Yes, there is. Why do you think so few women are interested in becoming nuns?
Back in the day, if a woman wanted to be a teacher or work in a hospital, she could become a religious sister and do so. Otherwise, it was tough for her to get the type of education necessary. In this way, the Church was far, far ahead of mainstream society. Imagine that!
Now, mainstream society has caught up and women can pursue these interests without becoming nuns. Back in the day, a call to become a teacher or a nurse would have involved joining a religious order. Now, it just means going to college and getting the proper degree. Being called to the religious sisterhood has taken on a separate meaning.
Not to mention the fact that sisters nowadays do not wear their habits. Sisters look just like everyone else. “So why bother joining, Sister looks exactly like I do.” However, orders where habit-wearing is maintained are keeping their numbers up, and growing, even.
I think that this is part of the reason why the sex abuse scandal happened. Without nuns present in every church, teaching the children, with this duty being given to laypeople who are not on site 24/7, there was a layer of checks and balances that was taken away. Priests who give in to sin were able to pursue their desires without anything standing in their way. However, this is a minor reason. There were plenty of others. The ordination of bad priests, the rejection of good candidates who did nothing wrong other than hold firm to a non-progressive belief system, etc.
The bottom line is that the Church in America was in the hands of men who wanted to ordain women as priests, the only thing stopping them was Rome. They filtered out all the good priestly candidates who agreed with Rome instead of them. As a result, we have had a generation of bad priests who have unleashed this scandal upon us. Feel free to read Michael S. Rose’s “Goodbye, Good Men” for more info on that point.