3.5A- Gender and society Flashcards
What are some factors that have changed the family social landscape in Britain?
-Ease of divorce
-Decline in marriage
-Wedding ceremonies
-Single parents
-Births outside marriage and civil partnerships
-Gay and lesbian relationships
-Cohabitation
-Blended families/step children
Patriarchal structres
-Most societies in the world are patriarchal, which means that men tend to dominate social structures and domestic relationships.
-Men hold most of the positions of power in government and in the workplace, men create the laws, and men are seen as the ‘head of the household’ at home.
-In a patriarchal society, men have more power than women, and more wealth.
-Patriarchal societies tend to be organised in ways that are primarily for men’s benefit, and in ways that enable men to hold on to power.
-They also tend to offer ways of looking at the world that are largely from a male perspective, expressed through male voices.
-For example, in a patriarchal society, the historical events that are considered worth remembering are generally men’s stories and achievements rather than women’s.
-It is an ‘accepted truth’, in patriarchal societies, that men are stronger than women and that men and women have different aptitudes which make them better suited to different roles in public and private life.
-For example, men are seen as more rational whereas women are thought of as more emotional.
-This has been used as an argument for allowing men to make the important decisions involved in governing, voting and running companies, while women are seen as more suited for caring roles such as looking after young children and the elderly.
-Such roles are seen as better suited to women because they make the best use of woman’s allegedly softer and more compassionate nature.
The need for feminism
-The ‘feminist movement’ is a term used to encompass a range of different beliefs and ideologies that share the aim of improving rights and opportunities for women.
-Feminism became a significant movement in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but it can trace its roots back much further.
-There have always been women who have resisted being cast into traditionally subordinate roles and who have refused to express themselves in ways that society has considered appropriate for women.
The different waves and timestamps of feminism: Feminism
-First Wave: 1848-1920
-Second Wave: 1963-1980’s
-Third Wave: 1990’s-
-Fourth Wave: Present Day
First wave feminism: Feminism
-The aim here was to get equality for women written into legal processes (such as the right to vote).
-Philosopher Harriet Taylor forcefully set out the arguments in Enfranchisement of Women (1851) for the right to vote.
-Women were not allowed to vote on an equal footing with men until 1928 (by 1918 some women over the age of 30 were given the right to vote, but not everyone was allowed to vote.)
Second wave feminism: Feminism
-The second wave focused on ensuring that what was in law was put into practice- fighting for the economic, political and social equality of women.
-Women of the second wave realised that true equality was only possible once men and women’s mindset changed. It took on wider issues, including issues surrounding women’s sexual health and reproduction, such as contraception and abortion, as well as the issues of domestic violence and rape, and equality in the workplace.
-One of the key figures of second wave feminism was Betty Friedan and her ground breaking The Feminine Mystique (1963).
-Reliable birth control was not readily available until the early 1960s. When the contraceptive pill was introduced, it was originally prescribed for older married women.
-It was not until 1974 that family planning clinics were allowed to prescribe the pill as a contraceptive for single women. This was controversial at the time because it was thought that it would encourage sex outside marriage.
-Abortion was illegal until 1967.
-It was only in 1970 that women were legally entitled to be paid the same as men for the same work (before that, it was legal to pay men more than women even when they were doing exactly the same job).
Third wave feminism: Feminism
-The third wave saw a greater emphasis on individuality and intersectionality, recognising, for example, that black women could be subject to both racism and sexism in a way that white women could not.
Fourth wave feminism: Feminism
-Some would say there is also a fourth wave, beginning in the 2010s.
-Many feminists see the traditional pattern of marriage and family as an instrument for the oppression of women over time.
-They might point to the fact that it was only in 1991 that marital rape became a crime, or it was only in 1996 that the role of ‘homemaker’ (often the wife) contributed the the household and therefore assets should be split more fairly.
Biblical ideas: Christian teachings on men, women and the family
-The biblical view of gender and society is ambiguous and not entirely consistent.
