Equality with Difference - Like Chalk and Cheese?
Precariously Balanced
The name which we gave to our network/organisation - Equal but Different - was a deliberate one. The problems around gender in our world have grown out of emphasising one sex whilst downplaying the other.
Since Genesis 3 and the curse for mankind that followed Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God, difference has been accentuated. Men, on the whole, have domineered and commanded women because they were more powerful: women were different to them and definitely not possessing equality. The death and resurrection of Jesus turned that notion upside down.[1] Yes, men and women were different but they were also equal - made in the image of God, just like men were, equal in worth, value and dignity.
Sadly, the suppression of a woman’s equality in our broken world prevailed. But, since the explosion of the feminist doctrine onto world history, equality now trumps difference! Women certainly needed a redressing of that cursed imbalance… but the pendulum has swung so far in the other direction, that women are once more in a precarious position.
We (Sarah Sholl who will write Part 2 of this post, and I) want to begin a conversation about why equality without difference is dangerous for women. It is a tale of two equalities: cultural equality and Biblical equality.
Limitations?
Culturally defined gender equality[2] is when people of both sexes have equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities, with no limitations placed on them because of their sex. To not accept unqualified equality for women today is branded as unjust, oppressive and unfair. Equality will be seen to be a reality when there is justice and freedom from oppression; when no limitations are placed on women; when women have the opportunity to be whoever they want or choose to be.
The problem is we cannot choose who or what we want to be or do. Our identity as creatures means we have limitations. Our lives are not write-your-own-adventures. I may deeply desire to be a world class ballerina, but I have physical limitations that preclude that option. To be exhorted on a school speech day that you can smash through your limitations and be whatever you want, is cruel for the young starry-eyed graduate.
Differences
Along with our limitations there is also the reality of the differences between men and women - again designed by the Creator. Generally men are taller and stronger than women (although in any gathering the tallest, or strongest person may be a woman). Hormonally, there are huge differences: men produce 20 times more testosterone than women do. One effect of this is that they are more likely to be highly competitive, single-minded and risk-takers. It plays a role in aggressive behaviour (which can lead to violence) and the development of the muscular system in the male body.[3]
On the other hand, oestrogen plays an important role in developing the reproductive organs of a female body. No matter how much a man desires equality with a woman to be able to conceive, gestate, give birth to and suckle a baby, he cannot!
Feminism tells us that the differences between men and women need to be ‘levelled’ out, insisting that women are only valuable if they act just like men.
Basis of equality
The inconvenient truth in our culture is that equality is not something we fight to make our own, because God has already given it to us. This is the second equality. The basis of this equality is not what we can do, or what we can aspire to be. Rather it is God’s gift to us because he made us bearers of his image. We already have it.
A cursory glance at the animal kingdom demonstrates that there is no striving for equality in that domain… might is right! It is the survival of the fittest. Take God out of the picture and there is no equality between the sexes in the human race either… the man (the stronger) would always win!
Neither can the basis of equality be ability for that has unintended consequences. If a woman says that she deserves equality because she is just as, say, intellectually accomplished as the man she compares herself to, what does that say about the intellectually disabled person? Are they not equal?
In God’s world, society or culture cannot grant women equality, nor can equality be won by women. It is already conferred on us by God. But men need to acknowledge that reality for it to thrive, and women need to acknowledge that equality with difference is God’s good design for his image-bearing creatures.
But know this as well: we who know this good God as our Father should call abusive men to account and continue to pursue justice and freedom for vulnerable women (eg abused women, economic prostitutes and slaves) precisely because they are equal image-bearers to the men who oppress them.
Two equalities, two ways to live. The first looks attractive, but in the end traps women in a cycle of fierce competition with men and denies her any distinctiveness for her sex. The second IS attractive, precisely because it comes as a gift from God and frees women to love and serve in an interdependent community of men and women.
[1] The perennial problems between men and women are a consequence of sin. Jesus death dealt with the problem of sin and God calls us to live under the new covenant of two genders who are equal image bearers, but with distinctive responsibilities.
[2] I am indebted to a talk by Andrew Heard for stimulating my thinking here. https://evchurch.info/media/5bac4
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3693622/
Lesley Ramsayhas been in local church ministry with her husband, Jim, for 47 years. After university she trained as a teacher and then raised four children. Over the past 30 years she has worked as a Bible teacher and evangelist across Australia and overseas. She has written and edited several books and training packages that are sold and used internationally. She now works at Moore College in Sydney, in pastoral care to the students. To relax, she enjoys a good coffee and a good book and hanging out with her grandchildren.