Girl power?

It was International Women's Day on Sunday 7th March and to coincide, the BBC have put together an archive collection of material about feminism on their website which has been very interesting and entertaining. I have also just watched a documentary on BBC4 on the same theme. This all got me thinking.

I did gender studies as part of my degree and have always been interested in feminism and the history of women as my mother's interest had awakened a spark for it early on. Women has obviously been given a raw deal throughout history but I am often surprised at how recent the offensive prejudice carried on until. One of the stories I heard recently was about women being allowed into Cambridge. I quote, "The last male college to take women was Magdalene; on the first day of female acceptance students wore black armbands, carried round a coffin, rung bells and all flags were flown at half-mast." My initial reaction to this is how pathetic! Perhaps these men felt so threatened by the fact that women could compete on an equal level with them intellectually that they needed to make this statement. Being brought up in a patriarchal society though had made this behaviour and these values acceptable. Tales such as these make me cry thank goodness for feminism - that women stood up for themselves in being of equal value to men. However, it would be foolish to think that it is finished. We may have equality in the law but sexism is still rife.

One of the struggles for today is still the issue of marriage and children - it almost feels wrong to desire these still rather than a high flying career. To want to be a housewife appears to mock everything that women fought for and going against any feminist instincts. You may end up as a housewife, but that shouldn't be your goal or dream. What about the value of housework? We need people to nurture, care for and organise the household which is no easy job. Raising children should never be underestimated - the huge amount of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual work that goes into this is incredible. Just because both men and women do combine this with work outside of the home does not mean everyone has to do this. We need to get to a point where we recognise different types of work as equal value. Housework, childcare, cleaner, carer, whatever, these are all of equal value to high flying executives, bankers, etc. We need to see those who spend their lives caring for and looking after others as equal value and worth to everyone else in our society. I don't believe it is any coincidence that it has traditionally been women who have undertaken these roles and they are still the lesser paid.

My Christian faith has raised many challenges for me as a woman but not because I think God has any gender hierarchies but that people do. Jesus is all about equality and is clearly for women. He talks to the woman at the well, he stops the woman caught i adultery from being stoned, he credits the woman who washes his feet with wisdom, it is a woman who first sees him after the resurrection. I could go on and on. Jesus clearly values and respects women. This is why I get tired of people quoting the same old verses from Corinthians out of context to stop women taking any leadership or speaking roles in church. It is a ridiculous notion that men can't take teaching from women. I see that this is rubbish from the example my church and many other churches set. Women bring great insight from God and not giving them the opportunity to share this is a crime as far as I'm concerned. I believe that the Bible is the living word and forever relevant but that it also needs its context and to remove verses from this to discriminate and silence people is going against everything God stands for.

These comments may seem generalised and frivolous but I don't have the time and space to fully explore all of these issues right now. I just wanted to try and convey my passion for the value of women at this point. I'm sure the topic will come up again!