{"id":1918,"date":"2015-06-02T02:15:54","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T02:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/?p=1918"},"modified":"2015-06-02T02:15:54","modified_gmt":"2015-06-02T02:15:54","slug":"the-new-shame-why-gender-equality-is-still-worth-fighting-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2015\/06\/02\/the-new-shame-why-gender-equality-is-still-worth-fighting-for\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Shame: Why Gender Equality Is Still Worth Fighting For"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"mandi2015\"<\/a>Mandi Cherico\u00a0is a second year M.Div student at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL. Raised in the Twin Cities, her interests include feminism, word-care, aesthetics, and Beyonce.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cAre there really that many hurting women in the Church?\u201d<\/p>\n

I was a freshman at a Christian college when I heard one of my professors pose this question to our class. Yes, I replied, women were still second-class citizens in many congregations, yet he was unconvinced. According to him, the women in his church seemed happy and fulfilled. We\u2019ve come a long way. Women have the right to vote and work outside the home, why make an issue out of nothing?<\/p>\n

I wish I could tell you that I attended college in an era of widespread, Mad Men-type sexism but, alas, I graduated in the early 2000s. I\u2019ve reflected on his disbelief since then, still saddened by his ignorance. His question taught me something valuable, though. For some among us, the struggles of women in the 21st century are a non-issue. It is the opinion of some, even (especially?) in the Church, that discussions on gender equality are simply not needed today.<\/p>\n

I agree that it\u2019s good to recognize women\u2019s progress. Three waves of feminists spanning two centuries have done hard and necessary work both inside and outside the Church to create a more equal playing field for women and men. There are far more women in the workforce this decade than ever before. For every one man who graduated from college in the U.S. in 2009, three women earned their diplomas as well. Women are running companies and running for president. So why, some may ask, are we still writing blogs about gender equality?<\/p>\n

Glaring inequalities such as the wage gap, sexism in the media and the lack of female leadership in our churches are all good responses to that question. At the same time, we live in a new era where women not only have more options, but are excelling in these new frontiers. In her sensationally-titled book The End of Men and the Rise of Women<\/span>, Hanna Rosin uncovers important findings on segments of modern American women and men. Though middle-class and upper-middle class women and men are now nearly equal when it comes to representation in the workforce and academia, these new equalities don\u2019t make for equal expectations. While many women now have more freedom to pursue their God-given potential outside traditional roles, the pressure to marry, have children and be the primary homemaker still looms over them. Rosin\u2019s research proved that society\u2019s \u2018to-do list\u2019 for women has only gotten longer since the acceptance of the Independent Woman. Even more, when women can\u2019t check off this to-do list, they feel intense shame.<\/p>\n

In 2015, patriarchy is not dead, it\u2019s reincarnated. The New Shame for women comes not from a failure to fill one specific role, but from a failure to fill every role. We\u2019re handed a long list of attributes: be confident and compassionate and professional and sexy and respectable and whimsical and quiet and strong and…the list goes on. Today, women may not feel shame for pursuing a career or an education, but they do feel shame if these things inhibit or modify traditional expectations of a wife and mother. If they choose the calling of motherhood and homemaking, they often feel shame for not also working or leading outside the home.<\/p>\n

Many women struggle with the lie that they must be everything, to be worth anything at all. And – guess what? – these women preach sermons and fill pews in our churches.<\/p>\n

All progress considered, there are still hurting women in our churches, women who have been told – even by the Church itself – that they must be it all and do it all. As leaders in the Church, it\u2019s our job to create safe places of healing and wholeness for women, and for all people. Take an inventory of the culture of your church. How are we talking about the lives of men and women in our pulpits? How do we structure our gender-based ministries? Who do we applaud as \u2018normal\u2019 or exemplary among women and men? Above all, we can fight shame for all people by communicating that our worth is not found in how well we fill any role, but in the liberating love of God.<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mandi Cherico\u00a0is a second year M.Div student at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL. Raised in the Twin Cities, her interests include feminism, word-care, aesthetics, and Beyonce.     \u201cAre there really that many hurting women in the Church?\u201d I was a freshman at a Christian college when I heard one of my professors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19328],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-testimoies-and-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nThe New Shame: Why Gender Equality Is Still Worth Fighting For - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2015\/06\/02\/the-new-shame-why-gender-equality-is-still-worth-fighting-for\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The New Shame: Why Gender Equality Is Still Worth Fighting For - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mandi Cherico\u00a0is a second year M.Div student at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL. 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