Despite women’s progress in many fields, their potential is ignored by the South Asian country’s Catholic hierarchy
A Catholic woman’s choir performs in Dhaka on Jan.7. Women want to have a role in the policy-making of the Church in Bangladesh. (Photo: Stephan Uttom/UCA News)
Women leaders and nuns are demanding equal rights for men and women in Bangladesh’s Church, where women are not represented at the policy-making level.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Bangladesh (CBCB) has 15 commissions but all the chairpersons and secretaries are men, with the sole exception of the health commission.
“Women are present in churches everywhere except in policy-making and leadership positions,” said Holy Cross Sister Shikha Laetitia Gomes.
Even though women are ahead in the field of education, the Church is not using their talent properly, it was argued.
“If we use this talent, we could develop our society more quickly,” Sister Gomes, who is the principal of Holy Cross College in Dhaka, told UCA News.
Bangladesh’s position in the World Economic Forum (WEF) Index 2022 has narrowed from 65 to 71 in one year when it comes to bridging the gap between men and women.
Bangladesh has been able to hold the best position among countries in South Asia according to the WEF Index published on July 13.
But in the Church and in families, women are still looked down upon. “After completing everything a man needs, a woman still needs her husband’s permission to go out of the house,” said Roseline Costa, head of the women’s desk of the Justice and Peace Commission of the CBCB.
She further pointed out that Church leaders may listen to women, but at the end of the day, it is the men who take the final decision.
“However, the CBCB is trying to promote women’s leadership, but there is a huge gap that needs to be filled. Church leaders often talk about women leadership, but we don’t see any results,” Costa told UCA News.
Costa and Sister Gomes think that without the leadership of women no society will progress
Dhaka Archbishop Bejoy N. D’Cruze, who is the president of CBCB, said increasing the participation of women in the Church’s decision-making would be the right step toward ensuring a Synodal Church.
“Discussions are on to include more women on various committees of the CBCB. Through this, women will be able to enjoy social rights at the policy-making level of the Church,” Oblate Archbishop D’Cruze told UCA News.
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