Entering God’s Economy for Women
I feel as I have been on a journey of understanding how God desires me to use my gifts, specifically my professional gifts. Amidst debates around feminism and what the natural role of a woman is in response to latest cultural waves there is little discussion around the professional gifts of women. There is only discussion around the gifts of motherhood and homemaking. It is like being dragged back in time.
As I was reading the essays of Philosopher Edith Stein who wrote in Germany between the world wars I realized these debates were going on one hundred years back. The fight between feminism wishing to acknowledge the gifts of woman beyond the role of mother, wife and homemaker and those who saw that they might be taken too far and therefore wished to take the other extreme end. It is a cycle that played out multiple times again since the rise of feminism. And honestly acknowledging the complexity of womanhood and that each woman is an individual matters greatly in this debate. Treating women and men as interchangeable without acknowledging that there is a difference in the sexes that need to be dealt, is wrong. Treating women like they must be confined into a box and not letting them explore the gifts God gave them beyond homemaking, being a wife and motherhood is also wrong.
If one wishes to develop a philosophy around this subject one must first understand that the time of history one is living through and acknowledge the struggles that raged in the past. We live in an age when women have gained immense freedom in building a life that allows them to achieve the balance around the mission Christ calls them to follow. They have the ability to join growing cottage style economies, they have the ability to work at places that respect their feminine nature outside of the home if that is what they are called to or they can build their own career from home.
To me it feels as God wishes to see the emergence of an economy that allows women to contribute their professional gifts, and glorify God with them, while also respecting their feminine nature and also fulfilling all their other natural callings. This is a part of His kingdom that He wishes to build on earth and this requires for women to contribute to this. To acknowledge their individual nature, lean deeply into Christ and allow their professional feminine gifts to shine in His name.
