Faith Matters March 2025: Leighton Linslade Churches Together

Perhaps the first date celebrates women as prophets, pioneers and peacemakers. The second suggests that they are often seen in religious contexts as bound by their role in reproduction. In a patriarchal world women are allotted subservient roles to men. Religious texts, usually the product of a male society, provide limited scope for women. But there are some exceptions.

In Jewish scriptures there are heroines like Miriam and Deborah and significant others like Ruth (a foreigner) and Rahab (a prostitute). In the story of Jesus, his mother Mary was pregnant before marriage and Mary Magdalene, a witness to the resurrection, was maligned by the patriarchal early Church. Their stories are scandalous yet show loyalty and wisdom.

Women have been subjected to discrimination on the basis of their gender in all areas of life; in the arts, science and politics. Their contributions have often been ignored in favour of their male colleagues. For example, some paintings by Judith Leyster were reassigned to Frans Hals; Jocelyn Bell Burnell an astrophysicist, discovered the first radio pulsars, but was not included in the award of the Nobel Prize. Eleanor Roosevelt took a leading role in the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Even today in many parts of the world women and girls are treated as objects owned by men. Yet, in St Paul’s words, “There is neither …male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3.28) This can be understood as “differences of race, sex and class no longer matter”. When women are respected and celebrated for who they are, and genuinely have the same opportunities as men, I for one am thankful.