Astrid Lobo Gajiwala on gender equality in the Catholic Church

Dr. Astrid Lobo Gajiwala from Mumbai, India, is passionately engaged in the Catholic Church.    With a Masters degree in Microbiology, a PhD in Medicine and a diploma in tissue banking‎, Astrid prefers to call herself a scientist, and heads the  tissue bank of Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai.   Holder of a diploma in Theology for the Laity, Astrid has authored several books.  She also writes extensively in India’s leading Catholic journals and also teaches at St. Pius X College, the Archdiocesan Seminary in Mumbai, and the Jesuit Regional Theologate, ‎Gujarat‎.  She is in interfaith marriage with a Hindu for the past 25 years and is a mother of three children.  A members of a few Indian and Asian theological and church groups, she is engaged in women’s issues, collaborating with the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference (FABC), the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) and Bombay Archdiocese.   Astrid is a strong advocate of gender equality and women’s empowerment in the Church and has spoken out on the issue on several occasions, including at a March 8th International Women’s Day event here in the Vatican.  Talking to her we came to know more about her views on women’s status  in the Church.  We first asked her where she thought women stood in the Catholic Church today despite calls for gender parity.

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