In 1910, in London, Catholic women demonstrating non-violently for the right to vote were, like those in the United States, arrested, jailed, and tortured. Forming the Catholic Women’s Suffrage Society in 1911, the only Catholic group to support the vote for women, they began to see success in 1918 in England. Using the teachings of Jesus and Christian theology which see all humans as equal in the sight of God, they might have expected favorable mentions in Sunday sermons, admonitions to church employers to see that women and minorities got more affordable education; higher-level, policy-making jobs, and equal pay. But as you know, these are things we have to go on working for. So, re-named Saint Joan’s International Alliance, women continue to keep alive concerns about women: traditional prejudice, education, employment, female genital mutilation, hunger, poverty, reproductive safety, and whether the Holy See is carrying out the principles of the UN Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
An in depth look at the history of St. Joan’s International Alliance.
