Elizabeth Schiltz
University of St. Thomas Law School
"Taking Complementarity Seriously:
A Catholic Approach to Gender Differences,
Feminism, and Public Policy"
University of Virginia / Monroe Hall, Room 110
University of St. Thomas Law Professor Elizabeth Schiltz engaged and encouraged her standing room o
nly crowd to consider how the Catholic tradition offers numerous resources for developing a new and bolder feminism that promotes an integral, rather than fractional, understanding of gender complementarity. Inspired by Pope John Paul 
II's 1988 apostolic letter "On the Dignity and Vocation of Women" and the works of others--from St. Edith Stein to the recent scholarly works of Sr. Prudence Allen--Schiltz confidently contended that feminists from a faith tradition like Catholicism, which takes embodiment seriously, must necessarily be more active participants in discussions of gender identity.
By closely exploring ways in which a more robust Catholic understanding of the complementarity principle is similar to and different from secular feminist versions of this idea, Prof. Schiltz demonstrated how Catholic (and Christian) feminists have much to offer to ongoing debates about how the verities of engendered differences offer compelling foundations for rethinking pressing issues like workplace discrimination and family leave policies.
The St. Thomas More Society and the Our Sunday Visitor Institute cosponsored this public lecture.