Overheard at the event:

"Women, who are so intimately connected to the mystery of life, can contribute much through their care of life and their conviction that love is the only power able to make the world more habitable for each one of us."

Time to admit that this is just sexist blather. No human being is more intimately connected to life or more loving than another by virtue of gender. Everybody should be making the world a more hospitable place--that role should not fall to women because they are women. Everyone should be teaching their sons to care for life, not just girls. 

It's possible that the pope was not speaking of the developed world, but by and large, male violence isn't the reason women have a tough time getting ahead. The real problems are mostly systemic and legal . . . like women are penalized for childbearing and men are not.