“I had chafed under the restraints and the
ties which formed the common lot of women...How hard it seemed to my mind that
marriage should be the goal of woman’s ambition, and that she should spend her
days in the light trifles of a home life; live to dress, to look pretty, and
never know the joy of independence and intellectual work. The thought had been
galling. It made me avoid men.”
These
words could have been written today. But they were actually written by India’s
first feminist writer Krupabai Satthianadhan (1862-1894) way back in the
1880’s.
What is a
modern day rendering of the same thought? Read what Lena Dunham, writer and
director of HBO series, ‘Girls’ says
about 21st century womanhood. Claiming to offer a new script for what womanhood looks
like, Lena Dunham says “None
of my actions have ever been determined by the search for a husband, or
wondering if I was going to have a family someday, or wanting to live in a
really great house …. This is the kind of female character that doesn't make
sense to me."
The feminist
script for 21st century womanhood is basically the same as what
India’s first feminist had said over a century ago.
The
Bible does not insist that ‘marriage should be the goal of a woman’s ambition’
or that her life be ‘determined by the search for a husband?’ The Bible
presents singlehood as an acceptable and honourable option for both men and
women. Yet, in the wisdom of things, God did say that in this journey of life, companionship
in marriage is good and that it is not good to be alone. (Genesis 2:18)
Should woman ‘spend her days in the light trifles of
a home life’? The Proverbs 31 woman is described as a merchants' ship bringing her food from faraway lands. (Proverbs
31:14). Of course, home was the base of her operations.
Should the
woman ‘live to dress, to look pretty’? The Bible warns us not to be overly
concerned about what we would wear (Mathew 6:25). Again in the context of the
Proverbs 31 woman, we are told that charm can be deceiving and beauty fades
away (Proverbs 31:30). While many a woman may find her identity in what she
chooses to wear, a godly woman finds her identity in being an eternally loved child
of God.
Should the woman ‘never know the joy of independence
and intellectual work’? Once again the Proverbs 31 woman stands out as an
example of strategic planning and administration. The Bible also speaks of Deborah as a busy judge in the public
place.
In other
words, the stereotypes found in the writings of feminists and post feminists do
not reflect what the Bible says. The Bible sets believers free from gender stereotypes that diminish
them. The Bible teaches that in
the eyes of God, women and men are equal in their position as created beings
bearing the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and that in Christ Jesus they are equal
in their position as children of God. (Galatians 3:28)
Jesus
Christ consistently elevated the position of women in the Greco-Roman world. Despite
the advances in education and development, in today’s world, women are still disproportionately the victims of violence, human
trafficking and economic injustice. Jesus Christ is glorified when the shackles
of such oppression are loosed.
What
does it means to be masculine and feminine? There is enough for us to formulate
our conclusions in this regard from Scripture, psychological observation, and
practical application.
The
right place to work out a theology of the relations between the genders is to
begin with the doctrine of creation. Genesis 1:27 says that God created man in
His own image, male and female. That's where theologians and psychologists can begin
to equip men and women to be "fully alive," beyond culturally
determined stereotypes.
On
gender roles, people are usually divided into two camps: the egalitarians and
the complementarians. The egalitarians emphasise equality. The complementarians
emphasise differential roles that synergise to yield something greater and far
more beautiful.
In
the Triune God, whose image we bear, we know that the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit are co-equal. Bruce Ware has argued in his book, Father, Son, & Holy Spirit;
Relationships, Roles, & Relevance, that “We should look… to the triune
roles and relationships among the Triune Persons of God to see what it means to
live our lives as His images…. In the very eternal relations that are true of
the Persons of the Trinity, authority and submission are lived out with love
and joy. We must learn to embrace what is eternally true in God, and this
means, among other things, embracing rightful authority and rightful
submission.”
True
freedom is the ability to do what God wants us to do. We are not free, if we
are bound from within or without by prejudices or stereotypes – be they from
our cultural past or from modern day feminist propaganda. Only the Truth can
set us free. A woman who deeply loves the Lord Jesus
Christ and His Word will find herself deeply rooted and deeply satisfied in the
midst of the confusing feminist cacophony around.
