Women & Laudato Si

 Laudato Si Week hasn't exactly taking over the news sources this week but there are a number of articles and opinion pieces offered during this time of reflection about the 10th anniversary of the environmental encyclical by the late Pope Francis. 

One important aspect is the absence of women in the overall picture of Creation Care, a subject thoughtfully explored by Christiana Zenner with the title Laudato Si' called all to climate action, but omitted women from the conversation. Zenner offers: 

Ten years after the release of "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home" — a document lauded for its promotion of integral ecology and the recognition that everything created by God is imbued with value and worth — the basic goal of engaging women in the development of official Catholic social teaching remains elusive. Despite Pope Francis rightly stating, "We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all," Laudato Si' and its follow-up teaching Laudate Deum failed to do just that when it comes to women. 

By disregarding current scientific approaches to the intersection of gender and ecology, neglecting to cite female scholars and omitting references to the work of women religious, Laudato Si' and Laudate Deum perpetuate "the women problem," which is to say they omit them. 

I realize that despite having read Laudato Si twice and leading study groups on the encyclical in 2015 and 2025 I had missed this. Francis and his team quoted the work of bishops on several continents but this is a boys club. Where are the voices of women?  

I follow several feeds from Christian organizations around the world addressing environmental issues in creatively practical ways. The accompanying photos of projects often show women who are spear-heading the work. Some of these initiatives address the provision of water for drinking and irrigation, "women's work" in many cultures. But as Zenner points out, there is important female scholarship that has essentially been disregarded. 

The Climate Emergency and Ecological theology is important for all humans and all creatures but these voices need to be heard and respected.