If diplomacy and policy-making are to be successful, all women –
including those who are often left out of the conversation – must have a
voice in the process, a Holy See representative told the United
Nations.
“Empowering women means creating the conditions
necessary for them to flourish, in full acceptance of and in accordance
with their natural genius as women, and in harmonious complementarity
with the gifts of men,” Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Permanent Observer
of the Holy See to the United Nations, said March 18.
“Empowering
women and girls will greatly help the world community not to leave
anyone behind, and their empowerment will empower us all,” he said.
He
gave his remarks during the deliberations of the 60th Session of the
Commission on the Status of Women of the United Nations. This session's
focus was “Women's Empowerment and the Link to Sustainable Development.”
Archbishop
Auza focused on the idea that “no one will be left behind” as found in
the commitment of the Member States in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development.
Women, he said, must be recognized for their
"vital role ... in preventive diplomacy, mediation, peacekeeping and
peace-building processes, as well as their growing presence in
policy-making bodies and advocacy groups."
However, elderly women, mothers, and pre-born girls, the archbishop said, are especially vulnerable to sex-based discrimination.
Instead
of being seen as critical policy priorities, elderly women's needs are
frequently overlooked leading these women to feel “unwanted and, in some
cases, leaving them vulnerable to the pressures of assisted suicide.”
“An
exaggerated focus on economic productivity and the decline of family
values are leaving elderly women even farther behind,” he said.
Elderly
women should be made to “feel welcome and productive in their own way”
by making their wisdom available for the whole of society, Archbishop
Auza said.
In a similar way, he said, mothers face
discrimination when their “essential contribution to the development of
society through motherhood is not adequately acknowledged, appreciated,
advanced and defended.” This prejudice, oftentimes by way of cultural
and legal pressures, forces women to choose between a career and
motherhood.
On behalf of his delegation, Archbishop Auza said
he wanted to thank “all women who have raised generations of responsible
daughters and sons.”
Girls in the womb also face discrimination, even before they have the chance to be born.
Abortion
and in-vitro fertilization have been used to “selectively eliminate
girls, leading to unnatural sex-ratio-at-birth disparities” causing a
deficit of more than 160 million girls compared to boys, he said.
After
addressing the concerns of these groups of women, Archbishop Auza
emphasized the importance of ensuring access to education and healthcare
for women and girls, which he called indispensable.
He
pointed out that the Catholic Church, “through its vast network of
250,000 schools, 23,500 clinics and hospitals, 16,000 homes for the
elderly and those with special needs,” the majority of which are located
in developing nations and areas of conflict, is the “largest education
and health provider in the world.”
Women’s healthcare must be
provided “in accord with their feminine humanity and dignity,” he said,
adding that it “would be contradictory to seek to empower women while
suppressing their natural potentialities.”
Women in need
should not only be the beneficiaries of aid, but they should "above all
... be empowered to become dignified agents of their own development and
important drivers of sustainable development."
