To be honest, I don’t know a whole lot about feminism, though I have always sought leadership positions and grew up in a family where my mother was more of an authority figure than my father.

In Japan, though the gender roles are more traditional compared to North America, because of the lack of men in churches, women have taken on leadership, more out of necessity than strong belief. I never felt restricted to pursue what I dreamed and desired just because I was a girl.

To be a follower of Christ, I find myself being called into more and more of who I am to be as a woman. In that sense, there is so much freedom and value in being a Christian woman. So there’s the level of basic equality of life, or at least the belief of it. And I think that is something affirmed very clearly in the Bible as well.

When it comes to capabilities, there are obviously physical differences (though of course differing when comparing individuals), and there are tendencies that are more attributed to women versus men. However, I think we need to be careful to recognize these as descriptive rather than prescriptive. This would of course allow for individual tendencies as well. (for example, my brother, according to some of his female friends, is very sensitive and gentle for a guy. perhaps growing up with two sister? i don’t know. or just his personality.)
The third issue is now social responsibilities and expectations. I do agree that there are hinderances for the women for pursing careers. For countries that promote the rights of women, there are more options for child care. However, it really needs to cease being the right or wrong, more traditional or liberal, way of evaluating female roles. There are always prices that someone has to pay if career or motherhood (and it shouldn’t be an “or” thing…) is pursued for selfish reasons.

One thing that I am very skeptical about is the usage of the word “right.” The idea of rights seems to override everything else in some places, (and seems to not be taken into enough account in other places) but the idea of rights, if taken with a belief that a human being can live by himself or herself, is extremely harmful. I, when I become a mother, might have to give up my rights to pursue my dream, instead, to care for my child. There will definitely be some mourning that comes with the loss of what I was pursuing. But there will be other gifts and dreams that are bourne out of the gift I’m given, and it is my choice to take that as a gift.

I’m not sure if I’m a feminist, because I feel like it can be identified by different ideas. However, if it is an ideology taken on its own, built on a false idea of self and rights as the highest things to purse, I think it can be dangerous… I want to be a woman who believes that I am just as much a beloved of God and equal before His sights, use my rights with discernment and humility, and at the end of the day, seek to see the other person as who that person is made to be.

I’ve been at work all day, typing in comments every now and then and haven’t been able to complete a thought. I won’t be so scattered in the future.

I believe that you are afraid to ask your question (which was never stated, all we know is that it’s “about Christianity and feminism”) not because of how you were raised but because you know, deep in your heart, that the basic principles of Christianity, the teachings of the apostles, quite possibly will go against the ideas of feminism that you believe wholeheartedly to be true from your personal experience. Don’t hide behind ideas of persecution, realize that the reasons we don’t bring up “controversial” issues in our Christian faith is that we’ve already made up our minds on what we believe about something and know that when brought to the test of the Bible will falter, and that idea is unthinkable because the Bible can’t have a different truth than the experiences of our life. So we push it under the rug and run around theoretically BS-ing the subject as intellectually and vaguely as possible so as to avoid saying that we might disagree with something.

Yes: only if you’re willing to understand that, while God supposedly did create both man and woman equally, he still puts the man above the woman.

No: if you believe that no matter what, the integrity of a woman’s status as a human should never be thwarted, but God or Man.

What are you willing to give up? A God that puts a one human above another or a life of equality, integrity, and living in the truth?