Women's perspectives on human rights in the Catholic Church. (Sexual Rights and Reproductive Rights).

"Diversity and differences do not diminish equality, but reinforce and heighten it. That's why equality is closely aligned with justice. In a radical, democratic vision of the Church, equality means equal access, equal respect, equal rights and well-being. It must manifest itself in political, economic, social, cultural, religious and ecclesiastic equality."

--Elisabeth S. Fiorenza

In Latin America, human rights have a special significance due to the political, economic, cultural and religious history of their violation. Many groups are very sensitive to this issue: African-descendant peoples, indigenous peoples, women, children, the elderly, youth, and finally the poor, who, given their history of exclusion, exploitation and repression, today have the most to say with respect to human rights.

Feminist organizations are also asking questions, promoting debates and making proposals related to human rights. The slogan, "Women's rights are human rights," has caused Catholic women to ask ourselves: What of the rights of women within the Catholic Church? How do women who participate in or are part of the Catholic Church experience their rights? Is there a place for women's rights within the Catholic Church?

I believe that reflecting on human rights in the Church is not a passing fad of secondary importance. On the contrary, the Church's defense of human rights immediately suggests that we ask ourselves how this same practice bears on the defense of women's rights. While the Catholic Church, especially in Brazil, committed itself deeply to denouncing injustices and defending human rights, we cannot say it did the same for women's rights, especially those related to sexuality, reproduction, domestic violence, etc.

The Church's difficulties in defending women's rights am not happenstance or attributable to individuals in key positions in the hierarchy. The issue goes deeper and has to do with the structures that sustain the Church itself. Ivone Gebara (1992) affirms that the Church is a "monotheistic patriarchy" with many negative historical consequences. For her, this monotheism is the source of the intransigence, the sense of ownership and manipulation of the truth and the concentration of the sacred power in the hands of a male minority, as well as its androcentric vision of the Christian universe. The result is the exclusion of women's contribution "in equality of conditions."

Rosado (1998), following the thinking of Poulat, reminds us that the idea of "the rights of man" is inscribed in the context of the modern ambition to forge a universal consensus for the first time in the history of the world. Such an ideology is based on an Enlightenment conception of Man and itself constitutes a "rupture with Catholic principles" (Poulat, 1986, p. 27). If the basis of Christian ideology is the affirmation of God as the first cause and final foundation, scientific thought and modern law are built on reason and the social contract and dispense with the resource of divinity. Therefore, a conflict of rights arises: "the right of the individual to freedom of thought, of speech and religion; and the right of Catholicism, recognized as the state religion, to represent absolute truth with all its social consequences." (Ibid., p. 33-34)

These problems are not insurmountable for women, particularly with reference to the issue of human rights. It is precisely the consciousness of subordination that enables us today to feel the need to conquer women's liberty and autonomy and champion women's rights. Women's demands are a reminder that the conquest of human rights was the result of conflicts and the historic needs of individuals rather than the result of natural and static predeterminations.

For this reason, feminist theologians are discovering and giving meaning to women's experiences in relation to the sacred. New theological formulations and Biblical interpretations provide insights for addressing this question. In theological terms, the fact that human beings are created in the image and likeness of God means that both women and men share a close similarity with the divine.

For these reasons, many women around the world are fighting for the abolition of canon 1024 of the Code of Canon Law which asserts that "only a baptized man can validly receive sacred ordination." The arguments that justify this canon totally contradict all the human rights principles that defend equal dignity and rights for women and men. Under this rule, the Catholic Church justifies theologically every type of discrimination against women.

But women are insisting on recognition of the rights that they have as baptized and confirmed women within the Church. They won these rights throughout the world when they kept many of the Christian communities alive through their patient efforts.

If we examine the actions of Jesus, we can also perceive his libertarian attitude regarding the defense of human liberty when dealing with the laws of his times. He placed the law at the service of human beings and not the other way around. This attitude of Jesus contrasts with the Church's contradictory practice of elaborating norms and laws in the absence of women who must then obey them. These norms, dogmas and laws are oppressive in the lives of women because they limit their liberty and autonomy over their bodies, sexuality and reproduction. The libertarian spirit of the movement of Jesus emerges when oppressive structures are broken, especially those which oppressed the women of his time, which today encourage us in our demands.

The experience of many Latin American women shows that although the Church has difficulty in recognizing their rights, women of faith are not passively accepting this situation. Through feminist theologies, the women's church movement, feminist liturgical celebrations, etc., women are saying to the Church that by "asserting our spiritual and religious authority, [they] want to contribute to the construction of a new ethic and a new morality that does not condemn, but rather affirms individual and collective responsibility in all spheres of life." Women are fighting for the Church to recognize "our rights over our bodies and autonomy in the realm of sexuality" (Open letter of the Catholics for a Free Choice/Brazil on the visit of the Pope to Brazil).

As theologian Pamela Dickey Young (1993) reminds us: "If the essence of all religious tradition is its capacity to satisfy the needs of its faithful, it must continue to do so for the believers of today. If this does not occur, the religion lacks relevance." The Church must understand that today's women are influenced by modernity and that we are experiencing what it means to act with liberty and exercise our individual autonomy in many spheres of life. That the right to life, about which the Church has so much to say, also includes the lives of millions of women. Based on one of the fundamental principles of Christianity--that men and women were created in the image and likeness of God/Goddess--we are discovering that our relationship with God does not need mediation from androcentric structures which impede the exercise of our fundamental right to a relationship with the sacred.

For this reason Catholic women, joining the international movement "We Are Church," call for the recognition of:

* Women's essential contribution in the construction of the Kingdom of God;

* Women's right to speak and vote in all ecclesiastical councils;

* Women's right to have full access to church ministries.

