by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
During the Year of Faith, we are called more than ever to be defenders of our faith – of the “truth” about man and woman, each made in the image and likeness of God, each with a moral order imprinted in our minds – a moral order that guides us as we seek to promote the sanctity of life and the dignity of the human person and to build the common good. We are called to SEE–JUDGE–ACT from a Catholic perspective – recognising that in a world in which moral relativism threatens to overwhelm us, we have to find ways to make our voices heard in the marketplace.
There is currently before Cabinet, a Draft National Policy on Gender and Development. In June 2012, Msgr Llanos, Vicar General, and CCSJ issued a media release welcoming such a document but making clear our concerns about certain aspects of the Draft document (see CCSJ’s website under “Media”).
Not all members of the Inter Religious Organisation (IRO) were consulted during the Stakeholders’ Consultation on the Policy. At all such consultations participants were only given a leaflet that outlined some of the key issues that would be included in the document.
By the time you read this article, Msgr Robert Llanos and I would have attended a Stakeholders’ Meeting of representatives of the IRO etc. The meeting, organised by the Ministry of Gender, Youth and Child Development, was scheduled to take place on Wednesday, April 24, to discuss concerns and receive recommendations regarding the Draft Policy. Not all faith communities are represented on the IRO. I hope their representatives would have been invited to the meeting.
Inter alia, the Catholic Church is concerned about the re-definition of the term “Gender” in the Draft Policy. The entire document will be influenced by the initial definition of Gender in the Glossary. The definition outlined in the leaflet circulated during the consultation period defines “Sex” and “Gender” as follows:
“Sex refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define male and female.
“Gender refers to the roles and responsibilities, attitudes and behaviours, and attributes and expectations associated with being male and female, which are denoted by the terms masculine and feminine.
“In most societies there are differences and inequalities between women’s and men’s roles and responsibilities, access to and control over resources, and participation in decision-making. Gender determines what is expected, allowed and valued in a man or woman within a given context. It is socially constructed and learned through socialisation processes.” (Emphasis mine)
This definition of Gender reflects the thinking of those on the World Health Organisation and on a number of other organisations. Catholics do not believe that Gender is socially constructed. We use the definition of Gender as outlined in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Art 7(3) (see below).
Read the article online by Babette Francis entitled: “UN Gender Diversity Battle at UN Women’s Session” (April 2, 2011). At the 55th session of the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), held in New York in February/March 2011, under the auspices of UN Women, “a new international entity with a billion-dollar budget.” Ms Francis said:
“The Holy See (Vatican) delegation…vigorously contested issues such as the European Union’s definition of “gender” as a fluid, changeable social construct, not biologically determined as male and female. The Holy See insisted “gender” be defined rigorously because sexual rights activists expand the definition of “gender” in UN documents to include a diversity of “genders”.
“Consequences of such redefinition would be monumental as it could change the meaning of thousands of UN documents. Activists would use this expanded definition in their respective countries to try to strike down laws governing such things as heterosexual marriage which they see as discriminating against diverse sexual orientations…
“The Holy See delegation stressed that in international law the only binding definition of gender is in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which states that “the term ‘gender’ refers to the two sexes, male and female, within the context of society. The term ‘gender’ does not indicate any meaning different from the aforementioned definition.”
Trinidad and Tobago is a signatory of the statute – signed on March 23, 1999, ratified or acceded to on April 6 1999 and came into force on July 1, 2002.
We join with the Holy See to warn that “this agenda to re-define ‘gender’ calls into question the very foundation of the human rights system.”
Pray for our country that any policy on gender and development that is approved by Cabinet and presented to the two Houses, will promote integral human development.
