Reflection

There is no such thing as "the woman". There are real women of flesh and blood. Women from Africa, Asia, America, Europe, Oceania, with their diverse realities and cultures. In Latin America we are women who express ourselves from the richness of different cultures (Mayan, Aztec, Quechua, Aymara, Ashaninka, Shipiba, Mapuche, and others); from diverse socioeconomic locations, some with fewer opportunities than others; women who struggle every day to survive and those of us who struggle every day to conquer equal opportunities, making alliances with others to build a better society.

Vulnerability and resilience are our sisters. The vulnerability of years under patriarchal and macho structures that have not only made women invisible but have placed them in situations of injustice, lack of opportunities, disadvantages for their human and professional growth. And resilience for our great capacity to transform pain and adverse experiences, to overcome, to get up, to move forward, to take care of life.

Women and Pandemics

The Annual Report of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC): "Social Panorama of Latin America", estimates that between 2020 and 2021 the number of people living in extreme poverty increased by nearly five million, currently 86 million people live in extreme poverty in Latin America. "The health crisis remains in force and Latin America and the Caribbean is the most vulnerable region in the world in this pandemic." The region has experienced a major setback in the fight against poverty, extreme poverty levels are similar to those of 27 years ago. Mention is made of the "risk of a lost generation" due to the deterioration in education.

Covid has hit the vulnerable population hardest: women, youth and children. And among them, the population belonging to indigenous peoples, rural areas, the afro-descendant population, and the millions of people forced to migrate.

The number of women who did not enroll in school, those who interrupted their studies, those who could not keep up with the pace of virtual education increased. The proportion of women who do not receive their own income increased, those who lost their precarious jobs, those who have them but are poorly paid: "Women's economic autonomy suffered a historic setback in the region". Girls, adolescents and young women have borne the brunt, with an increase in family violence in the home. "The pandemic resulted in an overload of domestic chores and unpaid care work that was mostly assumed by women". Women were overrepresented and in the front line of response to the pandemic: health workers, education workers, workers in private homes, among others. And even as a double day of care in the professional center and at home: the "invisible work" of women.

It is not only the disadvantage in which women live in LAC that has become evident. According to the ECLAC report, the COVID 19 pandemic has shown women to be indispensable, necessary for the dynamics of care, not only for public health but also to guarantee life at home and in the workplace. The most humble tasks of public cleaning, health care, home care have been indispensable to guarantee the health of all people.

Women, New Social Pact and Care

The ECLAC report concludes by proposing a new Social Pact in Latin America and the Caribbean. The post-pandemic is a great opportunity to build a future with a horizon of equality for all women, young women, adolescents and girls if efforts are directed towards redistributing time, resources and power towards a culture of care. This requires strong States that can promote transformative processes and move towards the construction of a care society.

This is a paradigm shift that places the care of people, caregivers, self-care and care of the planet at the center. Investment in care would contribute to reducing gender gaps in education, health, employment and wages, and would have an impact on productivity levels and the growth rate of the economy. (Seguino, 2020).

Care would not be the task of women alone. It is a matter of promoting equality in access to quality care, fostering co-responsibility among all people and actors capable of providing care from an approach that takes into account social inequality, age, race or ethnicity, territory and income. These are key challenges for recovery to be transformative and sustainable.

The Society of Jesus and its Commitment to Women

In 1995 General Congregation 34 issued Decree 14 "Jesuits and the Situation of Women in the Church and Society". After 25 years, (March 8, 2020) Father General approved the formation of the Intercontinental Commission on the Roles and Responsibilities of Women in the Society of Jesus, which will evaluate the reception and implementation of Decree 14, assess the participation and situation of women in the collaborative structures in the institutions of the Society of Jesus and their apostolic commitment, and provide recommendations for the development of transformative practices.

In Latin America, the Society of Jesus is committed to the construction of a society of justice and reconciliation and is therefore no stranger to the situation of women. It manifests this in different ways: from accompanying the most vulnerable women - those who bear the burden and pain of the structures of sin and those who have been doubly affected by the pandemic - the contribution in research and creation of innovative experiences for their development and positive inclusion as social, political and economic actors in society; to the revision of their institutional structures in order to generate together dignified living conditions and a society of care that offers equal opportunities.

The Gender and Equality Group of the CPAL (2019), has as its mission "the reflection and action on the place of women in the life and apostolic mission of the Society of Jesus in LAC". Similar groups are being formed in each Province, being pioneers the Provinces of Central America, Ecuador and Mexico. This will mobilize reflection and produce changes within the institutions, and will promote the Provinces to assume the gender focus in the indicators of their apostolic plans.

The Common Apostolic Planning - PAC.2 of the CPAL (2021 - 2027) considers the specific objective: "To promote in the whole Apostolic Body relationships of equality between genders, which are a counter-cultural testimony of overcoming any type of sexism".

We have begun a process that will last several years promoting cultural and institutional changes until egalitarian gender relations become something natural in the structures of our society.

In this we have to prioritize the "internalization of the woman's perspective" from the heart and in the intellectual and theological work, the permanent analysis of the social context, to face with greater determination the role of women in the Church, the incorporation of women in the governing bodies of our institutions, a co-educational model that overcomes the prejudices and roles associated with gender, as well as to advance in the use of inclusive "non-sexist" language, among many other challenges.

We thank the Society of Jesus for all that has been done and invite the entire Apostolic Body of the Society of Jesus in the CPAL (lay men and women; priests and brothers) to work for equality among all genders.