In his encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) Pope John Paul II exhorted women of faith to acknowledge and develop a “new feminism”. This new feminism, he wrote, “would transform entire cultures, from the personal up to the political, so that they became truly life-affirming, fully humane and receptive to God’s guidance”.

In his Letter to Women, John Paul II concedes to the feminists:Yes, it is time to examine the past with courage to assign responsibility where it is due in a review of the long history of humanity.  Women have contributed to that history as much as men and often more than not, they did it in more difficult conditions… they were frequently at a disadvantage from the start, excluded from equal educational opportunities, underestimated, ignored, and not given credit for their intellectual contributions.

He noted that “many women have been and continue to be valued more for their physical appearance than for their skill, their professionalism, their intellectual abilities, their deep sensitivity; in a word, the very dignity of their being!”.

His choice of wording proved very controversial, not only amongst the fierce “guardians” of the various academic and political schools of feminism who rankled at this intervention by a member of the male-only priesthood (still worse a Polish, Marian one). The new term also caused heated discussion amongst many of the faithful women who believed that “feminism” of any description was incompatible with the Gospel.

Dr Tracey Rowland, who observed this initiative from her theological cultural studies, believes the “badge” is not helpful, since it seems to be a retro-active measure which will date.  How long can we call something “new”?  However she believes in the recognition of the history of injustices to women, and believes the philosophy and theology that John Paul II proposes is excellent.

Pope John Paul continued to employ the term in many of his later publications.  But rather than draft a constitution for “new feminism” himself he insisted that it would be Catholic women and their sisters who would develop and express this dynamic “ontology” of the feminine – this “post-feminist” vision of women.

As important as this recourse to perennial “women’s wisdom” was, he also insisted that women should return to the Gospel accounts of the redemptive “encounters” Jesus has with women themselves: “Transcending the norms of his own culture, Jesus treated women with openness, respect, acceptance and tenderness.  In this way he honoured the dignity which women have always possessed according to God’s plan and in his love.”

No matter how the dispute about “new feminism” is resolved, many outstanding women of different ages, gifts and cultures are today associated with the unfolding international project of exploring the key term in the Pope’s thought, “feminine genius”. Among them Mary Ann Glendon, Mary Shivanandan, Pia de Solenni, Sr Prudence Allen, Leonie Caldecott, Janet A. Smith, Hanna Barbera Gert Falkovitz, Michele Schumacher, Wanda Poltawska, Janne Haaland-Matlary and many others. 

What is the feminine genius? 

Most of us are familiar with popular phrases such as “a woman’s touch” or “a feminine eye”. But many of us would feel hesitant to attempt a list universal “womanly” characteristics or roles without diminishing the mystery of each actual and individual woman.

John Paul II’s notion of the feminine genius seems to be based on three important sources in his academic and pastoral thought: a) his extensive philosophy of human love, expressed particularly in his early book Love and Responsibility; b) his theological reflections on God’s original plan for man and woman – the Theology of the Body; and c) the writings on the dignity and vocation of women by St Edith Stein, otherwise known as Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (1891-1942), a German philosopher, Carmelite nun, and martyr in Auschwitz.

In developing her idea of a “true dignity and capacity” of woman, Edith Stein believed that the shape of feminine inspiration is uniquely related to woman’s physical, spiritual and emotional maternal capacity, quite apart from whether the woman ever conceives or bears a child.

She tried to understand how this “maternal” form manifests itself in three important but inter-related dimensions of a woman’s life: “her humanity, her womanhood and her individuality”.

The feminine genius can be understood as the full and authentic spiritual, ethical and interpersonal response to the given being a particular female person, a physical, emotional, historical and spiritual whole. It is present in the heart of woman like a seed. It needs to be respected, nourished and allowed to develop in each woman’s life according to her talents, personality and, most importantly, according to her free response.

This genius can be overlooked or suppressed because a woman is wounded by damaging conditions or human actions, or due to her own moral or personal failings. Women, just like men, are in need of Christ’s Redemption.

