My research explores, in the inner lives of Pacific women, how their relationship with God can affect their wellbeing, and how their image of God relates to their relationship with their parents.

How we name, visualise and describe God is most often directly correlated to our relationships with attachment figures such as a caregiver or parent.

The way we talk about God and how we perceive God is also influenced by our upbringing, religious involvement and commitment, religious artwork in churches, museums and on social media.

Pacific peoples see religion and spirituality as important for wellbeing, alongside relationships with the physical environment, family, and culture.

Yet there is much we don't know about religious belief in the Pacific.

The disciplines of Christian theology, indigenous studies, psychology, and sociology are yet to adequately investigate specific religious practices, their theological basis, and how this affects mental wellbeing for Pacific peoples.

For my doctoral studies in theology I had the chance to speak with, and learn from, 64 young Pacific women in Tamaki Makaurau about how their images of God and cultural identity affected their mental wellbeing.

I met young mama who were working and studying at the same time, women who were deeply immersed in their language and cultural reclamation journey.

I met women who had been clinically diagnosed with a mental illness, women who were angry at the church, yet also those who wholeheartedly were serving in the church.

I met women who, when faced with a physical illness equally sought traditional Pacific healing methods, Western medicine, and prayer.

In our talanoa (free discussion), we laughed, cried, untangled our family and village connections, and talked about how church communities in Aotearoa might better engage with Pacific congregations to talk about and support mental wellbeing.

What struck me is how much Pacific women carry - emotionally, socially and psychologically. They need to navigate how to express their cultural identity in a Western, secular context.

If they aren't fluent in their native tongue they could be mocked by their wider extended family, unable to understand conversations and so feel inadequate.

They must also fulfil their families' expectations of what it means to be a Pasifika woman, whereas their male family members may have more social freedom. They may be responsible for caring for family members, as well as having to study and work.

And they feel obliged to succeed because that's what our older generations moved to Aotearoa for - educational opportunity, more employment options and a different future.

These young women were also grappling with what their Christian faith meant to them in light of being able to learn more about our cultures before colonisation and the harm churches caused in their compliance with racist colonial regimes.

• Dr Therese Lautua is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Department of Theological and Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Auckland.
• First published in Newsroom

Save the Children Philippines drew attention to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) recording 3,135 cases of adolescent pregnancies among young girls aged 10-14 in 2022, which was a 35 percent increase from the 2,320 cases recorded in 2021.

The organisation said this was an "alarming trend" and called on the government and families "to join forces in educating children about their rights and reproductive health."

The PSA has noted a concerning upward trend in teenage pregnancies under the age of 15 since 2017, it said in a March 1 statement ahead of International Women's Day.

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Mexico was one of the countries where the most violence took place. In the country's capital, Mexico City, protesters attacked the metropolitan cathedral located in Constitution Plaza.

Faced with the fences protecting the church, they opted to tear down a nearby traffic light. In images shared by local media, several women can be seen hitting part of the fence attempting to destroy it, while the police try to disperse them by firing tear gas.

In Puebla, about 80 miles southeast of Mexico City, local feminists tried to destroy the angel statues that sit on top of the fence in front of the cathedral. City hall was also hit with graffiti and vandalism.

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Women resent their lack of decision-making power and want to follow their consciences on sex and contraception.

They think the Church should be more inclusive of the diverse and the divorced.

Women also want to be allowed to preach, they dislike priests promoting political agendas and are concerned about a lack of transparency in Church governance.

Australian researchers led the global study - the largest in the Church's over 2000-year history. Their findings were presented at the Vatican on Wednesday - International Women's Day.

"There was this underlying sense of hurt, and certainly this feeling of being voiceless and ignored," one of the co-authors (both pictured) said.

"These are not women on the edge. These are women in the Church. Being Catholic is important to them, and they are struggling."

The survey report's other co-author says women's enthusiasm for the survey showed "they're really sick of it.

"They want to be there, but they're sick of not being able to contribute. In their secular lives, they can do so much more."

The study surveyed 17,200 women from 140 countries.

It is a timely piece of work, as Pope Francis leads the Church in a discussion about whether women should have a greater role in its governance and ceremonies.

Francis has ruled out the possibility of female priests. However, the deaconate (a deacon is someone who assists priests during mass and can preach the homily) is a possibility.

