[Gocamino] Women travelers at a disadvantage

[Rebekah Scott]

The camino and the albergues on the camino are what they are, even if  they are something outside the usual run of "Spanish mores and customs." Pilgrims with very modest upbringings have to adjust to the albergues, rather than the other way around. Women and men of all ages somehow manage to behave acceptably, for the most part. Men adjust, women adjust, and priests and nuns have to adjust, too. 
 
It´s part of the path, I think.
 
Rebekah Scott 
www.moratinoslife.blogspot.com



--- On Wed, 5/27/09, Beth Williamson <betwil62 at live.com> wrote:

> From: Beth Williamson <betwil62 at live.com>
> Subject: [Gocamino] Women travelers at a disadvantage
> To: gocamino at oakapple.net
> Date: Wednesday, May 27, 2009, 7:57 AM
> 
> It seems to me from all the books I have read by pilgrims
> that the common showers and toilets and sleeping
> arrangements at so many of the albergues are a violation of
> Spanish mores and customs.  Books by nuns and priests
> particularly comment on this. I am not particularly modest
> and could get by in the current arrangements, but younger
> women could well have problems with males taking advantage
> of them or making them feel uncomfortable with such bathing
> and sleeping arrangements. People traveling with companions
> can probably manage but solo travelers could be most
> uneasy.
> 
> > To: GOCAMINO at oakapple.net;
> saintjames at yahoogroups.com
> > Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 15:18:36 -0400
> > From: blaroli at aol.com
> > CC: acaciopaz at yahoo.com.br
> > Subject: [Gocamino] more various
> > 
> > 
> >   Hello you all,
> > 
> > Gender Equality.  The Archdiocese reports that
> the proportion of women pilgrims in the total of all Camino
> pilgrims keeps increasing:  In 2008  of the
> 125,141 pilgrims receiving the Compostela 52,205 were women,
> constituting 41.7% of the total.  In 199o women had
> only accounted for 30.9% of Compostela-receiving
> pilgrims;  in 1995 women formed 32.4% of the total; in
> 2000 they were 34.1 % and in 2003 40.1%
> > 
> > The one time when female pilgrims outnumbered their
> male counterpart was in the last Holy Year, 2004, when women
> numbered 100,431 and men 79,513.
> > 
> > This upward tendency in the number of female pilgrims
> has led the Xunta and the Archdiocese to reconsider the
> sanitary, and other, facilities for pilgrims throughout the
> Camino to take into account the growing female presence and
> its potential needs.
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > Hape Kerkeling.  In 2001 the popular German TV
> personality decided to forgo an ordinary vacation and,
> instead, chose to take an internal pilgrimage. He had found
> a Camino guidee book in a bookstore and decided to follow
> it. During the six weeks that he spent walking he kept a
> diary, and he scoffed when a Swedish female pilgrim told him
> that one day his diary would become world-known.  The
> diary was eventually published under the name “I’m off;
> Losing and Finding Myself on the Camino de Santiago” and,
> todate, it has sold more than three million copies in
> Germany, Austria, Holland and Korea.
> > 
> > Herr Kernelling was in Leon a couple of days
> >  ago to announce the forthcoming Spanish and
> Portuguese editions of his book.  He has a special
> affection for Leon because of the beauty of its Cathedral
> and because he had decided to give up the pilgrimage there,
> and would have done so but for the encouragement given to
> him by two young female pilgrims.
> > 
> > The book is scheduled to be released in English in the
> UK and the United States sometime this summer, but it is
> already available in English at Austrian and German
> bookstores.  
> > 
> > As it happens,  I will be going to Vienna next
> week, (for the Staatsopern new Wagner Ring), and will look
> for the book there in English. If I find it I’ll pick up a
> copy. While the book doesn’t sound like my cup of tea
> (reportedly it is funny, modernistic, and full of diverting
> anecdotes and the like) I will give it a try anyway, 
> even although I never did manage to read but the first five
> or so pages of the immensely popular Coelho’s Camino book.
> 
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > Let me know if you would like me to bring a copy for
> you.
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > Hugs!
> > 
> >  
> > _______________________________________________
> > Gocamino mailing list
> > Gocamino at oakapple.net
> > http://mailman.oakapple.net/mailman/listinfo/gocamino
> 
> _________________________________________________________________
> Hotmail® has ever-growing storage! Don’t worry about
> storage limits.
> http://windowslive.com/Tutorial/Hotmail/Storage?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Tutorial_Storage1_052009
> _______________________________________________
> Gocamino mailing list
> Gocamino at oakapple.net
> http://mailman.oakapple.net/mailman/listinfo/gocamino
>