-For more traditional Christians what matters are the explicit commands such as that men should love their wives and wives should be obedient to their husbands.
-But for other Christians the fundamentally important idea is the development of the covenant ideal in which there would be no gender division and relationships would move beyond traditional conventions.
-The issues facing Christians today such as marriage, cohabitation, single parent families, same-sex families, gender roles and motherhood, depend to some extent on how the New Testament is interpreted.
The Mulieris Dignitatem: Christian teachings on men, women and the family
- Pope Paul John II wrote an open letter in 1988 on the subject of the dignity and rights of women, called Mulieris Dignitatem. This letter was intended to clarify the Catholic position on issues raised by feminism, in response to accusations that the Church was sexist and that it promoted injustice by denying women the same rights as men.
-In the letter, the Pope wrote about particular skills and qualities of women, and drew attention to the examples of Christian devotion set by female European saints. - His position on gender roles was that men and women have different, complementary characteristics given to them by God, and he wanted to emphasise that a woman’s role as a Christian is a role that is to be respected.
- Humans find themselves fully through giving themselves to others. Humans are created deliberately by God to give of themselves back to him. This helps us to understand the notion of motherhood, which is the fruit of the union of man and woman in marriage when two become one flesh. This is achieved through the full giving of one person in the marriage to the other, fighting against the effects of the Fall where men are said to rule over women and women are said to have desire for their husbands. True giving in marriage is therefore a glimpse of the perfection before the Fall.
- A husband and wife giving themselves to each other leads to children and so motherhood is a gift a woman gives by giving new life: “It expresses the woman’s joy and awareness that she is sharing in the great mystery of eternal generation.” Therefore, parenthood is a way to share in the creative power of God.
- Motherhood begins at conception. A woman is not only biologically made for motherhood but psychologically the link is established while the baby is in the womb. So motherhood is described as psycho-physical. Parenthood is shared by the man and the woman but the woman is affected more her her gift of herself and the complete link with the baby. The father, therefore, owes a great debt to the mother.
- A mother’s intuition is unique and connects her with gift of life that develops a woman’s ability to be more in tune with other people. The father naturally sits outside the process and needs to learn his fatherhood from the mother. Both parents are equally important in the upbringing of a child but the mother’s role is described as ‘decisive’.
- The gift of a mother is seen in the acceptance of the gift of new life made by Mary which begins the process of the reversal of the effects of the Fall by establishing a new agreement between God and humanity. Each new birth now links to Mary’s motherhood, spiritually as well as physically- describing motherhood as an immense privilege.
- The joy of motherhood replaces any suffering in the same way that a woman forget her painful childbirth ( a punishment for the Fall), in the same way that Mary’s sorrow in seeing Jesus suffering was replaced by the joy of Easter.
- The text therefore emphasises motherhood as sign of the reversal of the effects of the Fall. It emphasises the dignity of women and their priority over the father in parenthood. There is an assumption that the parents will be one man and one woman and elsewhere in the text, it is emphasised that this is within marriage and so the Catholic teaching of the traditional nature of family life is emphasised. It could also be argued that, with the centrality of mot9herhood, a woman’s primary role is not to be in the workplace, although Catholic teaching celebrates the role that women play in wider society. Through the text, it is clear that motherhood is far beyond a simply biological connection!
Sex and gender: Changing secular views
- Many people use the words ‘gender’ and ‘sex’ as if they mean the same thing when talking about the distinction between male and female. However, there is a difference between biological sex and gender. Someone’s biological sex is determined by physical attributes such as chromosomes, sex organs and hormone levels. The word ‘gender’, however, refers to a more sophisticated relationship between someone’s physical characteristics (their biological sex or ‘gender biology’), the way people perceive themselves ( their ‘gender identification’) and the ways in which they choose to behave (their ‘gender expression’).
