The president of the Bishops’ Conference says that the Church is a “model for progress, development and equal opportunities for women”. Female infanticide and foeticide are a tragedy that raises serious concerns.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) – “The Catholic Church in India, through centuries of selfless service in the fields of education and health care, [. . .] has pioneered woman’s empowerment in India,” said Card Telesphore Placidus Toppo, president of the Bishops’ Conference of India. Speaking to AsiaNews about the Church’s role in women’s emancipation in India on International Women’s Day, the archbishop of Ranchi, who is of tribal origin, noted that the contribution of the Catholic Church was especially significant among “the most deprived and marginalised Dalit and Tribal in the remotest and unreached areas of India”.

“Even though Christians are a miniscule minority in India, the Church is a model for progress, development and equal opportunities for women. The Church, as an institution, respects the rights and dignity of women and denounces attacks against them.”

“The Catholic Church has had a long history of education of women and girls. Today, tens of thousands of women and girls are being educated in church-run institutions, at Catholic primary schools, secondary schools, Catholic colleges or universities. Most importantly, Catholic students account for a tiny minority of the beneficiaries of Christian educational institutions.” Indeed, “The Church has been selflessly providing services, without discrimination of caste or creed, to tens of thousands of girls and women,” the president of the Bishops’ Conference explained.

Shaken by scandals involving its weakest members around the world, “the Catholic Church advocates zero tolerance towards sexual abuse of women and children in the Church. We have seriously taken note that sexual abuse in the Church is a violation of human rights and that it is therefore a crime punishable under Indian law,” the archbishop said.

Beyond the issue of abuses, a wider problem touches women’s dignity. “Women, like men, are made in the image of God,” but “equality of dignity does not mean being identical to men. This would only impoverish women and all of society” because they would lose “the unique richness and values that are proper to femininity,” he explained.

“We are partners. Men and women are complimentary. Each of us has a role to play in society, family and the nation. We must accept the will and purpose of the Creator and work together in creating a more harmonious universe according to the divine plan,” Mgr Toppo said.

Something unique comes from the union of a man and a woman. “The maternal mission is also the foundation of a particular responsibility. Mothers are tasked with being protectors of life.” For this reason, “it is a matter of grave concern that in India today the evils of female infanticide and foeticide persist even among the educated and the elite. The Church, through is vast network of health care services, orphanages and adoption care centres, is able in a way to combat this dreaded social malaise.”

According to the Swayam Centre in Kolkata, about 246 million Indian women cannot read and write. The literacy rate for men over the age of 15 stands at 69 per cent against 46.4 per cent for women.

Women on average earn 25 per cent less than men do. They occupy 9 per cent of seats in the Indian parliament. Only 3 per cent of all administrators and managers are women. Even though 38 per cent of HIV-AIDS patients are women, they only have access to 25 per cent of hospital beds. (N.C.)

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