Chapter 3 - A Biblical Accounting for the Equality of Women

Summary

That a woman who argued for equal education and vocation for women and who had such a devotion to the Bible that she could use it to such a great degree in Rights of Woman may be surprising given the track record of misogyny in the Christian Church. Historically, Christianity has often been the greatest enemy of the woman. Born about the same time that Jesus was crucified, St. Clement, once he became the father of the Greek Church, was certain that “the consciousness of [women’s] own nature must evoke feelings of shame” (quoted in Lucas 2010, 37). Known as the founder of Western theology as well as the father of Latin Christianity and of the African church, Tertullian averred that women are “the devil’s gateway” (1869 [2nd Century], 304). In the fourth century, St. Jerome, the writer of the Vulgate, defined “woman” as “the gate of the devil, the path of wickedness, the sting of the serpent, in a word a perilous object,” and St. Gregory, the Bishop of Constantinople, rated her this way; “fierce is the dragon and cunning the asp; But woman have [sic] the malice of both” (quoted in McCabe 1908, 30). St. Augustine asked why women were created at all (quoted in Chvala-Smith 2007, 85), but the famous theologian of the thirteenth century, Thomas Aquinas, attempted to answer his question by claiming that she was “created to be man’s helpmeet, but her unique role is in conception … since for other purposes men would be better assisted by other men” (quoted in Crysdale 2001, 74).

Although the list of Christian misogynists throughout history is a veritable “Who’s Who in Church History,” the oppression of women runs through all cultures and begins with the Genesis account of Adam’s blaming God for giving him “the woman,” and then blaming the woman for giving him the forbidden fruit. From the beginning of human time, men have been inclined to blame God and women for all wrongs and rarely have taken accountability for their own misdeeds. The Talmud actually offers a morning blessing for men to give thanks to God that He did not create them to be women (Segal n.d., n.p.).

More recently the most senior Islamic cleric in Australia publicly announced that women who did not wear the hijab (Islamic scarf) were like “uncovered meat.”