Theological Reflection

In Roman Catholicism gender inequality is at the fundamental basis of how it is built. In the Catholic Church priests are only men because they represent Jesus and women can not represent Him because He was a man. In Catholicism there are no female priests and priests are not allowed to get married. It is only under Pope Francis that women are allowed to read at Mass, but still cannot be priests. 

By the very structure of Roman Catholicism women are depicted as a lesser species than men.  In a USA Today article written by Nicole Winfield, she writes, “Francis amended the law to formalize and institutionalize what is common practice in many parts of the world: Women can be installed as lectors, to read Scripture, and serve on the altar as eucharistic ministers. Previously, such roles were officially reserved to men even though exceptions were made.”  This shows how it is only in recents times that women were given the opportunity to participate in Catholic masses. In today's world, there are not really any women helping make decisions and changing the Church. Only 22% of the workers in the Vatican are women as of 2019. Vatican City writes, “In the past ten years, both the overall number and the percentage of women working in the Vatican has grown. In 2010, during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, a total of 4,053 people worked for the Pope, 697 of whom were women, which is around 17 percent. In 2019, the Holy See and Vatican City together had a total of 4,618 employees, of which 22 percent (1016) were women.” This shows that numbers are trending toward more women working for the Vatican, but still in 2022 there are far more men than women who work for the Catholic Church. 

The values between the Catholic Church and Hollywood can, at times, clash. For example the view of women in the Bible can support the misogynistic views of how women are treated in Hollywood. In Corinthians the following is stated, “Women should keep silent in the churches, for they’re not allowed to speak but should be subordinate, as even the laws says “(1 Corinthians 14:34 New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition). This passage shows the discrimination between women and men with higher power. When women first appeared on screens they were only allowed to appear as a certain image. Having a clean and pure image was ideal, until the image was skewed for more of a sexual pleasure. They were silenced verbally and physically. 

Joan Chittister from National Catholic Reporter wrote, “the church never treats women as fully independent adults, let alone as fully baptized disciples of Jesus,” which shows that even though the Catholic church is changing their views on women within the church, it’s still not fully accepting of females. This is seen in Hollywood too. For example, throughout Hollywood’s existence there has always been a disparity between how men and women are treated. Women in Hollywood have less opportunities because men are more likely to hire other men. When women are included, they have different expectations than men and this has been happening since the early 1900s. The perception of Hollywood actresses shifted throughout the years.