The abduction of 129 schoolgirls by the radical- fundamentalist Islamic group, Boko Haram in Nigeria last month was the latest act of aggression in an escalating war such groups are waging against women. As we agonize and pray over the fate of these girls we remember the prayers we offered for another schoolgirl, Malala Yousafzai, when she was shot on a bus coming home from school back in 2012. The Taliban took responsibility for that attack in the Swat region of Afghanistan. We know that these highly publicized events are only the tip of an iceberg of oppression and violence against girls world-wide. Why? Why do these fundamentalists feel so threatened by girls who want to learn?
I think the answer is simple and evident. These men feel threatened by women, and thus do not want girls to be educated, do not want them to have any access to power or self-determination. If these men were confident in their manhood the world would be a better place, but they are not. It seems sometimes that the threat these fundamentalists feel from Western Culture is not economic, political, military, or even religious so much as it is a threat that men will lose their hegemony over women. These men are weak, afraid, and thus angry.
Weakness, fear, and anger characterized many of the fundamentalist men among whom I was raised, and characterize the fundamentalists who still cross my path from time to time. It wasn’t many years ago that a brother in Christ explained to me that he didn’t plan to educate his daughters since he was raising them to be wives and mothers. “So are we,” I replied, “And we are raising our daughters to be cultivated, prepared, self-sufficient adults as well.” Maybe that sounds a little radical to you, but if you think an assertive, strong woman isn’t God’s ideal, read Proverbs 31. God’s man is blessed, not threatened by strong women.
Jesus believed this. He insisted that a woman’s place is in the classroom alongside the men (Luke 10.38-42). Jesus even welcomed the children who would naturally be in tow (Matthew 19.13-15). Jesus included women in his travelling group of disciples (Luke 8.1-3). Jesus called attention to the faith-gestures of women which men overlooked (Mark 12.41-44, 14.3-9). Jesus engaged women in deep theological conversation at a time when it was forbidden for a respectable man, let alone a respected Rabbi to do so (John 4.7-26, John 11.17-27). Jesus was not intimidated when a woman had the last word (John 2.1-12, Mark 7.25-31). Jesus appeared to a woman after his resurrection before he appeared to any man, and gave that woman the first commission to share the news that He had risen (John 20.11-18).
Jesus didn’t choose a woman to be an apostle – I am not arguing that we don’t have our particular roles to play. And it is good to remember that the husband is burdened with the role of leadership in the home. It is also good to remember that that leadership is to be expressed in love through sacrifice and service (Ephesians 5.21-33). But any man who assumes he is higher in the pecking order just because he is a man is a petty, childish martinet. Any man threatened by a woman’s intelligence and strength is weak within himself.
And any such man is no disciple of Jesus.
