Gender equality

• Separate Spheres


  Before the 20th century it was believed that men and women belonged to different 'spheres'. They had separate roles or duties that were based on their gender.
• The Public Sphere


  • The domain of men, so they were able to freely move outside the home and participate easily in public life. It consisted of work, politics, business: everything outside the home. It also included the free exchange of ideas in public discussion and debate.
• Secular attitudes (what society says/does) and religious attitudes.
• The Domestic Sphere


  • Reserved for Women, and included taking care of all household matters. The proper or ideal woman would be pure, submissive, and domestic in order to happily fulfil her duties of caring for the home and rearing children.
• Heterosexual


  An attraction or engagement of sexual behaviour between people of the opposite sex or gender.
• In 2020, the pay gap in the UK between men and women for full time workers was 7.4%. However, it is close to zero for full-time employees aged under 40. In part time work in the UK, women earn 2.9% more than men.
• Women are still seen by society as the primary carers of children and are often associated with caring jobs than men. Due to gender stereotyping, men are often reluctant to apply for jobs that involve looking after children or older people.
• Homosexual


  An attraction or engagement of sexual behaviour between people of the same sex or gender. Men who are romantically or sexually attracted to other men are called gay. Women who are sexually attracted to other women can be called gay as well but are usually called lesbians.
• There are for example many more female than male primary teachers in Scotland with 90% compared to 10%. It is better but still unequal in the secondary sector where there are 63% females and only 37% males.
• Bisexual


  An attraction or engagement of sexual behaviours to both male and female
• Society in general puts a lower economic value on the contribution of carers than it does for positions in finance where men are most likely to be found. Jobs such as carers and those in cleaning, catering, cashiering and clerical (usually referred to as '5c' jobs) are overwhelmingly female. They are often part-time and lack job security and other attractive features such as paid holidays and company pensions.
• 6 million women in the UK work part-time, which equates to 40% of all women who work. Women are also far more likely to work as unpaid carers, looking after relatives.
• Pansexual


  Attracted to people of all genders. They refer to themselves as gender-blind, asserting that gender and sex are not determining factors in their attraction to others.
• The Glass Ceiling


  A situation where women can see the path to the jobs at the top of an organisation, but there are invisible barriers preventing them from obtaining these posts. This can often be referred to a woman's role in looking after children such as taking time out of a career to have children, the inflexibility to work late or get in early or to work weekends.
• Asexual


  Does not experience attraction to other people
• Ordination and leadership roles in the organised church are often prohibited to women, but the majority of churches now hold an egalitarian (men and women's roles equal) view regarding women's roles in the church.
• Demisexual


  Rarely or seldom attracted to other people. Sexual attraction is usually based on a pre-existing emotional bond.
• In the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, only men may serve as priests or elders (bishops, presbyters and deacon); only celibate males serve in senior leadership positions such as pope, patriarch, and cardinals. Women may serve as abbesses and consecrated virgins.
• A number of mainstream Protestant denominations are beginning to relax their longstanding constraints on ordaining women to be ministers (priesthood), though some large groups, most notably the Southern Baptist Convention, are tightening their constraints in reaction.
• Fluid


  Sexuality can change over time. The term fluid gives language to that experience and space for people to explore their changing sexuality
• Christian theological Rosemary Radford claims that man and woman were both created in God's image, yet man views woman as a lower projection of himself, not as an equal. Male projection of females as an incarnation of lower human nature, though contrary to the Bible's assertion that women are created in the image of God, has limited women's ability to be recognized as equal members of the Church.
• Queer


  Although formally considered a derogatory term, many people in the LBTQ+ community have reclaimed the word as a broad umbrella term for anyone who isn't specifically cisgender or heterosexual
• Arguments for male only ordination