Pope John Paul II writes about how, in the moving Gospel accounts of women who have been involved in sin and then encounter Jesus, and respond as precisely feminine disciples: Christ speaks to women about the things of God, and they understand them; there is a true resonance of mind and heart, a response of faith. Jesus expresses appreciation and admiration for this distinctly ‘feminine’ response, as in the case of the Canaanite woman (cf. Mt 15:28). Sometimes he presents this lively faith, filled with love, as an example… This is the case with the ‘sinful’ woman in the Pharisee’s house, whose way of acting is taken by Jesus as the starting-point for explaining the truth about the forgiveness of sins: ‘Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little’ (Lk 7:47).

In its truest sense, feminine genius is revealed when God’s own work of creation and healing through the power of the Holy Spirit bears fruit in holiness. It radiates particularly brightly in diverse ways, through the holy women of the faith: the girl martyrs Cecilia, Agatha and Agatha Kim, the ex-courtesans Pelagia and Mary of Egypt, the prophetic military leader Joan of Arc, the reforming Queens Margaret and Elizabeth of Hungary, the great Doctors of the Church Catherine of Siena and Teresa of Avila, the heroic mothers Gianna Beretta Molla and Margaret Clitherow, and countless others.

In Mulieris Dignitatem Pope John Paul stated: The Church asks at the same time that these invaluable ‘manifestations of the Spirit’ (cf. 1 Cor 12:4 ff.), which with great generosity are poured forth upon the ‘daughters’ of the eternal Jerusalem, may be attentively recognised and appreciated so that they may return for the common good of the Church and of humanity, especially in our times. Meditating on the biblical mystery of the ‘woman’, the Church prays that in this mystery all women may discover themselves and their ‘supreme vocation’. 

Some aspects of the Feminine Genius 

While it is difficult to make a list of universal feminine characteristics without diminishing the mystery of each individual woman, we can consider here four such characteristics of greater importance. 

1. Strength and conviction of a woman’s own dignity 

 Edith Stein points out that a first element of feminine genius depends upon a woman’s search for authenticity, to be true to herself and her own “unrepeatable” humanity: “But especially needed are faith in one’s own being and courage regarding it, as well as faith in one’s individual calling to definite personal activities and a ready willingness to follow this call”.

Pope John Paul agrees. Each woman, like Adam in the garden, must realise her original solitude, her “self-knowledge [which] goes hand in hand with knowledge of the world”… and with it an experience of her own distinctiveness and the meaning “of [her] own bodiliness” before God. While it is good for her to serve others, a woman’s feminine genius will recognise her individual gifts and talents in an integrated way, hence the importance of developing her intellectual powers, nourishing her moral character and her spiritual life.

Many women today have lost confidence in the deep mystery and preciousness of their lives before God. Despite the gains of feminism some live in dependent and abusive relationships and they have to put up with sexual exploitation both of themselves and others. They have been encouraged to expose themselves both emotionally and physically in order to “please” the gaze of the market, workplace and the desires of predatory men.

In light of the feminine genius, moral truth and modesty are not priggish or life-denying, but rather virtues which ensure women’s empowerment and personal integrity.  

2. Particular awareness of the “other” person: empathy 

Many secular feminist scholars acknowledge that women seem more aware of and connected to the emotional dynamics of human relationships than men. That the consciousness of women tends to be more global, their perceptions more multidimensional, and their attention more flexible is also recognised by the human sciences. Well-known writers such as Carol Gilligan broadly define this as women’s “care thinking”.

Edith Stein studied “empathy” and identified it with women’s maternally-patterned insight: “Woman naturally seeks to embrace what is living, personal and whole. To cherish, guard, protect, nourish and advance growth is her natural and maternal yearning”.

She believed that all professions and social roles could be open to women and said that women bring their concern for the “concrete person” and the “personal” to the workplace as “a blessed counter-balance, precisely here where everyone is in danger of becoming mechanised and losing his humanity”.

She believed that women were drawn to person-centred professions not only because men put them there, but because women could see the importance of growing, healing and educating.

Pope John Paul II thought that this “person-centred orientation” in women’s genius could prove prophetic in promoting a “culture of life” and a “culture of peace”:In our own time, the successes of science and technology make it possible to attain material well-being to a degree hitherto unknown. While this favours some, it pushes others to the edges of society… our time in particular awaits the manifestation of that ‘genius’ which belongs to women, and which can ensure sensitivity for human beings in every circumstance: because they are human! – and because ‘the greatest of these is love’ (cf. 1 Cor 13:13).

