11.05.2008
Gender differences?
I have been reading a book ("Gender and Work" by Edward C. Lehman, Jr.) outlining various views on the way women and men approach ministry. Some claim that there are substantial differences in their approaches. If this is so, are the differences really based on gender differences or just differences in personality? Is it helpful to accentuate the differences (what unique characteristics and giftings women bring to ministry)? Is it more helpful to try to fit in and be like men? Is there a balance? What do you think?
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In light of the recent election and the peripheral conversation regarding Obama's race and what that means for his leadership in the Oval office, i.e., whether he is more "White" or will be something different, I wonder if the question of whether woman may need to be more like men to be heard is not so much about the excellent qualities housed in a man's body/mind but more about the status quo and what has become the norm.
ReplyDeleteBack to my analogy, I don't think Obama has become more "white" as some critics would suggest but he has become more political and for most of our history to be a politician is to be white. Therefore, for women consider how to be in the role of minister, it may require focusing more on the larger construct of ministry and what it means to be a minister, aside from the fact that in most of our history, to be a minister happened to mean you were a man. This is all to say that in both instances, whether race or gender it appears that qualities of leaders has been wrongly attributed to these constructs by way of white men being in roles of leadership. The concepts of teacher, leader, counselor, sage are larger than man, male, white, Anglo, etc.