved and there are still public policies and laws that leave women aside and receive discrimination, on the contrary, they should receive the dignity of a person, for the sole fact of being a person, regardless of whether they are male or female.
Benedict XVI in his illuminating social encyclical Caritas in Veritate, maintains in this regard, that “in initiatives for development, the principle of the centrality of the human person must be safeguarded, who is the one who must assume in the first place the duty of development” (47).
The same rights and duties must be recognized in every human person, which must be considered as inalienable and essential in the recognition of the dignity of the human person in society. They must give, as Saint John XXIII affirmed, a place to women in the public space, since each human being must have the full right to choose the contribution they want to make in society and the best way in which they want to develop.
Hence, women, already in the time of the Good Pope, must realize that their space in public life must be evident. Pope John XXIII states that “Woman has acquired an increasingly clear awareness of her own human dignity.
Therefore, she does not tolerate being treated as an inanimate thing or a mere instrument; on the contrary, she demands that, both in the sphere of domestic life and in that of public life, the rights and obligations proper to the human person be recognized” (Pacem in Terris, 41). Which must be necessary to advance, hopefully at increasingly rapid steps, in a greater presence of women in political life and decision-making, especially of the most elementary ones in society.
In short, women have been reaching the position they deserve for their dignity, which is to be equal in rights and duties to men. Which does not mean that they leave aside their own aspects of being a woman, because that would not go in favor of respect for their integrity. Thus, women must be respected in society for their dignity, which from the Christian anthropology consists, as in the case of men, of being created in the image and likeness of God.
In addition, society must strive to have the human person at the center of its development, where women do not have to remain in the background, but must develop integrally like men. Finally, women must continue to advance in their space in public life, our society already has great examples of this throughout the planet, but there is still a need for greater leadership education for women, but also greater training for men, so that they know how to respect the equal rights of women.
Bibliography
Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 2005.
John Paul II, Mulieris Dignitatem, 1988
John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, 1963