I don't blog as often as I'd love to as is obvious from my blog but on this International Women's Day I have had to ponder this thought. This thought kept tugging at my brain when Kathryn Bigelow became the very first woman in history to win the coveted Oscar's Best Director Award. She was up against her ex-husband the illustrious James Cameron. Though they have been divorced for many years they remain very good friends. Just a couple of thoughts that may just be rhetoric but was the 'directors fraternity' always an all boys club or was it an assumption of women that we weren't allowed in. Because I don't work in that industry I don't have an insider's perspective. Anything I know is based on an assumption or what I have been fed by the media.
However to give the benefit of the doubt to the 'directors fraternity' I think there has been more of an openness to women and our abilities to hold our own in what is considered a man's world in recent years. So Kathryn has now paved the way for many more women who share the same dreams and aspirations she does. I don't know why she and James broke up and frankly it is none of my business but what I do know is that the law of association has worked in both their favor. If this very simple law of nature have always been at work, then why is it that it took so long for this glass ceiling to be broken.
For centuries the sexes have battled as if by some unforeseen force man and woman have been sentenced to work against each other instead of the original intent of complementing each other. Numerous books, articles, movies etc have showed the differences between the sexes and have not exactly emphasized how working together is way better than working against. For those who share the biblical belief system would agree that God created male and female in His own image. This is of itself an enigma. Words would fail me to explain this God given truth. Yes we are different. Studies have shown that out of the 30 thousand genes in the human genome there is a less than 1% variation between the sexes. Only 1%! But in that small variated amount every single cell in the female body is influenced by this. Back in the early 20th century scientists came up with the assumption that women were "small men" except for the difference in the reproductive organs.(Go figure!) Because of this there has been as lot of misgivings about women. That is a small part of the scientific aspect of our differences.
Now the very subtle and sometimes blatant misgivings about women that have always bothered me is the one that derives from that very familiar Garden of Eden scene that changed the course of history and the perception of women based on Eve's encounter with that serpent. I definitely wont give my thoughts and interpretation to this conjunction in history at least not today; it would take more than a blog and way more than my theological background affords me. But what I would say now to cement my point is that God created woman a companion suitable for man. Woman wasn't an afterthought in God's mind. She was the crowning glory to the Father's creation which no body on this planet can deny. Just ask a brother when he sees a well put together woman pass by the emotions that that picture invoke in him. So for this very reason how is it that women have had to endure being on the outside looking in for so long.
So women have had to deal with critical issues throughout generations. A woman was not in control of her destiny and she was defined by her husband's social status. (There is nothing wrong with that if that's what a woman wants.) But women have made strides with some of these critical issues. It was also at the turn of the twentieth century that women suffrage gained popularity. Women were jailed and even killed to gain their rights. It was during this time that feminists movements emerge where women came to the conclusion that it appears that human behavior have created a male dominant society that opened the door to sexism. As women we were made to apologize for our strengths, the very strengths that God created us with to open up a better understanding of both the male and female development. As women we fosters this development emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. In us lie the blueprint of how to raise our sons to be good men who will make somebody's daughter very happy one day and not the contrast of making her life a living hell because he has given in to the thinking that we belong on the outside in a male dominant society. Of course fathers have a role to play in this but a father can not teach a boy how to treat a woman from a woman's perspective.
As women God created us with tremendous unique giftings, inclinations, dispositions and an enormous verbal deftness, an expertise to read expressions, to diffuse conflicts, soothe emotions and to love unconditionally because of our nurturing spirit. All of these and more are wired into a woman's psyche. Stereotypes have a tendency to blow out of proportion the differences between man and woman. Men and women who share the same interests and values will often be seen in a different light because we are members of the opposite sex. This implication could be the reason why expectations are different for both. A perfect example is a strong personality. A woman with a strong personality is considered aggressive while a strong man is acceptably assertive (which we all admire; strong men). But if we can use even these stereotypes to understand the world around us then the created purpose of man and women through the law of association would help us all. We have heard the saying behind every good man there is a good woman, maybe that should be rephrased: beside every good man there is a good woman and beside every good woman stands a good man.
Yes some women may have traditional roles in the home but there is no "lack of fit" where we are concerned outside the home. The man may be the head but he can't move without his neck which his woman should be to him which makes the woman equally important. So our place shouldn't be on the outside looking in, in any sphere of life that we want to make our mark.
Just some food for thought!
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