Will Catholic women lag behind their Dalit, Muslim and Adivasi sisters in challenging patriarchal traditions?

I recently watched a debate at the Oxford Union on why Arab men hate women. Egyptian feminist Mona Eltahawy, who was the main speaker, brought forward numerous instances of women’s oppression in the Muslim Arab world. 

These were not unique to Islam, she emphasized. They occur with variations wherever patriarchy holds sway.

The truth is that similar attitudes of patriarchy dominate the Catholic world as women themselves have reiterated for decades.

A recent report commissioned by the Conference of Religious Women in India, “It’s High Time, Women Religious speak up on Gender Justice in the Indian Church,” edited by Hazel D’Lima, Cletus Zuzarte and Pallavi Xalxo, brings this out sharply.

The hierarchy of the Church, the report says, is steeped in patriarchy. This contributes in no small way to its oppression of all women —…