-Gender identification and gender expression are often heavily influenced by the ways society expects it’s members to behave and feel. Gender can be related to sexuality but it does not determine sexuality. For example, a biological man who identifies as male and expresses himself in traditionally masculine ways is not necessarily going to be heterosexual, and a biological man who expresses himself in ways that are traditionally seem as feminine is not necessarily homosexual.
-Lots of people find that their gender aligns comfortably with their biological sex. For example, they have female physical characteristics, they feel feminine and identify as female, and they adopt the kinds of behaviours that their society sees as appropriate for females. Other do not have the same experience. They might, for example, have biologically female physical characteristics but feel masculine and identify as male, and they might want to behave in ways that their society sees as masculine. Alternatively, they might have biologically masculine physical features but not identify as exclusively male or female, and they might choose to express their gender however they like, regardless of the labels society chooses to give to behaviours such as the wearing of make-up. - Most people are born with a distinctive biological sex, which is obvious form the moment they are born and often also obvious before birth (i.e. during pregnancy). A small number of babies are born with some ambiguous biological sex, where bodies have some male and some female physical characteristics, and then the parents have to decide whether to rise the child in the gender of boy or girl, or whether to aim for a gender-neutral upbringing.
- In the view of many people, but not all, gender is something that is acquired. From a young age, people learn about the expectations associated with being a boy or a girl, and they develop their gender identification and expression through socialisation.
Socialisation: Changing secular views
-‘socialisation’ is a term used by sociologists, anthropologists and others to refer to the lifelong process by which we learn the norms of our society.
-Our parents, siblings, peer group and other members of our society all contribute to our socialisation.
-This is how we learn all of the spoken and unspoken rules of the culture in which we live, such as what to eat and how to behave when eating it, which words can be used in which kind of company, how children should behave towards adults and how to co-operate with others.
-In Western society, socialisation traditionally puts a lot of emphasis on learning to make a distinction between male and female.
-As soon as a baby is born, the parents announce ‘it’s a boy’ or ‘it’s a girl’, and this is understood to be much more important than any of the baby’s other characteristics.
The results of socialisation: Changing secular views
-By the time we have grown into adult life, we have a strong sense of what is expected of us as male or female.
-Although, increasingly, some people challenge traditional gender roles, it is nevertheless the case that when young people reach an age when they can choose their school subjects, significantly more boys than girls pick sciences and more girls than boys pick languages and arts.
-The gender gap widens in further education and is even more distinct in the world of employment.
Essentialist vs. existentialist view: Changing secular views
-The relationship between sex and gender can be explained through the nature/nurture debate:
-The essentialist view is that there are distinctive feminine and masculine characteristics which are not the product of society but intrinsic to biology or nature. Women’s bodies, for example, are ‘designed’ to bear children and so their gender identity is naturally to be more nurturing and domestic. Men’s bodies tend to be more competitive in the workplace.
-The existentialist view is that biological sex is of little significance and that gender characteristics are the product of nurture through culture and upbringing. Male-dominated societies throughout history have tended to objectify and sexualise women’s bodies, but existentialists would argue that tis objectivity is socially constructed. For example, in certain cultures and periods of history women who have curvy bodies are considered to be more attractive than slim bodies; in some cultures, women’s breasts are considered sexually attractive whereas in other cultures it id the shape of the face/eyes/lips which are more sexually erotic. The existentialist position doesn’t deny the importance of the body as a source of a person’s identity.
Gender differences- Plato: Changing secular views
-Plato didn’t believe that there were male ands female souls, but superior and inferior.
-Ultimately, Plato believed that souls were reborn as women if they had failed as men, because men are the superior sex and women are the lesser, passive sex.
Gender differences- Aristotle: Changing secular views
-Aristotle agreed with Plato. He believed that women were more inclined towards weak behaviour and were naturally inferior to men.
-Aristotle viewed women as being ‘defective’ males who had lesser strength and intelligence.
An alternative viewpoint on gender: Changing secular views
-The second view of gender roles is that men and women are of equal value. This is the idea that, although men and women are different, they are equal in the eyes of God and therefore should be viewed in the same way.
