Women find a place in Church governance: International Women's Day 2020

There is a part of the Catholic Church where women consistently have a place as equals in Church governance.

This is stark contrast to the impression of some Catholics whose submissions to the Plenary Council 2020 gave the impression that women are always and everywhere excluded from Church governance.

The annual report on women in Ministerial Public Juridic Persons (PJP) governance has, for the third year, shown women are close to equally represented as both as Trustees and as Directors of their Boards.

Eva Skira, Chair of the Council of the Association of Ministerial PJPs said:

 “ASX listed companies have had a target of 30% women on their boards[1] for some time but we have reached about 50% due in large part to the tradition many of us inherited from women Religious who have always governed their own Religious Institutes.”

Under canon law, Church property and ministries are usually entrusted to either: a Bishop; the leader of a Religious Institute/Order or to the trustees of a Ministerial PJP. Ministerial PJP are fairly new in Australia with their average age being thirteen years.

Ministerial PJPs in Australia were established to steward the ministries previously in the care of Bishops/Parishes or Religious Institutes. There are eleven Ministerial PJPs responsible for education, health, aged care, welfare and other ministries across Australia. Some of the larger Ministerial PJPs are: Mary Aikenhead Ministries, St John of God Australia; and Edmund Rice Education Australia.

[1] https://aicd.companydirectors.com.au/media/media-releases/asx-200-hits-30-per-cent-women-on-boards

More information on International Women’s Day is available at: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/

IWD logo used with permission