In the pipeline

On November 24 the 87th session of the Social Weeks of France closed in Paris (www.ssf-fr.org). The theme, "Men and women: the new issue at stake", gave rise, after several round tables, to a debate accompanied by discussion groups that convened during the three-day meeting. Follows a summary of the conclusions advanced to Sarah Numico for SIR Europe, by president Jérome Vignon.Equality is not the abolition of differences. The end of a regime of male domination is the shared authority between man and woman. This is the novelty that we are driven towards today and our message. In the coming years we will face some of the tensions resulting from the debate between the Christian conscience and the new face of democracy, modernity. First, Christianity has the right to exercise its critique of gender equality interpreted as the abolition of differences, built on the assumption of similarity and identity. Christianity, in a prophetic way, will have to face this degraded conception of man-woman relationship that denies fundamental differences, reducing them to sexual behavior. We are at the beginning of this Christian antagonism, that is manifested in France, for example, with the very clear and peaceful opposition to the law which intends to open marriage to same-sex couples and grant them the right to adoption. We think that this law is an expression of freedom that has lost its head, which is deprived of foundation and references and is unable to discern between what is the same and what is different, confusing same-sex couples with opposite sex couples, destroying one of the foundations of solidarity, cohesion, attachment across the generations, and depriving future generations of the fundamental rights of children. We are called to mark our opposition every time that equality is interpreted as the abolition of differences and not as the construction of mutual respect, starting from the full acknowledgement of otherness.Men and women in the exercise of power as a service. Another indication that emerges in this search for equality is the demand for new freedoms. Renouncing stereotyping means to renounce closing men and women into confined areas, in "a priori" box. Opening this box means that the person must be met in her/his full subjectivity, renouncing an aprioristic determination or orientation. This encounter with subjectivity is precisely what Christianity encourages in the encounter with individual uniqueness. This will lead us to be engaged as Christians. To accept this quest for equality means giving up an exercise of power that is nothing but domain. It is not a question of replacing male domination with female domination. But rather of changing the way in which man and woman exercise their authority so that it may become service. Welcoming this cultural innovation will change us, starting with the institution of the Catholic Church. This will signal the recognition of a fruit of the Spirit. The Church cannot be present and significant for men and women of our time unless she accepts these fruits. We hope that the Church in France will be engaged to raise awareness on women’s contribution to pastoral and ecclesial life, on the quality of the relationship between men and women in the Church … This will bring about a different disposition, that in turn will give rise to significant initiatives such as women’s access to deaconship, which would enhance the rich contribution of women to the proclamation of the Word. The new challenge is a change in quality in the exercise of Church governance. This also requires a renewal in educational methods that must be more open to intersubjectivity and respect for the opposite sex. Working for equality. Progress regarding gender equality is affected by the evolution of the working environment, which leads to a third proposal, namely, to reorganize working structures, which are currently the primary source of inequalities. We therefore call for social negotiations in those areas marked by precarious jobs or short-term contracts with a large presence of women workers (hotel industry and catering, large-scale retail trade, transport, cleaning services…) to seek to improve the quality of such contracts in the long run. We call upon all company boards to adopt programs for the requalification of working hours and assignments, in order to grant greater access to women. We also propose that the variable part of the salaries of executives and administrators be proportionate to their efforts in this direction. A society that is more open to this equality is a different society, whereby the living and working conditions will be better, and this what us, as Christians, people of hope, want to help bring about.