Published by Have you ever wondered what might be the silent common prayer of men the world all over? I think it would go something like this: “thank God for not making me a woman”. In the context of world performance so far, men are probably right to pray thus. Myth, history, religion, governments and individuals are on record as having treated women as indeed “the opposite sex” rather than the “neighboring sex”. The world ” opposite” is in itself is a tacit acknowledgement of a secret distrust and resentment that men seem to harbor against women from the time of Adam until now. The style changes in time, but the fundamentals remain the same. Adam’s rather simple-minded method was to shift all the blame on his wife for being too weak-willed to exercise his good judgment and refuse the apple: ” the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree , and I did eat”. A little more self-control from Adam , and a little less self-pity, and things would have been different for us all. Adam might be simple-minded, but he was apparently a model husband after the fall. There is no record of further reprimands, beatings restrictions, or other forms of revenge on his wife for making him lose Eden. The two shared their pains and shame and struck with each other to the end. Not so with Adam’s children; they were and are wiser than their dad! They have not only continued to shift blames to women , but have proved ingenious in devising ways and means of keeping ” them” in their places, hedging in their initiatives, occasionally downtrodding them rather than placing women besides them as Adam did.
There seems to have been an agreement among men never to let women forget that they committed the original sin, and that they have secret powers to hurt them. Thus, women down the ages and in varied cultures have been blamed for wars, duels and fight among men. They are often accused of consulting with spirits and even with the devil himself. Under the flimsiest pretexts and accusations of witchcraft, thousands of women everywhere (but especially in Europe) were burnt, butchered, stoned, battered and maimed. Although a few cases might have been based on facts, the majority were mere ploys by men in authority to rid themselves of strong women who posed as threats to them., All they needed to do was point an accusing finger. The mob instinct did the rest.
Religion has treated women no better. The highly patriarchal Jewish culture permitted husband to nullify marriages by simply dismissing their wives. Even the Paul, very much a product of his culture, forbade women to preach or teach in churches without giving convincing reasons. Two thousand years later, most churches are coming round to realize that Paul was human and was speaking from the world he knew, even though inspired from above. If God is indeed no respecter of persons, He can and does use men and women alike to preach and teach everywhere. Islam has been most systematic in subduing and frustrating its women. In the false name of virtue, women have been locked up in their husband s’ homes, coming out only at dusk, and hiding their lights as it were under a bushel.
Even in mere mundane things like food and clothing, men have exercised unnecessary control. Early Christian women are advised to shun trinkets and other adornments and to cover their long hair. They would gladly banish a woman from church because she does not wear a head tie than to bear to think of the good lord looking at the woman ‘s hair which he himself has made .it requires little imagination to realize that a gorgeous head tie is by far more distracting and obstructing in church than neatly combed hair.
