Pope decries male chauvinism

Pope Francis said this week that the fight for women’s rights was a “continuous struggle”, and condemned male chauvinism as deadly for humanity and female genital mutilation as a crime that must be stopped.

The pope was speaking to reporters on the plane returning from a four-day trip to Bahrain.

He also praised women he has appointed to managerial jobs in the Vatican, saying they had improved things there.

He made no mention of campaigns to let women move on beyond that and become clergy – the pope and his predecessors have said the question of women priests is closed.

“We have to continue struggling for this because women are a gift. God did not create man and then give him a lapdog to play with. He created both equal, man and woman,” he said.

“A society that is not capable of (allowing women to have greater roles) does not move forward,” he added.

Francis was responding to a question about women protesting in Iran but turned to the topic of women’s rights in general.

“We have to tell the truth. The struggle for women’s rights is a continuing struggle,” he said, listing historic struggles such as the fight for the right to vote.

Francis denounced male chauvinism, acknowledging there was still too much of it around the world, including in his native Argentina. “This chauvinism kills humanity,” he said.

(Reuters)