ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the interaction of progressive Catholicism with women’s right to equal treatment within the home and to equal status in church. It is common among observers of religious politics in Brazil to keep up that the progressive wing of the Catholic Church, its commitment to universal liberation notwithstanding, has failed to break with the mother Church’s less than emancipatory stance toward women. In order to proceed with the analysis, it is important to grasp some of the basics about women’s status in Brazil. Starting in the 1970s, the feminist movement in Brazil, along with a variety of demographic and social pressures, have brought about major changes in gender status and relations. There can be little doubt that the stance of Catholicism towards women is weighed down by conservative imagery and associations. Progressives define women not by the androgynous qualities of courage and fortitude, but by the essential ‘feminine’ virtues of nurturance, self-sacrifice and asexuality.
