The article that the Vatican released this revelation in was entitled “The washing machine and the emancipation of women: put in the powder, close the lid and relax”.

First and foremost, let me say that I do not mean to take an entire religion to task with this post. A number of good Democrats are also practicing Catholics. I simply mean to call out the Vatican on its blatantly sexist claim.

Did the washing machine make life easier for those who wish to do a load of darks? Of course it did. But I shouldn't have to point out that just because a task is easy it is liberating. For centuries, women have been expected to fulfill certain daily duties while men are expected to earn an income in order to support his family. These preconceived gender roles and the crushing social implications that come along with them are the true problem, not the ease or difficulty of a certain task that comes along with those gender roles.

While the Vatican is obviously in moral opposition to the invention of contraceptives such as 'the pill', it is shocking to me that they can dismiss its role in liberating women.

Of course, I by no means want to associate women's lib. purely with sex, but with the invention of the pill contraception was no longer purely in the hands of men. Finally, women were able to take control of their own reproductive system and say "I am a woman, I can have sex, and I don't have to get pregnant".

As Bell Hooks puts it in her book Feminism is for Everybody "Responsible birth control liberated many women like myself who were pro-choice but not necessarily pro-abortion for ourselves from having to personally confront the issue". One would assume that a group of people who are so strongly against abortion, such as the Vatican, could agree that a pill that helps women avoid abortions is inherently good.

While I realize that this is something of a sensitive issue, and possibly not the best topic to base my first public entry on (hello everyone, I'm new!), I think that it is important to address these subjects head on. If folks continue to make absurd claims that just because something makes a woman's life easier she should somehow feel liberated, then it is our obligation as free thinkers and outspoken individuals to stand up and say something, anything, to try and set the record straight.

Yes, women have made huge strides in the past 100 years. Does this mean that we can rest on our laurels and assume that things are "equal"?

Hell no.