Women respond to #lifeofwomen campaign
Despite its announcement days after Christmas and a quick one week deadline, Catholic women responded eagerly to the Vatican's call for insight into the "Life of Women" last week. (Check out Twitter and Facebook to see the latest posts) The Pontifical Council for Culture asked women to post the videos in a social media campaign in order to "crowd source" the opinions of women for an upcoming meeting on the topic of "Women's cultures: equality and difference."
Predictably, the hashtag quickly filled with posts calling for equality in our Church. Some messages are simple, "I am called to be a priest. #lifeofwomen @vaticancultura" tweeted one woman. Others used video to list the identities they hold and roles they play, powerfully illustrating the ways their lives are too profound and contributions too important for their voice to be reduced to a 60 second video. Still others simply added the hashtag when they tweeted news of domestic abuse, discrimination, and of women fired for using contraception. Our friends at WOC pulled together some videos and posts here, and you can search the latest on Twitter and Facebook anytime.
In her column at NCR, Jamie Manson critiques the Vatican's slap dash campaign to hear the voices of women. "Not only did the dicastery assume that the whole of women's experience could be reduced to a 60-second sound bite, it also assumed that such a feat could be performed in under a week, “she says, and also points out most importantly that the women from whom the Vatican most need to hear are left out of the project completely. "The sad irony is that many of the women who suffer most profoundly under the forces of patriarchy and gender inequality are not likely to have access to a smartphones or computers, let alone to Internet access capable of uploading a one-minute video."
Women's voices are painfully absent from official decision making in the Church. A one week video campaign won't solve that but it sure proved that you can count on Catholic women to raise the call for equality any time and anywhere!
