The role of the church in promoting the rights of women in Kamuge-Olinga Parish in light of Mulieris Dignitatem of John Paul II

Abstract

This research was carried out mainly in Kamuge-Olinga Parish – Tororo Archdiocese, in the Ggaba National Seminary library along with the help of the internet. It is an acknowledgement of and a reckoning with the Church’s role in the promotion of the rights of women in Kamuge Olinga Parish. The International Human Rights Law forbids bias against women’s rights and freedoms in all respects. It is absurd that since the foundation of human rights, women’s human rights have been partially treated as a sub-category of the universal and somehow taken as a protective measure. Thanks to the adoption of the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). At the same time however, there is fear for the danger that specific recognition of women’s rights violations may simply reproduce women’s secondary status. What triggered the development of this topic is none other than the researcher’s encounter with John Paul II’s Encyclical Mulieris Dignitatem (On the Dignity and Vocation of Women) visa vise the prevailing condition of women in Kamuge Olinga. The Pope expounded on the creation of man and woman (Gen 1&2). Both Gen 1:28 and Gen 2: 23 point out the uni-duality of husband and wife; man and woman bear the image of God. Throughout all of our human history, man and woman are for the purpose of entering into interpersonal relationship and to give themselves to one another. Motherhood offers women an opportunity to gain human fulfillment through self-giving. And through the progressive history of salvation, a woman in one way or another has complimented a man, be it in marriage or in the life of virginity. The Archetype is the Virgin Mary; wife of Joseph, bearing the Son of God and yet a virgin forever. Upon encountering such literature, the researcher developed objectives as follows: to ascertain the role of the Catholic Church in promoting the rights of women, to expose the limitations to the promotion of women’s rights and to procure effective ways of overcoming challenges to the promotion of women’s rights in Kamuge Olinga Parish. This dissertation is divided into six chapters: Chapter one deals with the general introduction, statement of the Problem, background of the study, operational definitions, significance of the study, scope of the study, objectives of the study and hypotheses. Chapter two deals with literature review; it incorporates other sources besides the main Document (Mulieris x Dignitatem). Chapter three is in regard to research methodology; a descriptive research survey was chosen, data collection techniques, evaluation, analysis and interpretation of the data. Chapter four presents and analyses research findings. Chapter five majors on the summary and discussion of the field findings and finally Chapter six presents the conclusions and recommendations