Edith Stein was keenly realistic in seeing that women can be tempted away from genuine empathy for others by an excessive “curiosity and hunger for gossip”, and “perverse desire to penetrate into personal lives, a passion for wanting to confiscate people… She does justice neither to herself nor to the humanity of the other”. Today it seems that scandal-hungry media and marketing play to this weakness and not to feminine empathy.

Another attack on feminine empathy comes with abortion. When in the name of personal freedom or under the pressure of de-personalised relationships “a woman views a developing human being as simply a piece of material, she reduces the fetus to a ‘what’ or ‘thing’, instead of a developing ‘someone’ worthy of love,” and she loses not only a child but something vital in herself.

It is particularly tragic that many secular feminists who argue for a more empathetic and person-centred culture cannot see the damage that induced abortion leaves behind in the hearts and lives of women. It is a contradiction of which the “new feminism” is compassionately and imaginatively aware. 

3. Creators of environs 

 Edith Stein saw that, in addition to having a gift for acute awareness of other people, women were also adept at creating receptive “spaces” in which people, especially vulnerable people, could flourish. She identified this as a type of high hospitality to “civilisation” – to spiritual, moral and aesthetic development. She wrote: “Part of the natural feminine concern for the right development of the beings surrounding her involves the creation of an ambience of order and beauty conducive to their development”.

This aspect of the feminine genius inspired Australia’s Caroline Chisholm in the the 19^th century, when she recognised that the imbalance of men without women or families led to the brutalisation of the young colony.

This gift for creating “ambience” has also been used against women to relegate their presence and creativity to either the prettified and “decorative” on one hand or to seductively air-brushed glamour on the other. Pope John Paul II writes: I think particularly of those women who loved culture and art, and devoted their lives to them in spite of the fact that they were frequently at a disadvantage from the start, excluded from educational opportunities, underestimated, ignored and not given credit for their intellectual contributions.

In the interests of economic survival or social involvement and in a culture dominated by functional, disposable and rationalistic world views, women today often have little time or space in which to enjoy or share their creative or cultural powers.

Edith Stein wrote about the importance of the “cultivation of beautiful religious custom initiated with love and care” and deep liturgical intelligence. She saw that women had gifts with which to enliven and deepen Christian culture – to enrich the altars, liturgical music, festivities and presentations of the “mysteries of the faith”.

Jesus’ response is clear: Why do you trouble this woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me... In pouring this ointment on my body she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her (Mt 26: 6-13). 

4.   Friend, sister and spouse 

A fourth aspect of the feminine genius is woman’s unique contribution to interpersonal relationships with men. Pope John Paul II writes: “Humanity… can exist only as a ‘unity of the two’, and therefore in relation to another human person. It is a question here of a mutual relationship: man to woman and woman to man”.

In Genesis 2:18, Eve is described “as a help-mate fitting for man”. She was not created to be a nurse maid, servant or appendage to man, though this is a common misunderstanding of the text. She is a lively counter-weight and a helpful collaborator, a co-worker and partner in the “making and doing” which God calls forth in humanity.

The biblical notion of a “shared bone” means that man and woman are firstly of the same “kin” – they must respect each other’s differences with the mutually and enriching love of brother and sister, not as alien competing forces or conquering powers.

Women as friends, sisters and colleagues of men give and receive what Pope John Paul II calls “co-education” in ways that are richer and also more challenging than occurs between same-sex friendships.

Dietrich von Hildebrand, another Catholic philosopher of the person, speaks of the dynamic of male and female friendships. Because there is a deeply spiritual and personal difference between them, he says, “… a woman will never be as deeply understood by a woman as she could be understood by a man; a man will never be as deeply understood by a man as he could be by a woman”.

There are numerous examples of this edifying and encouraging role of women. As Pope John Paul writes: The women whom Jesus met and who received so many graces from him, also accompanied him as he journeyed with the Apostles through the towns and villages, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God; and they ‘provided for them out of their means’. The Gospel names Joanna, who was the wife of Herod’s steward, Susanna and ‘many others’ (cf. Lk 8:1-3).

