ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL - GENDER
INEQUALITY
From the Sermon Series: Christ
and Current Events – 5.
2
Sam. 11:26-12:13; NT Luke 8:1-3
A
sermon by The Rev. John A. Dalles
Preached originally on Sunday, August 16, 2015
Let’s
begin where we were, think about where we are now (and where we are not) and
then look to the future.
THE
WAY WE WERE…
We
begin in 1971. I have two dear friends,
a brother and sister. One is my age and
one is a year ahead in high school. Expectations
about each of my friends surprised me.
The expectation is that the friend who is male will go to college. The expectation for the friend who is female,
not so much. There are also at home expectations. Each of them has household duties to perform
each week—we called them chores back then.
Things like mowing the grass or washing the dishes, that sort of thing. Expectations were that the son would do the
chores assigned to him, but if some better offer came up in doing things with
his friends, he could let the chores slide, maybe get to them later, maybe one
of the parents would end up doing them instead.
Expectations for the daughter were different. If something special or fun with friends came
up, the chores had to be done first. No further
argument. It was a bit eye opening. A bit peculiar. And seemed quite wrong.
You
may have grown up in a similar situation.
This is not to say that the parents didn’t love both children dearly, but
there were a set of rules for the guys and a set of rules for the gals. That was it.
Forward
a few years, to 1975. The largest architectural
firm in the unites states, famous then and still huge and famous today, sent
one of their senior partners to speak to the juniors in the architecture
program at Penn State about job opportunities with their firm. He spoke very highly of his large Chicago
office filled with innovative architects.
The audience included all of my fellow architecture majors about a third
of whom were women, about to embark into a profession that was dominated by
men. Loraine, who was one of the best
students, asked a question during the Q and A portion of the talk, “What opportunities
do you have available for women at your firm?”
The speaker seemed surprised by the question and then after giving it
some thought, said, “We can always use a
good color theorist…” it was a bit eye opening. A bit peculiar. And seemed quite wrong.
That
was it.
Also
in 1975, we had a family reunion in Pittsburgh.
Our family went to worship at First Presbyterian Church downtown, since
it was where the great aunts had been members forever before they moved to St. Petersburg,
Florida, in the 60s. We were there on a communion
Sunday. After the sermon, when it was
time for communion, the elders moved gracefully up and down the aisles, in the special
Presbyterian sacrament we call communion.
I was watching all of this and there was something odd about it all,
that at first I could not put my finger on.
Then it dawned on me. Of the 16
or so elders moving through the historic Gothic sanctuary, amid the gorgeous Tiffany
stained glass windows, and the well oiled walnut pews, not one of them was a
woman. Not one. Having grown up in a different Pennsylvania Presbyterian
church of the same PC(USA) denomination, where women elders were as numerous as
men…it was a bit eye opening. A bit
peculiar. And seemed quite wrong.
In
homes, in the workplace and in places of worship, it seemed… there was a
certain rule, spoken or unspoken, that opportunities for men and opportunities
for women were not the same. Not the
same.
That
is the way we were.
WHERE
ARE WE TODAY?
Have
we come a long way, baby? Yes and
no. We have many women in Congress, on
the bench of the Supreme Court, and Cabinet Secretaries. The immediate past three Secretaries of State
have been women. These are recent
innovations. Some of our younger members
of the church will scratch their heads to think that there was ever a time when
it seemed controversial for there to be a woman architect, a woman minister, or
a young woman whose household chores were looked upon differently than those of
her brother.
But
we can all point to situations in most every line of work where there is still
an inequality between what women can do, or what women are paid to do it.
Gender
pay gaps persist around the world, including in the United States.
But in some vocations that is changing
More
women own and operate their own business than ever before.
Today,
women make up
almost 15% of the active duty members in the United States
military. But there, equality issues
remain.
Globally
women are much more likely to be able to read and write than are men.
Almost
exactly the number of women hold jobs as do men.
But
the number who make it into the upper echelons of management remain dis-proportionally
small. Just 13% of board members are
women and fewer than 3% of Fortune 500 companies are run by women. These numbers are higher than they’ve ever been
before, but they’re still far from impressive.
Some
fields are still very much dominated by men: women hold just 27% of computer
science jobs, and only 5% of electrical engineering jobs,
Where
we are now…it is better than it was in 1970's, but not good enough.
I
had not been here very many yeas when one of the women elders in our congregation
made a appointment to come and chat with me.
She and her husband had bought a house over in a suburb not far from us,
but just far enough away. She came to
tell me that they would probably be joining a church near their new home. This was a disappointment to me, because she
was a very fine elder and a great church member. I expedited her to say that they would be
jointing the PC(USA) Church there, which is a very fine congregation and one of
the oldest in our presbytery. No, she did
not mention that church. She mentioned a
completely different church, not a PC(USA) church, where then, and to this day,
women cannot serve as deacons, or as elders or as ministers. There are some proof text verses of scripture
that are used to justify this archaic position.
And
she has a daughter. As do we.
I
said to her then what I would say to her again today, and what I would say to
anyone who would make such a move:
“I suppose I can understand why you
might make the conscious compromise to join a congregation in which you will
not be able to serve as you have been able to serve here, but I cannot
understand why a parent would allow their daughter to grow up in a faith
environment that treated her like a second class citizen.”
It
was a bit eye opening. A bit
peculiar. And seemed quite wrong. Like a throwback to the 1970’s, or the 1950’s
or the 1880’s…
I
hope there is not one parent here who expects their daughter to take some long-held
hope or dream and let it die because it is something that only men do.
That
would not be the way of Jesus. In his
writings, both in the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, Luke is particularly
good at showing us that Jesus treated women as whole people, not the second
class people that most of his traditional Middle Eastern society forced them into
being. Where they could not speak to men
outside the home, could not appear
outside the home without their heads covered, and face veiled, could not speak
their own mind, offer their own opinion, own their own property, contribute to
and support causes that were dear to their own heart, hold leadership positions
in the vocations and political arena. I
hope there is not one parent here – be they ever so well-meaning – who would
ever say to a daughter, “Well you probably shouldn’t peruse that
line of work because only men do that.”
We know about his 12
disciples, the men who had followed him from Galilee. What does Luke tell us about the women
who had followed him from Galilee?
“Soon afterward he went on through
cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of
God. And the twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who
had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from
whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of
Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided
for them out of their means.
The
role of women at the very start of Christianity, was a vital role.
WHAT
ROLE DOES THE CHURCH HAVE, TODAY?
We
have the role of working to bring about a more equitable society, in which
daughters can dare to dream to be whoever they feel called to become.
We
can model it ourselves.
We
can see to it that we provide every opportunity for it to happen.
We
can mentor, encourage and open doors for women who are seeking be what they
have not yet achieved.
Being
free to make decisions for themselves and for the people they care about.
Copyright © 2017, John
A. Dalles. All rights reserved.
