In the 1970s, I encountered a whole generation of young women who embraced the ideals of classic feminism: better opportunities in the workforce, equal pay for equal work, and further nurturing of women’s skills. When the United Nations proclaimed “International Women’s Year” in 1975, I was a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Our campus advertised the slogan “WHY NOT?” to commemorate the event.
To me, “WHY NOT?” evoked a challenge to dream big and work hard to reach my potential, and I enthusiastically handed out flyers and tag buttons advertising the slogan. But somewhere along the way, feminism began to betray its lofty ideals and became divisive and destructive. Instead of extolling women’s abilities and opportunities, feminism began to promote women as helpless victims of an evil male conspiracy. Instead of encouraging association between men and women, feminism began to pit the sexes against each other in an ever-increasing gender war.
Now, most women refuse to identify with the feminist movement. While they support the ideals of classic feminism, they want nothing to do with the current movement.
All of this has created a vacuum of purpose in North America. Classic feminism won women the right to achieve. Now women yearn for everything to mean something.
The secularization of feminism
The earliest roots of feminism were rooted in biblical principles. Many 19th-century feminists were Christians, whose concern for human suffering and oppression inspired their passionate quest for equality and justice.
Finally, the efforts of the founding mothers of feminism achieved changes for women, such as the right to vote and property. Laws relating to marriage, divorce, and child custody became more equitable.
Feminism was revitalized in the 1960s and 1970s in North America, attracting young women like me. As baby boomers entering adulthood at a time of unprecedented prosperity, we were afforded many more opportunities than our mothers had a generation before. Feminism resonated with this generation of young women.
During the 1970s, the movement focused primarily on promoting more opportunities for women. However, the philosophical basis of the movement was no longer based on biblical principles. Unfortunately, the church had never taken a very active role against the injustices that affected women, and in the midst of this spiritual emptiness, feminism became completely secularized.
As the psalmist said, “Unless the Lord builds the house, the masons labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1).
The seeds of secularism soon bore fruit. In the 1980s, most feminist leaders and writers insisted that for women to be truly free, they must be emancipated from marriage and motherhood. They promoted the idea that there is something inherently wrong with masculinity that makes men enjoy oppressing women. Antagonism intensified towards the Christian and Jewish religions, and goddess worship became popular in feminist circles.
Although feminism is often promoted as the bastion of freedom and self-fulfillment, in recent years the movement has fostered slavery, emptiness, and brokenness.
filling the void
Disillusioned with feminism but longing for the sense of purpose that drew them to the movement in the past, many women have turned to New Age spirituality and self-help gurus to fill the spiritual void.
A survey of 2,500 women, published in the August 2002 issue of Redbook magazine, found that 61% said they believe the key to happiness is “spirituality.”
The fact that women are searching is encouraging. The fact that they are looking for the truth in all the wrong places challenges Christians to be more relevant in communicating the gospel.
I think there are two key reasons why many women avoid Christianity. First, many mistakenly equate Christianity with a dead religion, having grown up in homes where religion was simply a Sunday ritual. That was my experience. I was raised in a church-going family, but I never understood that I could have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
In my college years, hungry to connect with God but believing I had already “tasted” Christianity, I immersed myself in New Age philosophy. Then, at the age of 24, I met a young couple who explained to me how I could know God personally through Jesus Christ. Instantly, I knew this was the truth I had been searching for during my unfulfilling sojourn through New Age spirituality.
The second reason many women avoid Christianity is because of real or perceived injustices in the church’s treatment of women. Some denominations still perpetuate the idea that women were created to be little more than domestic appendages to their husbands. In many churches, no room is made for the expression of women’s spiritual and leadership gifts. Some even teach that biblical submission includes accepting abuse.
Several years ago, my co-worker, Maureen, said, “I could never accept Christianity because it advocates the abuse of women.” She shared how her ex-husband quoted Scripture to her while she beat her. Not surprisingly, Sharon believed that Christianity was a “repressive and anti-female religion.”
I gave Maureen a Bible and said, “The Jesus Christ I know would never advocate the abuse of women. But why don’t you read about him in the gospels and decide for yourself?” She accepted the challenge, and within a few months, Maureen embraced Jesus Christ as her own personal Savior.
The words of Jesus cut through the veils of legalism, lies, and counterfeit religion. The simple gospel message of forgiveness, healing, and destiny is what spiritually hungry post-feminist women long to hear.
Much has been said about the role of women. Jesus, however, never put women in boxes. Each of us has different gifts, talents, hopes, dreams, and callings. Whether we are doctors, housewives, lawyers, ministers, housewives, secretaries or artists, I believe that women from all walks of life share two basic yearnings of the heart. We long to be free from inner oppression. And we long to discern and embrace our life purpose.
Jesus is the answer to these two yearnings. In Luke’s Gospel, he said that he came “to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed…” For those who embrace his gift of salvation, Jesus brings freedom from Internal chains that bind us.
God also promises that those who embrace Christ will find the purpose they long for. One of my favorite scriptures is Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared beforehand for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). As we grow in our relationship with Christ, we are also released to a destiny that is far greater than anything we can dream or imagine.
Feminism offers a counterfeit freedom that ultimately leads to enslavement, bitterness, and despair. Jesus is the true Liberator, the one who satisfies the longings of our hearts, unleashes our potential, and empowers us to become the women we were created to be.