Sunday is Mother’s Day. I love you, Mom!
As I recently was thinking about Mother’s Day, I realized that Mother’s Day must seem very inconsistent for a feminist. Noted feminists (specifically, Linda Hirshman) have said that mothers who stay home with their kids or are even positioned toward their homes are “letting down the team" of woman across America. They feel that a woman’s workforce opportunities are more valuable than the family. Mother’s Day is a day when those who care for their children are honored, yet feminism seeks to diminish the joy of motherhood and value roles outside of mothering as more important than mothering.
What could be more valuable for a woman than caring for her family? Our Lord values motherhood and we should too. The influence that mothers have on future generations in incalculable.
As I recently was thinking about Mother’s Day, I realized that Mother’s Day must seem very inconsistent for a feminist. Noted feminists (specifically, Linda Hirshman) have said that mothers who stay home with their kids or are even positioned toward their homes are “letting down the team" of woman across America. They feel that a woman’s workforce opportunities are more valuable than the family. Mother’s Day is a day when those who care for their children are honored, yet feminism seeks to diminish the joy of motherhood and value roles outside of mothering as more important than mothering.
What could be more valuable for a woman than caring for her family? Our Lord values motherhood and we should too. The influence that mothers have on future generations in incalculable.
Enjoy your mom this Sunday. Thank her for how she serves your family and teach your children to love their mom. Every day is a good day to honor our mothers!
5 comments:
It's not true that "feminism seeks to diminish the joy of motherhood."
You should have at least had a quote from a "noted feminist" and a link to that quote.
Christians who believe that men and women are equal not only have mothers, but many are mothers and many are the husbands of mothers.
Christian egalitarianism is not the same as the very strident form secular feminism.
Christian egalitarians do not see motherhood as 'letting down the side'. We are thankful to our mothers for their nurture of us. We don't look down on them for having given us life.
Pam,
Thanks for the comment. Yes, I agree that Christian egalitarianism is not the same as secular feminism. The post was directed toward secular feminism, not Christian egalitarins.
Mary,
Linda Hirshman was the "noted feminist". Thanks for the comment, I'll add it to the post as well as a link to an article.
God bless,
mike
Mike, while I do not agree with the type of feminist agenda you mentioned, I think as Christians we need not fall for the myth of the stay-at-home-mother/father as sole bread winner as being the original Biblical model either.
From the history I've read, the notion that women stay at home with their main purpose being to raise children and tend to them for all their physical needs until they were on their own, came about only after the Industrial Revolution when men started going off to work somewhere other than on their farm or in their own cottage industry. Prior to that fathers had a major role in raising children, especially sons, who had reached an age where they were capable of helping him in his work. In the same way the daughters would help their mother in her work. Because for both sexes, that would be the work they could expect to be doing for the rest of their lives. These sorts of divisions of labor are cultural and economic responses related to the need to survive. In many cases the care of children over 2 was left to older children. This is continues to be the case in many cultures today.
The Prov. 31 woman was also a business woman who considered a field and bought it on her own. She could bring home the bacon AND fry it (or have her servants do cook it) and they still called her blessed. The industrious woman of Proverbs 31 was a manager, business owner, and real estate agent. She took the lead in these activities, but culture changed at some point. and these activities became almost impossible to carry out from the home. However, American culture is changing again, and we see women and men being able to base work from home.
Mike, while I do not agree with the type of feminist agenda you mentioned, I think as Christians we need not fall for the myth of the stay-at-home-mother/father as sole bread winner as being the original Biblical model either.
From the history I've read, the notion that women stay at home with their main purpose being to raise children and tend to them for all their physical needs until they were on their own, came about only after the Industrial Revolution when men started going off to work somewhere other than on their farm or in their own cottage industry. Prior to that fathers had a major role in raising children, especially sons, who had reached an age where they were capable of helping him in his work. In the same way the daughters would help their mother in her work. Because for both sexes, that would be the work they could expect to be doing for the rest of their lives. These sorts of divisions of labor are cultural and economic responses related to the need to survive. In many cases the care of children over 2 was left to older children. This is continues to be the case in many cultures today.
The Prov. 31 woman was also a business woman who considered a field and bought it on her own. She could bring home the bacon AND fry it (or have her servants do cook it) and they still called her blessed. The industrious woman of Proverbs 31 was a manager, business owner, and real estate agent. She took the lead in these activities, but culture changed at some point. and these activities became almost impossible to carry out from the home. However, American culture is changing again, and we see women and men being able to base work from home.
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