The Catholic Church is more progressive than you think. While it does not allow women to become priests, it does elevate the status of women in the Church. Proof of this is the elevated status of Mary, the Mother of God.
Catholics talk about Mary so much that other faiths accuse Catholics of worshiping her. I believe that that claim is a reach, but here is an article which talks about how central Mary is to the Catholic faith and how without her, Christianity wouldn’t exist.