Women: More Power, Less Happiness
Time magazine’s current cover story is on the “The State of the American Woman.” In their words, “A new poll shows why they are more powerful – but less happy.”
At first glance, it would seem that the feminist revolution was successful. According to Time, “In 1972 only 7% of students playing high school sports were girls; now the number is six times as high. The female dropout rate has fallen in half. College campuses used to be almost 60-40 male; now the ratio has reversed, and close to half of law and medical degrees go to women, up from fewer than 10% in 1970. Half the Ivy League presidents are women, and two of the three network anchors soon will be; three of the four most recent Secretaries of State have been women.”
If it was all about equal opportunity, it was a remarkable success. So why are women less happy than they were in the 70′s when this started, and why are they less happy than men?
I believe some would classify Jesus as a feminist. His disciples were shocked by the level of equality he showed women in his interactions with them. His followers wrote things in Ephesians 5 about the responsibilities of husbands that many male-dominance types would consider scandalous! But I don’t believe Jesus wanted women to be unhappy.
So…maybe the feminist revolution got some things right, and some things wrong. What do you think? In what ways are we closer to the roles of women that Jesus showed us, and in what ways are we further from it?
