Thumbs up on income equality for women!
In a new speech this week, Pope Francis is continuing his radical departure from business-as-usual in the Catholic church, this time
taking on the income gap between men and women:
In his Wednesday general audience remarks, Francis asked Catholics to consider “the Christian seed of radical equality between men and women” when discussing the reasons behind declining marriage rates around the world, according to Vatican Radio.
In response, Christians should “become more demanding” for that “radical equality,” the Pope added. For example, “by supporting the right of equal pay for equal work.”
“Why should it be taken for granted that women must earn less than men? The disparity is pure scandal,” Francis said, according to the Italian news service ANSA.
He's not the first pope to remark on the income gap:
In 1995, Pope John Paul II addressed the issue of equal pay directly in a “letter to women,” writing that ” there is an urgent need to achieve real equality in every area: equal pay for equal work, protection for working mothers, fairness in career advancements, equality of spouses with regard to family rights.”
Will business leaders and government officials hear this new message? Twenty full years after the last? We can only hope.