Great reforms in the history of the Church often sprang from the mutually invigorating vision and talents of holy friends who were men and women, among them Saints Clare and Francis, Teresa and John of the Cross, Macrina and her brothers Basil and Gregory of Nyssa, Mary MacKillop and Fr Julian Tennison Woods, etc.

Also, Eve is a new creature, “bone of his bone”, made directly by God from the substance near Adam’s heart, “making an opening” in his being. According to John Paul II, man and woman not only find themselves as companions but they also long “to go out of themselves” towards each other in the “spousal meaning of their bodies”.

In marriage, women and men give themselves in a sexual love which is spousal and familial. In so doing, their “one flesh communion” becomes a unique icon of the “family” that is the Blessed Trinity: “They are called to live in a communion of love, and in this way to mirror in the world the communion of love that is in God, through which the Three Persons love each other in the intimate mystery of the one divine life”.

In her awareness of the need for support, maturity, reliability and selfless love, a woman listens to her feminine genius and will not be prepared to give her whole self – including her powers of service, fertility or feminine creativity – until she finds a man who has the conviction that he must be “co-educated” for this great mission. Pope John Paul II writes: It is the woman who ‘pays’ directly for this shared generation, which literally absorbs the energies of her body and soul. It is therefore necessary that the man be fully aware that in their shared parenthood he owes a special debt to the woman. No programme of ‘equal rights’ between women and men is valid unless it takes this fact fully into account.

Unfortunately, many women today are deaf to their maternal/spousal genius and do not demand sexual or maternal respect from men. They believe there is no inherent “meaning” to sexual relationships other than satisfaction, convenience and a fragile type of loving companionship in which pregnancy and fertility are problematic.

The new feminism is marked by a concern to re-value the place of the feminine genius for the home, the family and the development of good fathers at every level of society. 

Mary, model of the feminine genius 

The fullness of the feminine genius is realised in the life of the Virgin Mary. Pope John Paul II writes: “In Mary, Eve discovers the nature of the true dignity of woman, of feminine humanity. This discovery must continually reach the heart of every woman and shape her vocation and her life”.

Mary, in an outstanding and shining way, received her womanhood as a gift along with its transformation through God’s redeeming grace in self-giving “spousal” and “maternal” intimacy with Christ.

Edith Stein encourages us to re-discover in the pages of Scripture and in the riches of our tradition the prophetic shape of Mary’s feminine genius. Mary, our Mother in faith, is God’s valiant woman – a “sign from heaven” for men and women, hospitable to salvation, radiant in her strength and daring, unfailing in her discipleship, self-giving in her maternity, blessed in her faith and eloquent in her contemplative silence. She is our model and also our help. May she guide us and pray for us.

Leonie Caldecott, “Sincere Gift of Self : The New Feminism of John Paul II” in Pope John Paul the Great (Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 2004)

Michelle M Schumacher (ed.), Women in Christ: Toward a New Feminism (Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, Michigan)

Ronda De Sola Chervin, Treasury of Women Saints (Servant Publications: Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1991)

Wendy Shalit, A Return to Modesty: discovering the lost virtue, 2^nd ed. (Free Press: New York, 2000)

Pia Francesca De Solenni, Towards an Understanding of Woman as Imago Dei (Universita Dell Santa Croce: Rome, 2003)

Dietrich von Hildebrand, Man, Woman and the Meaning of Love (Sophia Institute Press: Manchester, NH, 2002) 

Pope John Paul II

Letter to Women, 29 June 1995

Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem: on the Dignity and Vocation of Women, August 15th, 1988

Encyclical Evangelium Vitae, 25 March 1995

Address to Women Religious, “May the Mother of the Church be an inspiration for the discovery of a new feminine identity”, Turin, 4 September 1988

Angelus Address, “Society and the Church Need (the) Genius of Women,” 23 July 1995

Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body, new translation by Michael Waldstein (Pauline Books, Boston, MA, 2006)

Encyclical Redemptoris Mater: on the Blessed Virgin Mary in the life of the Pilgrim Church, 25 March 1987

General Audience Address, “Women’s Moral Nobility”, 10 April 1996