The female ambassadors to the Holy See to whom McEwan presented the findings on Wednesday included Australia's representative, Chiara Porro, who helped organise the presentation.

The first woman ever to be allowed to vote with the Vatican's synod of bishops, Sister Nathalie Becquart, has also been briefed on the research.

Hungry for reform - the stats

• 84 per cent of women supported reform in the Church; two-thirds wanted radical reform.
• Almost three in 10 said there would be no place for them without radical reform.
• Almost eight in 10 agreed women should be fully included at all levels of Church leadership.
• Over three-quarters agreed women should be able to give the homily, a commentary on the Gospel during services.
• Two-thirds said women should be eligible for the priesthood.
• Over four in five said LGBTQ people should be included in all activities.
• Just over half strongly agreed same-sex couples were entitled to a religious marriage.
• Seven in 10 said remarriage should be allowed after civil divorce.
• Three-quarters agreed that women should have freedom of conscience about their sexual and reproductive decisions.
• There was significant concern about abuses of power and spiritual harm, particularly by male clerics.

What women say

"I cling on to the church by my fingernails."

"I'm ashamed of my Church when I see only men in procession."

"Women do much of the work in the Church, but get no recognition or say."

"It's still the largest religion in the world. It's hugely important we understand it. The Church itself hasn't been interested in studying its own population."

Sources

• SMH
• ABC

"Every person deserves the chance to live up to their full God-given potential, without regard for gender or other factors," Biden, a Catholic, said in his statement.

"Ensuring that every woman and girl has that chance isn't just the right thing to do — it's also a strategic imperative that advances the prosperity, stability, and security of our nation and the world."

Biden went on to detail his administration's efforts intended to improve the status of women, including the launch of "a whole-of-government effort to protect reproductive rights."

He concluded with a call to "renew our efforts to advance dignity, equality, and limitless possibilities for all."

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One of those women, Australian journalist Geraldine Doogue, lent her support to major institutions including the Catholic Church.

Speaking at an event organised by the Australian embassy to the Holy See, Doogue acknowledged "It's been an exceptional few years" for Australia.

The country has been "a bit convulsed" with scandals involving several major institutions, including the Church, banks and healthcare, she said.

"Yet despite the problems with big institutions, they're better than the alternatives on offer," she added.

In her opinion, the question is how to improve institutions "without undermining them".

Pointing out institutions are often scrutinised for their faults while the benefits they offer are taken for granted, she challenged people at the event to reconsider their views in this time of global mistrust of institutions as they are "crucial to opportunities for people at all levels of society".

Another International Women's Day event in Rome, a panel of three of the highest-ranking women in the Vatican spoke of Francis and his good grasp on the issue of women in leadership positions in the Church.

The event was organised by the Opus Dei-run Pontifical University of the Holy Cross as part of an annual course for journalists covering the Vatican.

At the event, Vatican Museums director Barbara Jatta praised Francis for having a keen grasp on the issue of women in leadership positions in the Church and for taking concrete steps in the right direction.

She said while providing more leadership for women in the Catholic Church is "complex," her overall experience "is more than positive".

"There's talk of misogyny, but that's because [30 years ago] it was a completely masculine environment, so there wasn't the attitude of having a professional relationship with women," she said.

But "the role of women has radically changed" in the 30 years she's been at the Vatican, she added.

While changes in society as a whole are partly responsible, she credits Francis with the increased presence of women in leadership.

Gabriella Gambino, undersecretary for the "life" section of the Vatican department for Laity, Family and Life, spoke positively of Francis's comments about women's views at the recent summit on child protection.

"I am not a theologian or a canonist [but] I felt that he was expressing the true presence of women in the Church…he was vocalising what I have always felt as a woman of faith, as a woman who today works in the Church."

Natasa Govekar, head of the theological-pastoral office of the Vatican's communications department, said Francis's words helped clarify the "mistaken way" in which discussion on women in the Church is sometimes viewed.

Woman "was created to bring man to relation," and to speak of women in the Church means trying to "illuminate men and women together," she said.

Source

• Crux
• Image: Catholic News World

The 86-year-old Gardiner was the guest speaker at the Australian Embassy for last week's Holy See celebration of International Women's Day.

Gardiner, who is a sister of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, says loving the Tiwi people was what she tried to do all through her life.

