We live in an androgynous society, where feminism’s cry “anything you can do, I can do too” echoes and resounds.
It echoes in the workplace, where women crunch numbers, run businesses, and fight wars alongside the men. It echoes in the public place, where a woman coldly refuses the proffered hand with her luggage–insisting that she can handle it herself. It echoes in the home, where men and women wrestle for 50-50 but somehow always feel that they’ve come out on bottom.
Some of feminism’s advances have been good. Thanks at least in part to feminism, I can attend a four-year university, pursue a master’s degree, and expect to earn a decent wage to support myself (or at least I would have if I’d chosen something other than community nutrition to specialize in!) Thanks to early feminists, I can have a say in how my country is run, something that as a single woman, I would not have been able to do in an earlier day.
But along with feminism’s great triumphs have come its greatest tragedies. We have achieved (for the most part) equality, but we have lost our identities. For in saying that women were not just equal but the same as men, we have lost those things that make us female–we have lost our femininity. And in saying that women were not just equal but superior to men, we have lost those things that make men male–we have lost their masculinity.
In a genderless society, the only distinction between men and women is their sexual organs (and sometimes not even that with the advent of sex changes). Women don’t need men–they just need a penis and sperm. Men don’t need women–they just need a uterus and breasts. We all become sex objects.
We lose the beautiful differences that God created between men and women. We lose the roles He created us to fulfill. And we cheapen and degrade the one difference we allow to remain.
This need not be. This should not be.
Because the truth is that while man and woman were created equal in God’s sight–
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Galatians 3:28
man and woman were created different.
From the beginning (pre-fall), we were created male and female–and God said that it was good.
“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Genesis 1:27
“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.”
Genesis 1:31a
Both male and female, created in the image of God, but created to be different, distinct.
Man was created and given a task.
“Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.”
Genesis 2:15
Man was to tend and to keep creation. We read on to see that God further gave him the task of naming the creatures.
Woman, too, was created for a specific task.
“And the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.'”
Genesis 2:18
Woman was created to be a helper to man, comparable but not the same.
The fall changed a lot of things, but it didn’t change God’s intended roles. The curse over both man and woman’s domain reinforces their tasks–the man’s to work the ground (and to provide), the woman’s to help (and to tend the home).
I recently read the book Rocking the Roles by Robert Lewis and William Hendricks–and I thought it was a fantastic discussion of the roles of men and women. I highly recommend it. One of the things that stuck out to me the most from my reading was the way Lewis and Hendricks described the different roles of men and women as revealed in Scripture (and particularly in marriage). They said that the man’s role was to be a servant and a leader; while a woman’s role was to be a helper and a lover.
Now, this book was written to speak specifically to the roles of men and women in marriage. Obviously, the role of women in general is not to be a lover of just anyone. But if we replace the word “lover” with the word “nurturer”, I think we can see how these roles play out in other (non-marital) relationships.
Men are called to lead within the church and within the home. Men are called to serve, not just their wives but others as well. Women are called to help within the church and within the home (responding to and encouraging the leadership of man). Women are called to nurture, to bring physical, emotional, and relational life to those around them.
These roles of men and women do not change depending on whether a man or woman is married or single. Because you are a single man (who must cook his own meals and wash his own clothing) does not mean that you are not called to lead and to serve. Because you are a single woman (who must change her own oil and “bring home the bacon”) does not mean that you are not called to help and nurture.
Let’s reject feminism’s falsehood that would say that men and women are the same and embrace the differences between ladies and gentlemen. Ladies, let’s embrace our femininity. Gentlemen, embrace your masculinity.
My brother wrote a FANTASTIC post called The Code of a Gentleman which speaks to both men and women regarding encouraging masculinity. You really ought to check it out–especially because I plan on responding to his post tomorrow (which means you’ll be somewhat left out if you haven’t read his original!)