I doubt there is a non-patriarchal (non-sexist?) explanation for ...

... the state of affairs described in the article referenced below.

(But then, God knows, the membership of the men's club known as magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church is nothing if not ... patriarchal.)

For a while this afternoon, the most e-mailed article of all the e-mailed articles in the New York Times was an article titled

U.S. Nuns Facing Vatican Scrutiny

Read the article, here.