"Love them means to be non-judgmental, accept them as people, don't place yourself above them - I made all those mistakes, but it kept on coming through: love them.

"Love them in their poverty, love them in their beauty, love them in their cultural ways, love them."

Gardiner says this mandate of love was the advice given to her by Bishop Francis Xavier Gsell M.S.C.

Not sure how to proceed with her new mission, Gardiner sought Gsell out when she was asked to move to Australia's Tiwi islands in 1953.

Gsell, who founded the Catholic mission on the island in 1911, advised the 22 year-old Gardiner to "Love them."

Gardiner's mission included serving the Tiwi people and helping them to adapt to the rapid changes in the western society around them.

A primary role she held for several years was principal of the island's Catholic school.

She says this role included hard-learned lessons in what it meant to relate to the people she served.

It involved taking on "the smell of the sheep," rather than placing herself above them.

She says the biggest lesson she learned was simply how to listen.

This meant getting to know and accept the Tiwi ways and working with their cultural traditions rather than speaking as someone from the outside and expecting them to completely adapt to western models.

"The biggest gift you can bring to indigenous people is to listen to what they are saying," she says.

By listening, one is able "to communicate with them so that you know you are really understanding what they are saying."

Source

• Vatican News
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: NT News

While women from around the world and Pakeha New Zealand women were included, Maori women were not. Nor were Samoan women.

The fact that Joan of Arc — a woman from 600 years ago who never set foot anywhere near the Pacific — made the cut, but Dame Whina Cooper did not, shows us that women of colour are yet to make it as leaders in the mainstream history of our region.

Why do we always seem to be looking overseas for our heroines and heroes when we have so many right here at home — in our family histories and in our hearts?

I spoke at an IWD18 event this week and the first person I paid tribute to was my grandmother and the women from my family and village, because whenever I think of women leaders, I can't help but think of the Women's Mau movement in Samoa.

Born when Samoa was under New Zealand administration, my nana Sieni was a small girl in 1929 when her papa, Migao, was killed by New Zealand military police — along with others who'd been on a peace march calling for human rights and independence.

They were unarmed when New Zealanders opened fire with machine guns. Her papa's body was riddled with bullets. He'd died trying to shield someone else — the march leader and his paramount chief, Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III.

Both men died along with several others. Many more were wounded.

That day — 28 December, 1929 — is known as "Black Saturday".

As the surviving men went into hiding, women took over the peaceful resistance movement and mobilised in defiance of the New Zealand authorities.

Our village was occupied by armed officers who used to raid our houses at night, terrorising our women and our children.

The New Zealand Government's dawn raids on Samoans did not begin in the 1970s. While I won't go into any details, these raids on our homes were way, way worse.

Officials also banned food going in or out of our village in a bid to try to hunt down any men who they suspected to be hiding there.

So my nana's mum and aunties would pretend they had to do their washing all day in the river by our ancestral home, but, of course, they weren't there doing their washing.

The rest of Samoa knew the New Zealanders had imposed a food blockade on our village so they secretly sent food and supplies via fautasi canoes.

My aunties would hide the food in the bundles of washing. Continue reading

• Christine Ammunson is a former journalist and press secretary. She's the strategic communications expert behind the award-winning campaigns "That's Us", "Give Nothing to Racism", and "Never Again/ E Kore Ano", the call for an inquiry into the abuse of New Zealanders in state care. She lives in rural Wairarapa and works in Wellington.
• Image: Action Station

He says women must be included in decision-making and he has encouraged parishes to include more women in leadership roles, "especially in parish pastoral councils and finance committees".

Writing in the Fiji Times on International Women's Day, Chong said "I empathise and pray for women who are not able to enjoy these achievements.

"I speak on behalf of the Catholic social teaching and denounce societies, cultures and peoples that undermine the dignity and rights of women and particularly those that oppress women."

Chong said Fijian cultures (Itaukei, Hindu, Muslim, Chinese, Rotuman, Rabi etc.) should all promote the dignity of women and in some cases liberate women.

He noted that "most of our cultures and religions are patriarchal - dominated by men.

"Patriarchal society views men as the standard of human nature and that women are somehow different and inferior. A patriarchal society denies its people the contribution and wisdom of women."

Chong quoted Pope Francis, saying "A world where women are marginalised is a sterile world because women don't just bear life but transmit to us the ability to see otherwise, they see things differently."

