Washer liberated women, Vatican says

[Departure Song]

http://www.nationalpost.com/related/links/story.html?id=1371528

The Vatican has brought its unique perspective to the discussion about International Women's Day, singling out the humble washing machine as perhaps doing more to liberate women in the 20th century than the Pill or the right to work.

The submission was made in an article in the Vatican newspaper titled "The Washing Machine and the Liberation of Women -- Put in the Detergent, Close the Lid and Relax" printed above a black and white picture of two women in the 1950s admiring a front-loading machine.

The article was printed on the weekend in L'Osservatore Romano, the semi-official Vatican newspaper, to mark International Women's Day on Sunday.

"What in the 20th century did more to liberate Western women," asks the article. "The debate is heated. Some say the Pill, some say abortion rights and some the right to work outside the home. Some, however, dare to go further: the washing machine."

The long eulogy to the washingmachine highlighted "the sublime mystique to being able to 'change the sheets on the beds twice a week instead of once', " quoting the late feminist Betty Friedan.

While the machines were at first unreliable -- the first rudimentary models appeared in the 18th century -- technology has developed so quickly that now there is "the image of the super woman, smiling, made up and radiant among the appliances of her house," wrote the newspaper.

The article provoked an angry response from some commentators and politicians.

"Instead of entering into an abstract debate on gender, it would be better if L'Osservatore Romano discussed reality, such as the fear in which many women still live when they are in the streets and between the walls of their own homes," Paola Concia, an MP from the opposition Democratic party, told La Stampa newspaper.

The Roman Catholic Church has come under attack in recent days for what has been perceived as a callous approach to women's issues.

Last week, Brazil's health minister accused the Church of an "extreme" and "inadequate" position for opposing an abortion for a nine-year-old girl who became pregnant with twins after she was allegedly raped by her stepfather.

 

[Vladimir Putin's LJ]

Does anyone still think the Vatican is relevant about anything.

 

[Departure Song]

Yeah, one-sixth of the world's population. Unfortunately.