Written by Sarah Everett
While I appreciate the ideas presented by the writer of last week’s column, “The Little Old Church Lady,” I also feel somewhat confined by her suggestions.Perhaps, in centuries past, women were uneducated (only because society wanted it that way) and therefore less qualified than men for certain roles, but that is no longer the case.We came to Harding to receive an education, right? An equal education. Men and women take the same classes and learn the same things. I believe I am just as capable as a man of having an intellectual conversation. I even believe that women are capable of teaching men things—using, among other things, actual words! So, naturally, women should use their talents to find a way to serve, but I am not limited as a human being, equal to my male counterparts, to hosting baby showers, telling children stories, and feeding people. If that were the case, my education would be pointless.Each and every individual should use every bit of talent they have to serve others. There may be “natural differences” between men and women (though it’s difficult to tell with society’s programming of gender roles beginning at a young age), but that should not disqualify all women from certain tasks. Some women are stronger and/or more intelligent than some men and vice versa. Some women are great leaders and teachers, just as some men are good encouragers or cooks. We cannot limit people in their service.For example, what is the difference between passing a casserole dish and passing a tray of crackers and grape juice? At what age, exactly, does it become “inappropriate” for a woman to be teaching a boy/man and is it that magical age that somehow makes him so intelligent that he is unable to learn anything more from the same woman who taught him growing up?I expect to share the same opportunities as a man with whom I share similar talents. I do not want to be made to serve separately simply because of an extra X chromosome. We do know, after all, that “separate” is inherently unequal. Right?
