In 1956 the Housekeeping Monthly magazine advised its readers to touch up their make-up, tie a ribbon in their hair and have their husband's meal prepared before he came home. After greeting him cheerfully at the door, they should settle him into a comfortable chair with a drink. They should avoid telling him about the trivial problems of their own day, since their husband had his own, more interesting and important things to consider.
In 1963 Betty Frieden published "The Feminine Mystique" and husbands suddenly no longer found their wives waiting for them at the door, drink in hand. Feminism had arrived and the battle of the sexes had begun. Or so the story goes.
In truth, women's liberation started long before the 1960's. Many of the early liberationists were Christians who were also involved in the the movement to abolish slavery. As early as the 1860's, some churches were training and ordaining women as pastors. Over the next 100 years women won the right to vote, and began to enter previously closed professions. The 1960's women's movement was in many ways a reaction to the postwar loss of women's freedom rather than a new idea.
The question is difficult to answer since feminism is no longer a single, well defined movement. The most influential groupings are the liberal feminists, who want women to have every opportunity men have, and see men as equals but rivals, and the radical feminists, who believe that women are morally superior to men, and want a more "feminine" society (as defined by themselves).
These competing ideologies have had a great impact on everyone's lives, many of them positive. For women, there are new opportunities to study, have a career and use their gifts. Women's skills used in the arts, sciences, medicine and other areas enrich everyone. Women are legally protected from sexual harassment at work and are no longer tied to abusive spouses for economic reasons. Men have benefited from the opening up of careers in areas which were once considered "women's work" (nursing, for instance). Many enjoy working and living beside women who are well educated, competent and independent, and appreciate having a greater involvement in their children's lives than their fathers did.
But some of feminism's "achievements" have had a negative impact. Instead of exchanging suburban tedium for an exciting and satisfying career, many women find themselves working in dead-end jobs just to help pay the mortgage. (Some observers would argue that feminism has been hijacked by economic forces). Feminism's emphasis on independence and self-fulfilment has left many women feeling lonely and unfulfilled as they reach middle age. Women's sexual liberation has led to a generation of men who expect sex without commitment, and women whose experience of sex is one of unmet longings for intimacy and tenderness. Easy divorce and economic independence may liberate some women from unbearable marriages, but divorce remains a painful experience, and many women and their children find themselves living in poverty.
Some men are confused by their changing role and loss of status. They feel threatened as workers, devalued as fathers, unappreciated as husbands or partners. After being allowed into the role of caring for children, they find themselves pushed out again by laws to protect children from potential child abuse. Developments in technology have reduced the need for men's muscle power, and even their role in conception is becoming unnecessary. They find themselves living in a feminized world, where communication, intuition and emotional intelligence are valued over rationality, leadership and achievement. They are mocked as poor communicators, and pilloried as testosterone-driven beasts.
Both sexes suffer from negative stereotyping, to the point where many people are afraid to approach the opposite sex. Social mores which once helped define how the opposite sex should be treated have been replaced by much clumsier legal sanctions and ill-defined rules of "political correctness". Homosexuality and lesbianism have become a refuge from the difficulties of heterosexual relationships.
Although both men and women were active in the early church, lay people, particularly women, were gradually excluded from many types of ministry. The modern church has reversed this trend but still tends to react rather than respond to feminism. Some would like to set the clock back to the 1950s, and misuse scripture to prove their point. Others have taken feminism on board uncritically, or even unwittingly. Evangelist Woody L Davis argues that the message being preached has often been subtly feminized, so that characteristics such as kindness, gentleness and community-building are put ahead of more "masculine" virtues such as duty, discipline and courage.
Getting past centuries of unbiblical misogyny to discover what the Bible really says about gender roles remains a difficult and controversial task. The Old Testament certainly describes a patriarchal society (an anathema to many feminists). Yet Hebrew women were given a remarkably high status compared to the women of the nations around them. Although they were under the guardianship of their father or husband, they were not the property of men. Most commandments addressed both sexes. Mothers were to be respected just as much as fathers and if a couple were caught in adultery, both were held guilty.
At every significant point in Old Testament history, we find men and women involved together - in creation, at the fall, through the exodus and at the giving of the law. Unlike the later temple built by Herod, Solomon's temple had no separate court for women. Men and women worshipped together.
In the New Testament, men and women were included in Jesus' ministry and teaching, at his crucifixion, at his resurrection and at Pentecost. Jesus never mocked, belittled or patronised women. Sometimes he shocked those around him in his dealings with them (see John 4.27 for instance). The twelve disciples closest to Jesus were male, but he taught men and women together on many occasions.
When we come to Paul's writing, there is an apparent ambivalence about women. On the one hand there is his clear statement in Galatians 3.28 that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free. He makes no distinction between men and women in his description of spiritual gifts, and he speaks of both men and women praying and prophesying in public. He writes positively about the gospel work of women such as Priscilla and Phoebe.
Yet in passages such as 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-14 Paul seems to deal with women quite harshly. Not only does he appear to exclude them from teaching and leading in the church, but he seems to imply that they are the source of evil in the world and should redeem themselves by child bearing.
Several explanations of this ambivalence are possible. The first is that Paul actually was ambivalent. He'd grasped the amazing truth that God makes no distinction based on race or gender, but then let his Roman and Greek-influenced background sneak in. While this would make Paul no less human than the rest of us, it would raise difficult questions about the inspiration of scripture.
A second possibility is that Paul was addressing specific women in a specific setting, and his comments need not be taken as binding for all time. Another possibility is that those who translated Paul's writing from the Greek were influenced by their own culture and read into the texts a stronger bias against women than was there in the original. Debate about what Paul really intended to say is likely to continue for a long time.
In the end, much of the controversy centres on men's and women's roles in the church. When it comes to relationships between the sexes in marriage and society, the Bible offers clear guidelines that are based on equality and interdependence rather than competition and self-centred independence. It affirms that both women and men are made in God's image, that both are precious to him, that both are saved from the consequences of their own sin by the death of Jesus. Both receive the gift of the Holy Spirit when they turn to him in faith.
In marriage husband and wife are called to be submitted to each other, with the husband loving his wife with the same self-sacrificing love which Jesus gives to his church, and the wife voluntarily submitting to her husband for the sake of Christ. There is no question of either spouse demanding submission or respect, and no suggestion that all women should be subordinate to all men. Both parents have a responsibility in raising their children, and those who take that responsibility seriously deserve to be honoured and respected. Relationships between the sexes outside marriage are to be based not on envy and self interest but on Christ-like love and honour.
Stella Budrikis