That has been true not just in the Catholic Church, but in religions around the world.
鈥淲omen are severely under-represented in the teaching and writings of all the religious traditions,鈥� said Rev. Mary Beth Moran Cross, a minister from the United Church of Christ attending the Parliament of the World鱿鱼视频app Religions in Toronto from Kalamazoo, Mich. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think religion is the problem. I think the interpretation of it is鈥�. I鈥檓 not saying men are the problem. I鈥檓 married to one.鈥�
For thousands of years, religious traditions have defined a woman鱿鱼视频app role in society to be separate and often subservient to her male counterpart. The woman is the bearer of life and she is the servant of her family. Sometimes she is the gatekeeper of the sacred. Sometimes she is the vessel of temptation.
One of the major themes the Nov. 1-7 Parliament of the World鱿鱼视频app Religions addressed head-on was whether religion and feminism can be truly compatible. The gathering is the oldest and largest interfaith event in the world, this year hosting more than 200 religions and spiritualities.
In a session on faith and feminism, Canada鱿鱼视频app Status of Women Minister Maryam Monsef recounted that when her family was fleeing the Taliban in Afghanistan, the militants and their mullahs used religion to justify a war against education for girls.
鈥淭hey used Islam as their rationale, even though that is not there,鈥� Monsef told a roomful of women gathered for the session Nov. 2.
Monsef teamed up with her old friend and mentor Rosemary Ganley, a Catholic and a feminist from Peterborough, Ont.
鈥淲hen we鈥檙e born into a faith, we鈥檙e aware of strengths and weaknesses. We have to critique the weaknesses,鈥� Ganley told a gathering of about 40 delegates.
As a Muslim woman, Monsef finds herself engaged in battle on two fronts. On the one hand, she鱿鱼视频app at war with patriarchal cultural attitudes within the Muslim community. On the other, Canadian society sees Muslims as backward oppressors of women.
鈥淓very community I go to, I ask to meet with Muslims and I ask to meet with Afghans,鈥� she said. 鈥淟et me tell you, Muslim women in Canada are doing really amazing things.鈥�
Catholic women were also reflecting on their place in the modern Church. Bioethicist and theologian Moira McQueen was joined by St. Augustine鱿鱼视频app Seminary professor Josephine Lombardi and Sr. Davinia Pedro of the Sisters of St. Joseph Canada to talk about when they first found their place in the Church.
Pedro had always known her call was to the poor and vulnerable. Growing up in the Philippines, she had to put her family鱿鱼视频app needs before her own but she knew at a young age she was heading towards religious life.
鈥淚 believe I am encouraged and challenged to live the mission of the Church, to be the presence of God where I am,鈥� she said. 鈥淭o be that reconciling love and also to receive the reconciling love of God from others.鈥�
Pedro works in Fort St. James, B.C., where most community members are from the Indigenous Carrier Nation. Her daily ministry includes visiting prisons, serving at the local soup kitchen and volunteering at a drop-in centre.
McQueen once had another life as a lawyer and then a homemaker. While she volunteered at her local parish to run the children鱿鱼视频app liturgy and marriage preparation classes, she realized that she had a lot of questions about her faith. She began to study on her own and it was when she began to read about ethics that she found her calling.
鈥淚 realized that there were areas that I could talk about that people needed to know about and from then on, that鱿鱼视频app when I really felt that God was telling me I had a voice and I better use it,鈥� she said.
With a law degree, a Master of Divinity and a PhD in moral theology, McQueen was appointed executive director of the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute. Her work in research and education in bioethics earned her a place in the Vatican鱿鱼视频app International Theological Commission in 2014.
鈥淲hen I joined the (Commission), it鱿鱼视频app a group of 30 theologians in the whole world and only five of us are women,鈥� she said. 鈥淏efore that, there were only two women. It鱿鱼视频app a five-year term and a new group is about to be appointed. I鈥檓 hoping it goes up to at least 10 or I鈥檓 talking to Pope Francis.鈥�
Lombardi echoed her fellow panelist, saying the Church needs to consider more opportunities for women to be present in decision-making processes.
鈥淲e know that leadership is not limited to the ministerial priesthood, so then I often wonder when it comes to governance 鈥� is it limited to the ministerial priesthood or is there room for women in governance? I think that鱿鱼视频app where I鈥檇 like to see more input,鈥� she said.
Women have an important role to play in forming future priests, said Lombardi, who is also director of lay formation at St. Augustine鱿鱼视频app Seminary.
Emilie Callan, who recently participated as an auditor at the Synod of Bishops on young people in Rome, moderated the panel titled, 鈥淐atholic Women on the Front Line: Evangelization, Care and Outreach.鈥� Callan said the role of women was a prominent subject which synod fathers admitted required much more discernment.
The focus on women has been a tradition at Parliaments of the World鱿鱼视频app Religions since the 125-year-old gathering was revived in 1993, said Toronto organizing committee co-chair Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton. The Parliaments keep coming back to the role and status of women in religion because the problem is real, Hamilton said.
鈥淭he role of women has perhaps been taken for granted,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t has been less articulated than men鱿鱼视频app roles, less visible. It鱿鱼视频app time to change that.鈥�
It is no exaggeration to say that making women invisible in religion amounts to oppression, said Hamilton.
But women also experience oppression in their work lives, in the marketplace and in the culture.
鈥淩eligion lives and breathes in society,鈥� said Hamilton.
It should surprise no one women are searching for uniquely feminine ways to express their own religious experience, said Donna Wilding of Toronto as she took a break just outside the red tent designated as the Women鱿鱼视频app Sacred Space on the convention floor.
鈥淩ight now there is a rising awareness of the divine feminine.Because it is needed.鈥�
If more women held leadership roles in religious and secular institutions, 鈥渢hings would be better,鈥� said Wilding.
鈥淓ven though we鈥檝e birthed the world, our role is quite small compared to what we鈥檝e done in this world.鈥�
Men who have had leading and public roles in their faiths for centuries recognize that making room for women means disentangling religious truth from cultural bias, said Interfaith Dialogue Institute executive vice president Azim Shamshiev, a Sunni Muslim.
鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app important for the issue of women to be addressed within religions themselves,鈥� he said.
Though Islam is often accused of keeping women subservient and separate, in the roots of Muslim tradition there are important female figures. Among the Prophet Muhammad鱿鱼视频app wives, Aisha was an acknowledged scholar and political leader who passed on many sayings of the Prophet at the core of Muslim faith. She is referred to as the 鈥渕other of believers.鈥