Catholic women more open to change than Catholic men - U.S. Catholicism: Trends in the '90s - NCR/Gallup Poll Supplement

National Catholic Reporter, Oct 8, 1993 by Ruth A. Wallace

The 1993 NCR/Gallup survey found both Catholic men and women are more change-oriented in thinking and behavior than in the 1987 initial survey.

One also sees a gender shift occurring, indicating Catholic women are now more open to change than Catholic men.

Can the church continue to expect women to transmit religious values to the younger generation? A partial answer is found on three items in our survey showing statistically significant gender differences:

1. 56 percent of women and only 44 percent of men say they would never leave the church, slightly down from 61 percent and 50 percent, respectively, in 1987.

2. Likewise, a higher percentage of women (49 percent) than men (37 percent) say the church is the most important or among the most important parts of their lives. Again, this is a decrease from 1987 when the figure was a full 10 percent higher: 59 percent for women and two percent higher (39 percent) for men.

3. An even larger gender difference is found on an important behavioral item: Mass attendance. Almost half (49 percent) of the women and only one-third (32 percent) of the men say they attend Mass daily or at least weekly. This represents a 3 percent decrease for both women and men over the past six years.

Thus, Catholic women continue to be more committed to the church than their male counterparts, but their commitment has weakened over the past six years. In fact, our survey shows that women are not finding some of the church's teachings very relevant. This has repercussions for the attitudes of the future generation of Catholics (see Table 19 below).

In 1987, two-thirds (66 percent) of both men and women said one can be a good Catholic without obeying the birth control teaching. This increased to approximately three-fourths by 1993, with slightly more women (75 percent) than men (71 percent) responding affirmatively.

A greater increase in questioning the official position of the church is found on the abortion issue. In 1987, almost half of men (45 percent), but only one-third of women (34 percent) said one can be a good Catholic without obeying the church's teaching regarding abortion. Now, over half of men (55 percent) and women (56 percent) answer yes to this question. The increase in affirmative responses over the past six years for women (22 percent) is double that of men (10 percent).

         GENDER DIFFERENCES:  BIRTH CONTROL, ABORTION
                  AND ORDINATION FOR WOMEN
                   (PERCENTAGES)

                                       Men          Women
                                    1987   1993   1987   1993
Can be "good Catholic" without...
   Obeying birth control teaching    66     71     66     75
   Obeying abortion teaching         45     55     34     56
Laity should participate in...
   Deciding whether women should
   be ordained                       50     60     46     65
--Source:  NCR/Gallup polls

These new data challenge the stereotype projected in the media that Catholic women are overwhelmingly committed to the abortion teaching of the church.

Finally, there is evidence that unquestioned acceptance of church law restricting priestly ordination to men continues to weaken. In 1987 about half of the men (50 percent) and women (46 percent) said the laity should have the right to participate in deciding whether women should be ordained to the priesthood. This trend increased by 1993 to almost two-thirds for men (60 percent) and women (65 percent).

In addition, over the past six years there has been a gender shift on this item. The change in women's attitudes (from 46 percent to 65 percent) is double that of men on the women's ordination issue.

Why are we seeing these trends? What are the various factors that have contributed to these changes?

Historical circumstances should be taken into account. In the past six years, American women's thinking has been changed as a result of a growing awareness of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the workplace. Events such as the Senate hearings for Justice Clarence Thomas and the (U.S. Navy sexual harrassment) Tailhook episode could have been the impetus for attitudinal changes for many, both male and female.

For some Catholic women in America, the long process of the drafting and redrafting of a bishops' pastoral letter on women also contributed to a rethinking about their position in the church. In the minds of laity who were expecting more, the final draft was viewed as a watered-down version of the original. This disappointing result, along with the critiques of each version of the pastoral by feminist theologians, made some Catholics more aware of and sensitive to patriarchal attitudes regarding sexuality and women's subordinate position in the church.

In addition, by the time the May 1993 NCR survey was conducted by the Gallup organization, greater numbers of women had just been elected to Congress, and the Clinton Administration's policy of placing women like Janet Reno and Donna Shalala in very important positions had received considerable media coverage.