The Flesh Will Embarrass You

 KEEPING IT SIMPLE: THE FEMINISM CONVERSATION 

Genesis 1: 27 “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”  

Sometime during my final year in the University, I had an informal conversation with a freelance writer. She asked the question “when did you realize you were feminist?”

My response was “ I have always been feminist, I just did not know the word itself existed”.

I was brought up without the consciousness of gender as it pertained to capabilities. There was never a time where my family limited my dreams and aspirations because suitors may be scared off . I never felt disadvantaged because of gender. Nonetheless, as I grew, I realized the many different ways in which the scales of society are imbalanced against women, and then I became more vocal about such when I got to the university. What makes discourse quite difficult is the perspective of privilege from which men are inclined to think, as well as the tagging of feminism as  “worldly”, thus unacceptable, by a lot of Christians ..and religious people. 

In our Ghanaian circles, if someone says she’s feminist, we immediately imagine a few things;

A woman who is so successful and still single.

A woman who is not submissive to her  husband.. The list goes on.

We think of everything except what feminism actually is; Advocacy for the economic and social equality of women everywhere! It is about time that we see this concept as one geared towards progression and a balanced society.

Let’s take a quick test: Do you believe that women and men, though unique in their biological dispositions are still equal in the sight of God and must be treated equally in society? Is your answer yes? congratulations! You passed the feminism test. It’s that simple. 

Let's take a quick look at the first Women's rights activists of the Bible; The daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 27).

During the time of Moses, God's law required that if a man died and had an inheritance, should he have no son(s) to inherit him, his inheritance would be passed on to his brothers, so that it stayed within the clan.

These five sisters, Noa, Milcah, Hoglah,Tirzah and Mahlah approached Moses when their father died. They belonged to the tribe of Manasseh and their father had the promise of a portion of the land that God was going to give the Israelites. But with dad gone and no son, the inheritance would have to slip through their hands into that of their uncles. (does that sound familiar?) Of course, that wasn't a fair law, but that was God's law! 

What do you do when the systemic structures are already set against you?

They approached Moses with their grievance and Moses took it to God.  God reasoned with Moses about the unfairness of His own law, revised it, and when they entered the promised land, these sisters were given their due. Not only that, but the law from that point had provisions for women to inherit property. (Numbers 27:7-8)

What would you have done in those shoes? Would you be that person that just sits and says "it's not fair, but that's what it is" or would you have been as bold as these sisters and make a move towards change? 

Do note that these women did not go attacking Moses, they went pointing out the shortfall of the system. Being an advocate for women does not equate being anti-men; it is a fight against elements of society that give unfair advantage to one gender over the other.

Secondly, Moses and his council did not choose to be in power or at the benefitting end of the societal structure. After having a lot of conversations with guys on this topic of feminism, one grievance that I find coming from men is that feminists make it seem like men somehow sat on a council sometime in history and decided to balance the scales in their favor.  Quite the contrary; most cultures of course did place the woman in the household, relegating her importance to the family - by extension in society, to nurturing and taking care of the house. It’s just the way of most societies; however, over time, cultures have slowly given way for women to take on tasks and receive benefits that were traditionally for men only, as we see in the case of the sisters at the time of Moses.  

Can you be Christian and feminist? Yes! We have already established that if you advocate for women, you’re not a hater of men.   

In his day, Jesus spoke for all people even though his Middle Eastern heritage was highly patriarchal. We look at three women; the woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery and Mary Magdalene. Jesus overlooked the background and sins of these women, and made an evangelist out of one from a despised tribe, a devout Christian out of the other, and stood up for justice for the last. We can really go on and on. To mirror Jesus in this regard would be to love everyone and still speak against injustices towards people.

So in basic terms, we should have a body of Christ that is characterized by mutual respect and couples that love and are submissive to one another, just as Christ loved and submitted himself to the death on the cross. Speak up when you can, but continue to love others and protect them however you can because we are all equal before God. Loving your neighbour as yourself means, recognizing the female as one also created in the image of God and protecting her from injustice like you would do for yourself. Jesus did it. So should you. A Christian is governed by the principles of Jesus -  not by culture.

Your friends,

Becky and Sharon