Aug 22, 2023
ELSEWHERE: Women can be Win Bread?!?!?
Gender. Ah, that unforgettable topic. Gender never stops being controversial, especially when it comes to the question of whether or not women should be allowed to be the breadwinner, the main moneymaker in a relationship. Katelyn Beaty of Christianity Today argues that it just might be okay for women to be the breadwinner, since it’s sometimes necessary for women to do this in light of their context.
2 Comments
Thanks for linking to the CT column. I decided to post my response here:
Three generations of my family have been non-traditional:
Now
in my 60’s, I was brought up as a farm boy, reared by two parents and
two older sisters. Seeing that their income had not been adequate for
the educational aspirations of one of my sisters, my mother took a job
teaching fourth grade the year I entered sixth grade. It was at first a
blow to my father’s pride, but he gradually, while still busy farming,
began to develop interests in cooking, reading, taking part in civic
activities, and, finally, at last joining and becoming very active in
church where my mother was a licensed lay leader. In short, my father
became a broader, more fruitful, more fulfilled human being. Meanwhile,
my mother reveled in nurturing countless students and former students.
My father ended up taking great pride in her teaching, and would quip,
“If they wouldn’t pay her to teach, she would pay them to let her.” I
learned to cook and tend to household matters, learnings that later
became more important to my adult life than have been the farm chores,
especially those involving mechanics, at which I often struggled. My
parents were better people, and so was I, because of their departing
from rigid roles and doing what they were actually wired to do.
My
wife and I have shifted roles several times in our lives, but, during
the years that our daughter was growing up and most years since, she has
earned more income than I have, sometimes significantly more. She is
more extroverted and organized, and more naturally gifted at fulfilling
public roles. I was by nature an introvert and an amateur scholar, but I
loved nurturing our daughter, likewise introverted and scholarly. My
wife and I are both very proud of her.
Our daughter and her
husband share parenting duties without worrying much about roles so far
as we can tell. It is likely that they will adjust roles several times
in their lifetimes just as the earlier generations have done. Like
us, they are Bible-based Christians. I don’t believe that any one of
these three generations of my family has ever defied God’s revealed will
in the matter of our gender roles, although I would grant that we find a
great deal more room for flexibility and individuality in the
Scriptures than some Christians do.
Thanks for this great example!
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