-For some, this difference leads to the belief that men and women should have different roles, both in the home and within the Church, but that these roles should be equally valued.
-However, this may then lead to issues regarding how to define what are mainly ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles (such as the idea that women should not become priests as Jesus inly chose men to be his disciples, or that women cannot offer the eucharist as they should not represent Christ at the Last Supper).
-Again, this is a challenge to society and the rise in feminism and changing views of gender roles.
Mary Daly: Changing secular views
-The feminist theologian offers a third option, arguing that women are ethnically superior to men because they are inherently cooperative and caring, rather than aggressive and competitive, like men.
-She was inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche who wrote “Whenever man has thought it necessary to create a memory of himself, his effort has been attended with torture, blood and sacrifice.”
-Daly argues that, throughout history, men have sought to oppress women, using their brute power.
-Female oppression is as a result of rape, genocide and war- and Christianity is used as a tool to enforce this oppression.
A fourth viewpoint on gender: Changing secular views
-The last view to consider is that gender is not as straightforward as once believed. Just because a person is born as male or female does not mean that they have to ascribe to the role that is assigned to them by that gender.
-Thirty years ago, if a child has been asked to describe the role of a woman, they would have said ‘cook, cleaner, nurse,’ etc. Now, however, children might say ‘mum, worker, writer, fixer’.
-Children are now growing up in an era where men cook and clean, and women go to work and do DIY.
-Society is changing at a fast pace that the Church cannot keep up with. This may be as a result of church leaders wanting to do the right thing ‘theologically’.
Gender and power: Changing secular views
-One influential secular approach to the issue of sex and gender is to abandon the essentialist/existentialist distinction and to focus on the problem of sexuality from the perspective of power.
-Scholars who have pursued this line of thought have preferred to use the term ‘sexuality’ rather than ‘gender’ as it includes sexual practices as well as gender identity.
-Their argument is indebted to Marx’s notion that human interactions are usually about power and which group dominates the other and controls them.
-This analysis of sexuality was developed by the influential French philosopher Michel Foucault.
-Foucault’s analysis of human sexual history from the ancient Greeks to the present day demonstrated that human sexuality cannot be defined in simple binary terms.
-Foucault’s point is that sexuality in this case can’t be easily be defined as heterosexual or homosexual or bisexual. The purpose of sex is for pleasure, companionship and education. Foucault call this the ars erotica.
- Controlling sexual practices (Foucault call this the scientia sexualis) is a useful means of maintaining power (The Church’s place in Western society for controlling and regulating men and women’s sexual practices). As the Church’s influence has weakened, its role has been replaced by doctor, psychoanalysts and sociologists, each of whom has imposed their particular ideas of ‘correct’ sexual behaviour.
What is motherhood?: Christian responses to motherhood/parenthood
-The experience of being a mother is clearly not the same for any two women.
-On one level, motherhood can be defined in it’s biological sense- it is something that only women can do because of their physical nature.
-Motherhood is also to do with the emotional and psychological bond with children.
-Some people would argue that motherhood is a vocation as much as any career might be and many people would say that women who choose motherhood as their only careers should be respected as much as those who choose a career in the workplace.
-Being a parent is not easy and there is no break from it but the privilege of passing on wisdom, understanding and faith to the future generation cannot be underestimated.
Motherhood vs. parenthood: Christian responses to motherhood/parenthood
-Some would argue that the biological aspects are given too much emphasis. With modern advances in science, parenthood no longer requires a man and a woman in the same way as before.
-A man can fulfil many of the non-biological aspects of motherhood and can do so as effectively as a woman.
-Some would therefore argue that it is more helpful to speak of parenthood in general. For some, the idea of motherhood is a result of social conditioning.
-Society perhaps expects mothers to give their all to their children and perhaps to their households and so it should be possible to move away form these assumptions.
-Women often report that they feel bored or unfilled when they spend their days at home bringing up children and that they feel cut off from society at large.
-Women often feel that they become reduced simply to being mothers and lose a sense of individuality.