He said the patriarchal view of women clashes with the biblical teaching that all human beings, male and female, are created in the image of God.

"As believers, we have to promote the biblical teachings on the equality of men and women and particularly affirm the dignity of women."

He said the biblical view of women "calls for a conversion in our religions, churches and cultures.

"We have to change the patriarchal views of society and recognise women as equally made in the image of God."

Source

• fijitimes.com
• Image: Facebook

The conference has been held at the Vatican on International Women's Day - celebrated on 8 March, since 2014.

The list of potential speakers at the conference required approval from a cardinal. Mrs McAleese and two other nominees (neither of whom have been named) were not granted permission to participate.

Their attendance was opposed by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life.

No reasons were given, according to Chantal Götz, managing director of Voices of Faith. However, she notes McAleese has been outspoken on gay rights and women's ordination.

As a result of the Vatican decision, Götz says organisers have changed the conference venue.

It will now be held outside the Vatican, so will not require Vatican approval for choosing speakers and panel members.

The organisers have also changed the name of the conference to "Why Women Matter", and have invited McAleese to attend as a keynote speaker.

She had previously been asked to take part in a panel discussion at the event.

McAleese, who has studied for a doctorate in canon law at the Gregorian University in Rome, has written to Pope Francis about the situation.

She says she will not make any further comment on the matter as she is waiting to see if the pope responds to her letter.

The conference brings together Catholic women from across the globe to share their experiences and create dialogue with leaders on gender equality, inclusion and leadership.

It is seeking to convince the Vatican that women "have the expertise, skills and gifts to play a full leadership role in the church".

The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, says neither he nor his office were consulted by the Vatican in relation to the list of speakers for the event.

Source

• Brinkwire
• Irish Times
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: The Telegraph

International Women's Day this year was the day before yesterday - 8 March.

The initiative began four years ago "to enhance the dignity, participation and leadership of women and girls through persistent and good storytelling."

At this year's event women from all over the world focused on peacemaking through the theme: "Stirring the waters: Making the impossible possible."

One participant is Dr Scilla Elworthy. She is the founder of the Oxford Research Group and co- founder of Peace Direct, UK.

She said women's leadership is urgently needed "... because humanity is facing major crises that are unprecedented."

She said these crises are man-made "... like global warming, over population, the rich-poor gap and massive migration and we need to up our consciousness…".

Elworthy went on to note for the past 5,000 years "we have been missing the feminine; we haven't had true equality in feminine leadership and boy do we need it now."

The recently elected Jesuit superior general, Arturo Sosa, also attended the event.

Saying gender parity was an "essential point in humanity", he also noted studies on poverty always show it hits women and children more than the rest of the population.

"So it seems to me that if we really want to try to reconcile humanity with justice, the first thing is to have special care for women," he said.

Source

• Vatican Radio
• America
• ANSAen Vatican
• Image: Crux

It was a statement that seemed directly at odds with her circumstances: the 37-year-old is one of the most powerful women in the technology industry, Google's first female engineer and now head of a Fortune 500 company. After the birth of her first child just months into her new role, she resolved the angst of mother-child separation by building a nursery alongside her office so that she could bring the baby to work.

Mayer might not call herself a feminist, but in smashing through the glass ceiling of a male-dominated industry she is standing, in part, on the shoulders of all those feminists from decades and centuries past who spent their lives fighting for gender equality.

While her comments have offended the women for whom the connections between modern-day female liberty and the feminist movement are still obvious and strong, they also highlight the way in which progress has transformed the feminist ideal in the western world.

Although women still earn considerably less than men for the same work, are not well-represented at senior levels in business and politics and are often valued for their youth and beauty rather than their skills and expertise, they exist in a largely egalitarian milieu when compared to women in developing countries.

In Australia, girls are outperforming boys at school, more of them are going on to university, and less of them are being discriminated against in the workplace. There is no need for militant drive and a chip on the shoulder when the fight has already been won.

Despite all this, feminism is still as relevant as ever, if only as a structure with which to maintain the advancements that have brought us to this point and to ensure that we don't regress. Continue reading

Sources

• Catherine Marshall in Eureka Street
• Image: Literatur Haus Stuttgart
  

Catherine Marshall is a journalist and travel writer.