World Women's Day 2025: Women in the Church demand equality and respect!

World Women's Day 2025: Women in the Church demand equality and respect!

On the eve of World Women's Day on March 8, 2025, two leading religious of the Austrian Orders' Conference, Sr. Franziska Madl and Sr. Christine Rod, illustrated both the progress and the continuing challenges in gender equality, both in society and in the church. In a current broadcast, Madl recalled that despite the milestones achieved, there are still injustices such as unequal payment and educational opportunities. "As long as there are social differences, World Women's Day is necessary," she emphasized. The religious emphasized the successes in the cooperation between women and men's order, which are visible, for example, in the management of the Austrian Order Conference, where women are represented in many key positions, as in the educational sector and in communication, so Katholisch.at emphasized.

In order to improve gender justice in the church, according to Madl, fair payment structures and the implementation of the equal treatment law are essential. This is particularly important because the growth of priests disappears and the need for new forms of cooperation between full-time and volunteers as well as between the sexes. As Madl states, the church is located in a area of ​​tension between the preservation of proven structures and the urge for renewal, which brings with it both opportunities and challenges for future generations.