Catholic ideas: Christian responses to motherhood/parenthood
-Motherhood and the unique role of women in society is at the heart if Mulieris Dignitatem.
-This letter acknowledges the significant and positive social shift in attitudes to women in recent times but very firmly rejects the kind of feminist criticisms made by writers such as de Beauvoir that motherhood (especially the form of motherhood that is taught by the Church) can be seen as demeaning to women.
-Mary’s role as mother of Christ illustrates her unique place in God’s salvation of the world.
-The annunciation (Mary getting pregnant with baby Jesus) is a sign of Mary’s readiness to be a mother and accept new life. Mary’s example illustrates the special value God places on motherhood for all women.
-The mystery of generation is the idea that men and women are both equally and uniquely created by God.
-By desiring to be parents (as a mother and as father), men and women reflect the mystery of generation inherent in the Holy Trinity.
-Having a child is a special and ‘sincere gift of self’ of a mother in marriage and also a visible sign (in their child) that husband and wife have become ‘one flesh’. (Mark 10:8).
-A mother’s role as parent is demanding and special but it is not hers alone but an example to the man of what is required of him: “in their shared parenthood he owes a special debt to the woman.”
-Motherhood changes and challenges the man so he can learn from her how to be a good father because his nature is “not so psychologically predisposed to parenthood”.
-Being a mother is therefore far from passive. In it’s struggles and joys it is also actively part of God’s covenant (the call of Abram, Genesis 12).
-Despite it’s attempts to address contemporary feminist criticisms, the Catholic Church is nevertheless at loggerheads with feminists such as de Beauvoir and Friedan who argue that motherhood is a false-consciousness of the ‘eternal feminine’ or ‘feminine mystique’.
-While it is true that compared to earlier Church teaching female and male roles are far more equal, and the role of mother as a ‘special gift; is shared by many non-Christians feminists, even so many Catholic theologians fell that it has omitted some fundamental Christian teaching which would engage the Church fully with contemporary society.
Catholic feminist ideas: Christian responses to motherhood/fatherhood
-In general, Catholic feminists consider that the Church’s teaching on motherhood is over-romanticised and while they may not go as far as de Beauvoir in her condemnation of the motherhood, they agree that motherhood should be an option, not a burden.
-The problem with statements such as Mululieris Dignitatem is although it is trying to accommodate current more liberated views of women, it defines women almost entirely in terms of motherhood.
-There is, therefore, an underlying patriarchal bias, which can guilt a woman into thinking that if she takes on work outside the family she is being a bad mother and wife.
Conservative protestant ideas: Christian responses to motherhood/parenthood
-Conservative Protestants believe that a woman’s role is to be a wife and mother and create the domestic haven where her husband cans escape from the external world.
-But while others might consider such a submissive role for women outdated, they don’t equate is as weakness.
-This role of wife and mother is traced back to the biblical figure of Eve, partner of Adam, whose name means “the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20).
-She was the first mother. In a similar way, a mother’s role is to bring life into the world, to nurture and lead it into the knowledge and love of God.
-Conservative theology is especially critical of those who undermine these roles.
-A woman who works outside the home not only removes a job from a man, but diminishes a man’s role and his responsibilities to his wife.
-Nevertheless, a woman may work if show also carries out her domestic duties and her job doesn’t detract from her role as mother- in the same way as they “capable wife” in the Bible, balanced mother and a job: “She rises while it is still night and provides food for her household and tasks for her servant-girls. She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.” (Proverbs 31:15-16)
Liberal protestants: Christian responses to motherhood/parenthood
-For traditional Christians motherhood is essential for a woman’s identity and purpose but motherhood for liberal Protestants has no particular symbolic or ontological significance.
-For some women (as it is for some men), being a parents is a means of directing one’s creative energies into forming a family and seeing one’s children grow up into mature adults.
-But for liberals there is no imperative that parenthood is something adults should aspire to.
