March 8: The SSVP reaffirms its commitment to the dignity and leadership of women
Today, March 8, International Women’s Day, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SSVP) joins the global reflection on the dignity, rights, and full participation of women in society. This day is also an opportunity to recognize their fundamental role in the life of communities and to continue moving towards a more just and supportive society, where everyone can develop their abilities and participate on equal terms.
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a humanitarian and charitable association, founded in 1833 in Paris by a group of young university students from the Sorbonne, and governed by civil law. At that time, women were practically absent from universities and therefore did not participate in its beginnings, namely in the formation of the prayer and action groups known as Conferences. According to the General Rule of 1835, membership had been reserved for men, but this measure did not prevent the development of women’s Conferences outside France. Thus, in Madrid in 1855 and in Bologna in 1856, then part of the Papal States, women’s Conferences were founded by Encarnación Villalba de Hore and Celestina Scarabelli respectively.
Since then, the SSVP has been composed of both women and men Vincentians, united in faith under the same charism, with the same rights and duties.
In the different member countries, Vincentian women are present in all areas of service and leadership, both at national and international levels within the SSVP, actively contributing to guiding Vincentian action and responding to situations of poverty and exclusion from a faith-based perspective and with a focus on the dignity of every person.
This service of the SSVP is also strengthened through institutional collaboration with the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations (WUCWO), a network founded in 1910 and present in more than 100 countries, bringing together millions of women committed to justice, peace, and social advancement. This relationship aims to foster exchange, shared reflection, and the promotion of initiatives focused on integral human development and on women’s participation in social and ecclesial life.
In this context, the SSVP values and contributes to initiatives promoted by WUCWO in particularly sensitive areas, such as the fight against human trafficking and violence against women. These actions help to bring visibility to realities that seriously violate the dignity of those who suffer them and promote the protection and support of victims.
On this International Women’s Day, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul continues to promote the recognition of women’s rights and to work for communities where their dignity, voice, and leadership are fully recognized.
Additionally, we share a book dedicated to the women of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul who are today on the altars, sent from Brazil by Brother Gesiel Júnior. The work includes a foreword presented by the XVII General President of the SSVP, Juan Manuel B. Gómez, and can be consulted at the following link.