* Human Rights for women, also in the Church!

Bibliography

Dickey Young, Pamela (1993). Teologia Feminista. Teologia Cristiana: en busqueda de un metodo. Mexico: Demac.

Dumais, Monique (1987). Las mujeres en la Biblia. Madrid: Ed. Paulinas.

Gebara, Ivone (1992). "Direitos humanos na Igreja, direitos diminuidos, mulheres, leigos, culturas nao-ocidentais," in Igreja e o exercicio do poder. Maria Helena Arrochellas, ed., Rio de Janeiro: ISER.

Rosado Nunes, Maria Jose (1998). Religion and Women's Rights: The Fundamentalist Face of Catholicism in Brazil, mimeo.

Advocating the Rights of Women Living Under Muslim Laws

The Network 'Women Living Under Muslim Laws' was created to break women's isolation and to provide linkages and support to all women whose lives may be affected by Muslim laws.

The use of the words 'Muslim Laws' in our name reflects two equally important issues. First, laws formally considered Muslim vary, sometimes radically, from one cultural context to another.

Second, a plurality of legal codes co-exist in each cultural, social and political context. At the very least, each society has a formal, codified legal system and a parallel system in which customary laws and practices combine. Further sub-divisions can also occur--for example, some countries may have two formal codes, religious and civil. Similarly, customary laws are diverse.

The Network recognizes that these parallel systems are of vital importance to women because the maximum combined impact is felt in family and personal matters. These affect women disproportionately and usually in a manner that undermines their rights and autonomy.

Despite the diversity--within and between social, political, economic and cultural environments--all too often the whole system is presented and internalized as being "Islamic," thus producing many effects on society at large and women in particular.

The Network's name, 'Women Living Under Muslim Laws' (WLUML), is an acknowledgment of the complexity and diversity of women's realities in Muslim countries and communities. Our choice of name also recognizes that women affected by Muslim laws may not be Muslim but rather may have other political or personal identities.

WLUML therefore includes:

* Women living in countries or states where Islam is the state religion, as well as those from Muslim communities ruled by minority religious laws;

* Women in secular states where Muslim groups are making demands for the imposition of religious law;

* Women in migrant Muslim communities in Europe, the Americas and around the world; and

* Non-Muslim women who may have Muslim laws applied to them directly or through their children.

WLUML was formed in response to situations that required urgent action during the years 1984-85. These included:

   The case of three feminists in
   Algeria who were arrested,
   jailed without trial and kept incommunicado
   for seven months,
   for having discussed with other
   women the proposed law known
   as the "Family Code," which was
   highly unfavorable to women;

   The case of an Indian sunni
   woman who filed a petition in
   the Supreme Court arguing
   that the Muslim minority law applied
   to her divorce denied her
   the rights otherwise guaranteed
   by the Constitution of India
   to all citizens;

   The case of a woman in Abu
   Dhabi charged with adultery
   and sentenced to be stoned to
   death after delivering and feeding
   her child for two months;

   The case of the "Mothers of
   Algiers" who fought for custody
   of their children after divorce.

The campaigns that have been launched on these occasions received full support both from women and men within Muslim countries and communities and from progressive and feminist groups elsewhere.

Taking the opportunity of meeting at the international feminist "Tribunal on Reproductive Rights" held in Amsterdam in July 1984, nine women from Muslim countries and communities--Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, Iran, Mauritius, Tanzania, Bangladesh and Pakistan--formed the Action Committee of Women Living Under Muslim Laws in support of women's struggles. This Committee later evolved into the present network.

WLUML believes that the apparent helplessness of most women in the Muslim world in effectively mobilizing against and overcoming adverse laws and customs is only partly due to their economic and political weakness. It also stems from the erroneous belief that the only existence possible for a Muslim woman that allows her to maintain her identity is the one outlined for her by the dominant culture.

In fact, the common presumption both within and outside the Muslim world that there exists one, homogenous Muslim world is a fallacy. Interaction between women from different Muslim societies has shown us that while some similarities may stretch across cultures, classes, sects, schools and continents, the diversities are at least equally striking.

The different realities of women living under Muslim laws are wide ranging. Some are strictly closeted, isolated and voiceless within four walls, subjected to public floggings and condemned to death for presumed adultery (which is considered a crime against the state) and forcibly given in marriage as a child. Others have a far greater degree of freedom of movement and interaction, the right to work, to participate in public affairs and to exercise far more control over their own lives.

WLUML's objectives are:

* To break isolation and to create and reinforce linkages between women and women's groups within Muslim countries and communities;

* To increase women's knowledge about both their common and diverse situations in various contexts; and

* To strengthen their struggles and to create the means to support them internationally from within and outside the Muslim world.

In essence, the purpose of WLUML is to increase the autonomy of women affected by Muslim laws by encouraging them to reflect, analyze and reformulate the identity imposed on them through the application of Muslim laws and through this process to assume greater control over their lives.

These objectives are fulfilled through:

* Building a network of mutual solidarity and information flow;

* Facilitating interaction and contact between women from Muslim countries and communities and between them and progressive and feminist groups at large;

* Promoting the exposure of women from one geographical area to another in and outside the Muslim world; and

* Undertaking common projects identified and executed by network participants.

From the website of Women Living Under Muslim Law, http:// www.wluml.org

The author is Colombian and a member of the coordinating team of the Brazilian branch of Catholics for a Free Choice. She has a Master's degree from the Pontificia Universidade Catolica in Sao Paulo and wrote her thesis on the subject, "Women, AIDS and religion." She currently is studying for a doctorate at the same university.