8 March provides an opportunity to become aware of my identity as a woman and celebrate it with gratitude to God and others who moulded me into the person I am today. It is a day to remember all those brave women all over the world who contributed towards the liberation of women from patriarchal structures of oppression. 

It is a day to remind myself that the struggle for women’s full freedom, dignity and worth in the Church and society continues and I have to play my part in this ongoing struggle.

Being a woman religious and as Coordinator of the Programme for Formators at UISG gives me a unique opportunity to interact with religious women from 39 other Congregations who hail from 29 countries. Such a diversity poses its own challenges in understanding the other in her cultural and social context. 

Knowing the importance of women empowerment, we have included a week in the programme to critically examine women’s situation in the Church and society and the role women religious are called to play in empowering self and others. I hope to help the participants of the programme to become conscious of their situation as women in their respective cultures and in the Church and to enable them to take their place in the Church as equal members with God given dignity, rights and freedom.   

Sr. Shalini Mulackal, pbvm - UISG Formators Programme Coordinator