  • Jesus' twelve disciples were all men. Therefore, it should be men who lead the Church.
  • Paul, writing in the New Testament book of Corinthians, says that women should be silent in church. Therefore, the Bible points to only men speaking in, and leading, the Church.
  • The early Church was led by men and there is nothing that would suggest a change is needed.
  • Men and women can have equally important and valid roles in the Church, but they do not need to carry out the same roles. For example, women do not need to be priests because there are other roles to be fulfilled.
• Many religious traditions celebrate sexuality as a gift from God. The starting point for a Christian understanding of human sexuality is the belief that all humans are made in 'the image of God'.
• Arguments for male and female ordination

  • In Genesis 1:27 it says that men and women are made in the image of God, therefore, both are equal before God and should be ordained equally.
  • Paul wrote in the New Testament book of Galatians that there is "neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, you are all one in Christ". If all are one in Christ then all should be eligible for ordination.
  • In Luke 8 we are told that women were disciples, and it was the women who stood by Jesus at the cross and were the first to witness the resurrection. This shows the importance of women in Christianity.
  • It is important to have women priests who can work closely with women in the Church, especially if dealing with a sensitive pastoral problem.
  • Women can access all other jobs and positions in society, why should it be any different with the Church?
• The story of Eve being created from Adam's rib shows how males and females are intimately connected to each other. Genesis ultimately suggests that man and woman unite to become complete.
• In 1945, a group of farm hands digging for fertiliser in the Egyptian desert made a discovery that would dramatically change our understanding of the early church. They had unearthed several early Christian texts including gospels of Thomas, Philip and Mary that had been buried away for around 1,600 years.
• This teaching is important because it refers to the responsibility Christians have for what they do with their body and how they treat it. The teaching has a strong implication for a Christian's sexuality.
• These gospels were some of the many alternative books about Jesus that weren't included in the Christian Bible. They had been side-lined by the early church as it worked out what became the official version of Christianity.
• The Roman Catholic belief is that when a man and woman connect to each other in a sexual way, it is the most intimate physical expression of their total union. For this reason, the Roman Catholic Church teaches in Familiaris consortio that this union is sacred and is a key element in marriage.
• The Jesus in these texts was radically different from the one in the accepted gospels of the New Testament - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Mary's gospel rejects Jesus' suffering and death as the path to eternal life, exposes the erroneous view that Mary was a prostitute, legitimizes women's leadership, offers a utopian vision of spiritual perfection, and asks readers to rethink the basis for church authority.
• Christian attitudes towards sex have varied greatly, but a constant question that has guided these approaches has been the relationship between sex and childbearing.
• According to the lost gospels Mary Magdalene was a prominent disciple and significant leader in the early Christian movement. Her designation as the very first apostle of Jesus has helped promote contemporary awareness of the leadership of women in Christianity.
• St Augustine (354-430) taught that sex was only to be used for procreation, and that recreational, or lustful, sex was to be avoided; a view which was echoed nearly a thousand years later by Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274).
• When the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 312, he wanted to use it as a way of unifying his fragmented Empire. There was then a concerted effort to standardise Christian doctrines and to promote an agreed canon of New Testament scriptures. So some of the "apocryphal" writings were side-lined, or even suppressed. But the vast majority simply stopped being reproduced.
• These views were dominant for much of Christian history.
• The Vedas hold women in high esteem and address them as dharma Patni (one who promotes and preserves the rightful conduct of life). Traditionally in Hinduism, a woman's role has been seen as supporting family life including playing an important role in the religious activities of the family.
• St. Augustine believed If one choses to engage in sexual intercourse primarily for the sake of pleasure, regardless of whether procreation is possible, that you are giving into the sin of lust. Augustine's reasoning here is that sin basically consists in adverting one's attention away from God.
• However, the role of a Hindu woman in the family has changed greatly over time due to many factors including globalisation and the impact of Western cultures. In many modern Hindu communities, it is accepted by many that men and women have equal worth.
• The avoidance of the sin of lust led to the promotion of celibacy as an ideal, especially for the clergy, with marriage as a concession to contain desire and to provide a context for the bearing and rearing of children. Some Christian traditions such as Roman Catholicism continue to teach that procreation is the primary purpose for sex and marriage.