East & West - Women
It seems that the vatican and middle east religious zealouts have much in common when it comes to the treatment of women. Today, Maureen Dowd in the NYTimes Op-Ed discusses the treatment of nuns, and discusses among other things, turning a blind eye on paedophilia and philandering priests who father out of wedlock and in-frock children while chastising nuns for compassionately aiding those with aids, supporting pour women who need abortions, trying to reconcile the church’s stance on homosexuals and controlling the length of their skirts. Then in:
2004, the cardinal who would become Pope Benedict XVI wrote a Vatican document urging women to be submissive partners, resisting any adversarial roles with men and cultivating “feminine values” like “listening, welcoming, humility, faithfulness, praise and waiting.”
If we changed the word woman for the work black, there would be protests in the streets. Sexism and double standards for women are so ubiquitous in our societies that we just accept this way of thinking and doing as the norm. How much longer do we have to wait?
