By Holy See Mission
Statement by the Holy See Delegation
delivered by Monsignor Bernardito Auza61st session of the UN General AssemblyInformal Thematic Debate on the promotion of
gender equality and the empowerment of womenNew York, 8 March 2007Madam President,
At the outset, my delegation thanks you for convening this Informal Thematic
Debate of the General Assembly on the Promotion of Gender Equality and the
Empowerment of Women, and its subsequent panel debates on women in
decision-making and empowerment of women including microfinance. This timely
debate is a significant contribution to the reflections on the issues of the
dignity, rights and duties of women and to their role and achievements in the
various sectors of society.
The legitimate quest for equality between men and women has achieved positive
results in the area of equality of rights. This quest needs to be accompanied by
the awareness that equality goes hand in hand with and does not endanger, much
less contradict, the recognition of both the difference and complementarity
between men and women. Without this recognition the struggle for equality would
not be authentic.
It seems, in fact, that oftentimes the ideas on the equality of rights between
men and women have been marked by an antagonistic approach which exalts
opposition between them. This approach juxtaposes woman against man and
vice-versa, while the identity and role of one is emphasized with the aim of
merely diminishing that of the other. Success in the quest for equality and the
empowerment of women can best be achieved when such antagonism gives way to
mutual respect and recognition of the identity and the role of one towards the
other.
A second tendency is to blur, if not entirely deny, the differences between men
and women. In order to avoid the domination of one sex over the other, their
differences tend to be obscured or viewed as mere effects of historical and
cultural conditioning. Physical difference is often minimized, while the purely
cultural dimension is maximized and held to be primary. This blurring of
differences has impact on the stability of society and of families and, not
least, on the quality of the relations between men and women. Equality between
women and men and the empowerment of women will be attained when the differences
of the sexes are recognized and highlighted as complementary and the cultural
element of gender is understood in its proper context.
Empowerment of women refers to increasing their social, political, economic and
spiritual strength, both individually and collectively, as well as to removing
the obstacles that penalize women and prevent them from being fully integrated
into the various sectors of society. Concretely, it means addressing
discriminatory practices that exclude women from decision-making processes,
oftentimes caused or aggravated by discrimination based on a woman’s race,
ethnicity, religion or social status. That women in society must be involved in
decision-making is not only right for reasons of equality, but also for the
specific insights that women bring to the process. This “feminine genius” will
prove most valuable, as women increasingly play major roles in the solution of
the serious challenges the world is facing. Empowerment of women also means
equal pay for equal work, fairness in career advancement, and equality of
spouses in family rights. Likewise, it means that women who choose to be wives
and mothers are protected and not penalized.
With regard to empowering women through microfinance, my delegation takes pride
in the fact that for decades some institutions and agencies of the Catholic
Church have been active in microfinancing. Just to cite one example, Catholic
Relief Services, which operates in 99 countries from all continents, began
microfinance programmes in 1988 in five countries. Now programmes are
operational in at least thirty countries, with more than 850,000 clients, of
whom almost 75% are women. The programme focuses on the poor, especially poor
women, in remote rural communities where there is no access to financial
services. Moreover, in order to build managerial capacities and assure programme
sustainability, the clients are directly involved in the management and
administration of the services they receive.
Studies have shown how microfinance has led to a wide-ranging improvement of the
status of women, from earning greater respect from men to being acknowledged as
society’s important contributors; from achieving better family health to greater
awareness of the value of education; from greater self-esteem to taking a
leading role in poverty reduction. These and other positive effects on the daily
life of women tell us that microfinance is warmly to be supported. However, we
must be aware that it is hardly a panacea for all the ills afflicting women in
developing countries. Further, the system is not immune from abuse. It is, in
fact, noted that in some circumstances and places, men ask their wives to get
loans from microfinanciers, and then they take the loan and run the business
themselves, or even, use the money for other purposes.
Hand in hand with the empowering benefits brought about by initiatives like
microfinance, goes the need for education and awareness-raising, especially at
the level of the local community. Education for women in particular remains the
most vital tool in the promotion of equality between men and women and in the
empowerment of women to contribute fully to society. The Holy See desires for
its part to continue to educate boys and girls, men and women, to foster and
uphold the dignity, role and rights of women. With tools such as these, women’s
empowerment can begin to take root and flourish in those places where it is
still largely lacking.
Thank you, Madam President.
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