-Furthermore, liberal Protestants acknowledge that not all adults make very good parents and, where this is the case, then it clearly makes more sense to find a different vocation in life.
-Liberal Christians take seriously the insights of secular feminists on motherhood and would be more inclined to share some of de Beauvoir’s views that the Church’s motherhood ideal is sometimes a source of false-consciousness.
-Liberal Protestants tend to find the emphasis on Mary the Mother of Christ as the symbol of womanhood stereotyped, although they consider that some secular feminists are too quick to dismiss the moral, spiritual and emotional benefits of parenthood.
Conservative protestant views: Christian responses to gender roles
-Kathy Rudy’s summary of conservative Protestant Christian teaching on gender (in the USA, but shared by conservatives in the rest of the world), illustrates the power the ‘Right’ exercises on American politics and society.
-These teachings are rooted in traditional views from Augustine via Luther to the present day, and their driving force is a mistrust of socially liberal ideologies based on secular sociological, psychological and philosophical knowledge.
-For example, the Right is especially critical of ‘liberal ideologies’ such as feminism, which it considers to be a root cause of family break-down, contributing to the destabilising of society and traditional values.
-The Right has argued that feminism has confused gender roles and set up unrealistic expectations for women, which cause disappointment and dissatisfaction.
Liberal protestant views: Christian responses to gender roles
-Liberal Protestants remind us that the point of the biblical covenant ideal which governs gender roles is that gender is not intrinsic because the covenant is a human reflection of what it means to be in a relationship with God.
-Many feminists (such as Foucault) seek to liberate gender from sex and the controlling power of the Church and allow each person to find themselves. However, many liberal Protestants question Foucault’s reduction of sexuality because for Christians, love is not just eros (sexual pleasure) but also philos (friendship) and agape (generous love).
Roman catholic views: Christian responses to gender roles
-Mulieris Dignitatem is concerned to show how the Church responds to feminists who have accused the Church of patriarchy and sexism.
-The Letter begins by stating that the Christian basic notion of gender is that men and women are made equally in the image and likeness of God. In developing this, the Letter clearly responds to current secular views of gender by rejecting the traditional view that man is the active principle and woman the passive.
-It states that because both men and women are made in God’s image then both are equally creative and active but in different ways. The difference is most strikingly observed in the woman’s capacity to be a wife and mother.
-God’s order of creation determines that while gender roles may be affected by environment, the Church does not accept the existential notion that gender is entirely culturally and environmentally determined.
-Mulieris Dignitatem makes it clear that although man is the ‘head of woman’, marriage is a mutual relationship of equals; being the ‘head’ does not mean that he should have ‘dominion’ or ‘possess’ his wife but treat and respect her as an equal.
-However, this does not permit women to take on male roles, which would confuse the genders.
-In this respect the Church resists what it regards as the dangerous effects of some forms of feminism, which undermine the dignity of the woman as mother, but on the other hand, it endorses secular women’s rights, which protect the dignity of women especially those who are abused and marginalised.
Catholic feminist views: Christian responses to gender roles
-A view shared by many Catholic feminists is that the Church has consciously and unconsciously written women out of Christian history when, in the first Christian communities’ very early days, women played an equally significant role as men.
-The Catholic feminist theologian Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza argues that there were any number of significant women leaders such as Priscilla (Acts 18:1, 18, 26), Apphia (Philemon 1:2) and Phoebe (Romans 16:1-2).
-Uncovering the very early history of Christianity therefore reveals a radical challenge to current Church teaching and organisation. Knowing this hiding of strong female leaders enables Christian women today to act in sisterly solidarity with those pioneering women in challenging gender stereotypes.
-Other Catholic feminist theologians argue that structural changes to gender roles need a more radical shift in gender-role consciousness. For example, the Catholic feminist Catharina Halkes argues that as Jesus’ teaching on the Kingdom of God required social and spiritual transformation, so women must learn to develop their gift of care into the public sphere while men must give up their privileged sense of entitlement and learn the virtue of care in the everyday.
