Women living in today’s modern society have at least four dimensions to them. These dimensions are powerful forces that either shape, define, propel or repel them. To understand, affirm, disciple, and position women today is indeed a huge challenge. These dimensions often go unnoticed by women themselves. Busy modern life rarely affords us time to ponder, reflect, and synthesize for awareness and action – which makes us all poorer, more confused, and more at odds within ourselves and in relating with each other.

The four dimensions that crisscross every woman today are the women’s liberation watershed, the patriarchal nature of society, practical realities of the gender, and personal history.

Women’s Liberation

Without being a participant in its ideas or political actions, every woman has been impacted by this movement to seek equality with men. At the heart of the movement is a cry for justice – a laudable one. The only problem is that these women continue to use men as the referent, and in doing so perpetuate the subjugation they wanted to free their sisters from. Today, women in most democratic nations can find employment outside the home and participate in the political life through voting at the very least. Together with other social trends such as the freedom movement of the sixties and the sexual revolution, women seek to have equal power as men from boardroom to bedroom.

Patriarchal World

At the same time, we continue to live in a largely patriarchal world, especially here in Asia. Systems, authority structures, and even religious and philosophical ideals continue to be male in representation. Singapore recently saw a flurry of debate about the employment and fair treatment of pregnant female employees – and Singapore is amongst the most developed nations this side of the globe where equal opportunities are concerned.

Practical Realities

Women are also shaped by practical realities. Our bodies are weaker than the average man and we are subject to a monthly cycle that steers us between lunar and lunatic; with its attendant discomforts, pain, and hormonal upsets. Then there is pregnancy, nursing, and the higher incidence for osteoporosis and depression.

Personal History

The final dimension is each woman’s personal experiences with gender identity, expression, and relations. Most Asian women do not find themselves celebrated, affirmed or prized. Indeed, until recently, many women I know suffer from preferential treatment and were not given the same opportunities or valued the same way as their brothers. This wounding in many women’s lives is the singular most powerful force of the four dimensions. Our earliest imprints of our worth, significance, and identity are the lenses through which we filter and interpret everything else we experience. It is not uncommon for a young girl who feels that her parents prefer her brothers to her to embark on the path of outstanding achievement in order to win their approval and attention. This trait then works in concert with the other forces and the personal shape, personality, and purpose of the woman emerges over time.

Little girls today are growing up to believe and behave in a wide range of ways. This can be very disconcerting. Perhaps this explains why the highest grossing dramas in Singapore tend to be historical narratives such as Little Nonya – the world where girls are socialized relentlessly into preset molds is both fascinating and somewhat comforting for us. It is a world that beckons us with strong cultural elements and one where color, stroke, and placement are all clear; so different from what have been well taught – to assert ourselves and reject such an approach to the formation of our identities.

Yet at the societal level or at any group level, some “rules” are needed. Norms are necessary or anarchy will set in. In light of the situation we have today, what are some norms both women and men can hold on to? Here I find the biblical ideas for gender identity, expression, and relation most instructive. The Bible, while written in a patriarchal context, presents some counter-cultural, if not shocking pictures. With my limited understanding, I see this need to break away from cultural structures in gender happening in most art and religious writing. But the one I am most familiar with and find most amazing is the Bible.

In the beginning

The Bible begins before history with the creation of humankind. In the account, we are told God is personally exercising His creative powers and does so with intention, care, and delight. The account moves sequentially and culminates in the creation of man and woman. There is a conversation within God that goes: “Let us make man* in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground”(Gen 1:26).

This account signals three realities for us:
1. We are creaturely beings, made and therefore in need of dependence on the Creator.
2. We are able beings, with gifts and powers to impact the earth.
3. We are relational beings, with a need for deep connections and meaningful ties.
The story continues and we are confronted with a tragic turn of events: the man and woman turn their backs on God when an idea is proffered to them: “step beyond God’s confines and find freedom you have never known!” The pair fell for the line and the relational fracture between them and God, each other, and the rest of creation is the permanent mark of our futility to seek meaning, immortality, and success.

Within that scene, God speaks an enigmatic word to the tempter: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Gen 3:15).

Within this word is the seed of a reality so painful and also a grace so amazing. Women would find enmity against her feminine soul – it will be hard to be a woman – and yet from one woman will come One who will defeat this same enemy.

On the way

So this is what women continually and will ever face: a war against her full formation and fulfillment, except when she experiences the victory of this promised Deliverer.

Christian women do not necessarily live in the daily experience of victory, clarity, and power. Many of us are still confused and worried, weary and whitewashed. The victory offered must be received and worked out in the context of the four forces we live with. The victory must become defining and decisive, as an ongoing experience.

Some applications

When I think of fellow women in places where the discussion of their value is not even permitted, I realize what a tremendous privilege and responsibility I have. The resources available to me to understand, attempt, and experience need to be properly used; not for self gratification, but to iron out the many uneven places within my soul and to consider how to help other women.

We need to ask some deeper questions and settle the aches, longings, and troubles that stir within our bosoms. As we do this, our hearts begin to enlarge for women we know, love, and those who may seem so foreign and different from us. When we strip away the externals, we find that all women have a common cry for love.

We need to find this love. We have tried men, education, achievement, admiration, abandonment. Perhaps it is time to get back to the start position. Let us relook at the beginning. The story of creation and the words of God speak truth to us. Do we dare to risk this truth – that we need God, that we are in pain, that we can find victory? Either way there is a gamble going on. Study the promises held out carefully before you spend your life and soul on it.

There is no single definition for the woman except these broad contours that you and I are made in God’s image so we are valuable and valued, creative and able. We were made to attend to creation so we are gifted and capable. We can relate deeply with God and others so we are beings hungry for meaning and connection. We are also being assaulted and can only find release in Jesus the Deliverer, Healer, and Redeemer.

These broad contours need to be sorted out. Then we find the peace and strength to live out our unique and particular meaning and purpose, making a difference in our world.

* the term used is translated “man” but means “a being of earth.”

Rev Jenni Ho-Huan currently partners her husband Dr Philip Huan in their ministry to the wider body of Christ ( www.churchlife-resources.org). Together with their wonderful children, they worship at RiverLife Church where Philip is a pastor.

The New International Version of the Bible has been referenced.