Women at work

The government believes it should be providing pre-school day care for most children.

But what are the issues involved in returning to the workplace for Christian women?

The starting point for the Christian on questions of gender must be the Bible, and particularly the account of creation. Male and female are not accidents, but the design of God who is good.

Equal but different

Men and women are equal, both made in the image of God (Genesis 1.27). They were made together to rule lovingly over and cultivate the potentials of God's world (Genesis 1.28). The two genders are complementary. Men are to seek to provide Christ-like leadership, expressed in protecting, providing and leading, not for themselves but for the benefit of their wives and families (Ephesians 5.25). Women have been created with a 'helper design' (Genesis 2.18), sensitive and supporting towards others.

Thus, though allowances must be made for different types of personality, nevertheless nurturing and relational abilities are central to true femininity. For the married mother, this means that her role as homemaker must have primary place. But whether married or single, Christian women are to be 'mothers' using their female strengths to encourage others, and serve the Lord (1 Corinthians 7.34; Romans 16.13).

As Christians consider women at work, we must first reject the philosophy which says that women ought to get back into the workplace because motherhood and home-making are demeaning. The secular feminist, Betty Freiden, called the home 'the comfortable concentration camp'. I don't know what her home was like! But such sentiments are way out of line with biblical ideas.

Our changing society

During the last century, especially under the exigencies of two world wars and through the rise of feminism, the place of women in society has changed considerably.

Women have been liberated from the assumption that they must only stay at home and look after the family. This restrictive attitude was never a biblical one (Proverbs 31.16, 18, 24; Acts 16.14). Both the 'wife of noble character' and Lydia obviously had legitimate responsibilities outside the home.

With increased life expectancy and the availability of contraception, women today spend a far shorter proportion of their life in childbearing and rearing. Rightly, many want to put other abilities God has given them to good use, in the church, the community or the workplace (Romans 16.1, Acts 9.36).

Many women have to get paid employment outside the home. Christian women who are single usually have to support themselves. Those Christian women who are single mothers, divorcees or widows have little choice but to work full-time alongside bringing up a family (Ruth 2.2). Such women often need special encouragement and support from the church, (James 1.27).

Scripture does not box women into a corner. It does not say they must go out to work, neither does it say they must stay at home under all circumstances. It gives freedom and flexibility according to differing circumstances and different personalities.

Necessary safeguards

The primacy of family life: A biblical understanding of family and femininity implies that wives and mothers do not neglect their family for work. This matches the instincts of most women, (Isaiah 49.15). A BBC TV Panorama programme in January 2000 reported research on 560 mothers who had begun full-time jobs. After two years, a third of the women had either left work or had taken part-time jobs. Many who remained in full-time employment wished they did not have to do so. They were dissatisfied with having to leave their children with child-minders, no matter how good those child-minders were. The mothering instinct seems built in to the female psyche and we should honour that.

Self-worth and ambition: Success at work is almost crucial to men's self esteem. God made men especially to be workers (Genesis 2.15). The problem is that feminism has identified this male goal as the ideal for women too, denying the essential differences between men and women. 'The idea that women may value other aspects of life more highly than earning money is dismissed as preposterous.' So, of course, if women aren't in paid work, they can't possibly have chosen not to. Yet this is usually precisely the case' (Melanie Phillips, Sex Change Society).

The Bible commends industry and condemns laziness (Proverbs 31.27), but ambition needs to be focused on living to help others and glorify God, not on worldly wealth or prestige (Luke 12.18-20).

Sexual temptation and harassment: It is foolish and naive to ignore the fact that women are not only attractive, but are, relatively speaking, physically weaker (1 Peter 3.7), and thus vulnerable to men. Care needs to be taken and modesty of dress is essential at work. A good employer will seek to protect women at work and good women will show a willingness to accept such care (Ruth 2.8-14). Women themselves can be tempted, too.

And some women need protection from other forms of exploitation. Back in 1973 one trade union official said 'The problem with most women is not to make them work harder, but to stop them breaking their backs for a pittance.'

Equal opportunities

All Christians ought to be concerned for justice (Micah 6.8, Matthew 7.12). Pursuing justice in the workplace has been historically one of the great features of evangelicals like Lord Shaftesbury. But we must be careful to base our views on facts, not misinformation.

Research shows that women across Europe divide into three camps. About 20% are totally home-centred and prefer not to have paid employment. Another 20% are work-centred, either remaining childless or having children looked after by others. But by far the greatest proportion, about 60%, want to combine paid work and family in some way.

'The assumption of British policy makers, which seems to be that all women want to work and all that stands in their way is affordable childcare, is simply wrong' (Melanie Phillips). While Christians ought to support the justice of 'equal opportunities' (Proverbs 1.3, Luke 18.5), in terms of giving women the choice of entering the workplace, it is totally unrealistic to expect 'equal outcomes' in terms of 50% of every profession being female. This ignores the preference that the majority of women have to make time for their families. It is disingenuous to argue that discrimination is going on when so many women genuinely prefer to stay at home to care for their families, or else to work part-time.

Though there are exceptions which need to be rectified, according to recent statistics, childless married women, single career women and men actually earn much the same. 'The so-called wage gap derives from a crude comparison of all wages, concealing the most important factor behind the gap - namely, children and wanting to care for them' (Melanie Phillips).

Women's strengths at work

In the 1970s and 80s it was thought that a woman had to 'become a man' in order to succeed at work. That is, they needed to become almost abrasively assertive and forceful. But time has shown that to be untrue. Women can bring a uniquely helpful dimension. The particular strengths of a biblical femininity come in such areas as communication (Proverbs 31.26), empathy (1 Samuel 25.23-25) and nurturing teamwork rather than competition between colleagues.

Reflecting the complementary purposes for which God made us, the brains of men and women are 'wired' differently. This means that whereas the male brain is more focused and compartmentalised, the female brain is far better at coping with handling many different tasks at once. The provocative book Why Men Don't Iron by journalists Bill and Anne Moir, explores such differences. They report an experiment in which six men and six women were asked to complete a series of tasks - to wash-up, brew coffee, make toast, scramble eggs, take a phone message and iron a shirt - in a limited time. The men failed, they did not seem able to cope. The result was a walk-over for the women who seemed to be true multi-taskers. It is interesting to count the many tasks the woman of Proverbs 31 is engaged in at the same time. Thus a woman's influence can bring more integration to a workplace.

'The stereotype of exaggerated femininity is that women are prone to act on impulse, guided by feeling, and sometimes hasty in words. Maturity enables a woman to temper such instincts: to act on principles not impulse. But a wise woman will carefully utilise, rather than ignore her intuitions and feelings. By doing so she will be contributing a positive, warm factor to what otherwise might be a rather clinically objective working environment' (Sharon James, Roles without Relegation, published by CBMW).

JEB (with a lot of help from notes by Sharon James!)

Secular society increasingly expects women to be in paid work

Equal but different

Our changing society

Necessary safeguards

Equal opportunities

Women's strengths at work

John Benton

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