-Her analysis therefore criticises the ‘headship’ teaching in Mulieris Dignitatem for failing to extend female/male mutuality far enough and for still privileging the male’s role in the public sphere.
Conservative protestant views: Christian responses to different types of family
-Are generally suspicious of any family that is no heterosexual and whose parents are not married.
-The arguments for this are two-fold:
-First, they argue that the Bible’s accounts of the order of creation requires parents to compliment each other in terms of gender. This means that same-sex parent families are not truly families in the Christian sense.
-Second, despite being suspicious of secular sociological research, they endorse evidence which indicates that children do less well educationally and couples are less happy in blended families, single-parent families and where non-married parents cohabit.
-Conservative Protestant theology is critical of contemporary secular feminism and social trends which have permitted the rise of cohabitation and same-sex relationships. They argue this because they have led to the eroticism of western society, relationships have become too private and egocentric.
-Christian teachings on the family is that it should be outward looking, through church attendance and contributing to society, and couples expect too much from their relationships an with the ease of divorce and social acceptance of cohabitation there is no compulsion to make relationships work.
Liberal protestant views: Christian responses to different types of family
-Jesus’ teaching on the Kingdom of God was based on a new covenant idea first suggested by Jeremiah that the old social order would give way to a more inclusive, non-hierarchical and non-judgemental society.
-Jesus’ ministry was aimed at the marginalised, including women and those treated as sexual outsiders.
-For this reason, liberal Protestants argue that their various churches need to be much more flexible in their understanding of family and to exercise what they call ‘justice love’.
-Liberal Protestants are generally persuaded by the optimistic evidence provided by sociologists such as Jessie Bernard, that children from single parent, blended, same-sex families, etc. are equally loved, feel secure and are provided for.
-Liberal Protestants also hold that the Bible itself illustrates that there has never been one kind of family- the families referred to in the New Testament household lists include servants and possibly their children.
-Furthermore, in the New Testament the Christian family may also refer to all members who are related to each other through love and faith and not blood kinship- a ‘community of friends’, which suggests a more inclusive model of family than is typically recognised as being desirable by traditional Protestant Christianity.
-No one pretends that family life is easy. Not only are liberal Protestants critical of the very restricted view of the conservative Christian Protestant notion of the family, they are also wary of the conservative ideal as being unrealistic and the cause of tension when that ideal is not achieved.
Catholic views: Christian responses to different types of family
-The Roman Catholic Church argues that sociological evidence supports the case that children raised in intact families where parents are heterosexual and married are psychologically stronger than those where parents are cohabiting or in blended family relationships.
-The Catechism comments on cohabitation, even when it is a ‘trial marriage’: “the fact is that such liaisons can scarcely ensure mutual sincerity and fidelity in relationship between a man and woman… human love does not tolerate ‘trail marriages’. It demands total and definitive gift of persons to one another.”
-As marriage is strictly heterosexual, then same-sex relationships however committed can never constitute legitimate forms of family.
Feminist catholic views: Christian responses to different types of family
-In Latin America, where the figure of Mary is particularly popular, women there don’t see her in these idealised terms but as the single working mother, coping with failure- for this is also the everyday reality of many Latin American Catholic women.
-Feminist Latin American theologians Ivone Gebara and Marfa Clara Bingemer use this experience to highlight the false consciousness perpetuated by the Church’s emphasis on Mary’s virginity as an ideal of sexual purity.
-Moreover, in the first century a young girl of marriageable age who was still a virgin was not a sign of virtue but failure when society depended on having children.
-For Latin American Catholic single parent families, Mary is a figure of inspiration, for despite her ‘failure’ she remains open to God and finds the spiritual strength to create and sustain her family.
-Feminist Catholic theologians therefore seek to broaden and extend the Church’s narrow view of family to be more inclusive and less judgemental.
-This doesn’t mean it has to let go of the marriage ideal but it does mean broadening it out perhaps to include long-term committed cohabitation and possibly same-sex relationships.
