Gender and society

Question 1

Mary Wollstonecraft

Answer 1

Argued that women are not naturally inferior but made so by lack of education. Equality should begin in the home.

Question 2

Simone Du Beauvoir

Answer 2

‘one is not born, but rather becomes a woman’ social structures and religion define women as subordinate to men

Question 3

Naomi Wolf

Answer 3

Wrote The Beauty Myth. Argued that modern society oppresses women through appearance-based standards, especially post-feminism.

Question 4

Rosemary Radford Ruether

Answer 4

Christianity can support equality if reinterpreted. Jesus is a liberator, not a patriarch. Promotes egalitarianism in gender roles.

Question 5

Aristotle

Answer 5

believed women were naturally inferior, influenced centuries of christian and western thought

Question 6

Aquinas (response to Aristotle)

Answer 6

Accepted Aristotle’s view that women are secondary to men, though he believed all humans share the image of God.

Question 7

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Answer 7

Women should be educated to please men and serve them — their role is in the private, domestic sphere.

Question 8

Complementarianism

Answer 8

Men and women have equal value but different roles. Common in Catholic and Evangelical views.

Question 9

Egalitarianism

Answer 9

Men and women should have equal roles in all areas – family, church, leadership. Often linked to liberal Christianity.

Question 10

Genesis 1:27

Answer 10

‘Male and Female, he created them’ used to argue for equality in creation

Question 11

Ephesians 5:22-25

Answer 11

“Wives, submit to your husbands…” – often cited in traditional roles debates (though some see it as outdated or misunderstood). shows gender inequality in the bible

Question 12

Galatians 3:28

Answer 12

“There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” – often used to support egalitarianism.