The ideal of equality between men and women

January 25, 2018
Arthur Mangold
San Mateo

Re “The bitter pill of ‘false liberation,’” Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Jan. 11:

On Jan. 15 we celebrated the life of a truly great American, Dr. Martin Luther King. Half a century ago, Dr. King passionately, hopefully and eloquently urged us to live up to the ideal of equality professed in our country’s founding documents. Each of us learns very early those lofty words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. ...” But what exactly do we mean when we apply those words to the concept of the equality of men and women?

Father Pacholczyk argues that “The widespread adoption of the ‘contraceptive mentality’ has led inexorably to a new perspective of women, namely that they should be more like men, and therefore they should like men become impregnable, through the ongoing practice of contraception.” Further, he asserts that “From this perspective, their ability to conceive life becomes tantamount to a malady needing to be remedied, a ‘defect’ that renders them ‘unequal’ to men.”

If Father Tad is right, that the “contraceptive mentality” is based on a perceived natural inequality that needs to be corrected, we have a problem. How do we reconcile the need to correct that “defect” with our country’s bedrock assertion that it is self-evident that all men are created equal? Is that assertion merely a quaint, archaic expression that enlightened people really don’t believe? If our concept of self-evident equality wobbles, then our rule of law upon which it is based also wobbles. Can a nation whose fundamental underpinning wobbles long endure?

Dr. King had no illusions. He knew the road to equality is a long, arduous journey. He also knew that the battle is not ours. It is waged by our valiant warrior, the Prince of Peace. Our part is first to trust that equality will prevail, and then, individually and collectively, to open our hearts to allow our God to impress on them the meaning of true equality in the myriad of circumstances where we encounter injustice.

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