I Am A Woman
Sitting in history classes consistently made me wonder what it would have been like to live during the turning points of our nation’s history— the Great Depression, World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, Watergate, etc. Yet, I realized, with the polarization the 2016 election caused, these last few months will be recorded in the history books my children and my friends’ children will read.
This past Saturday, the largest march in world history took place and is dubbed the “Women’s March.” The leading march was held in Washington D.C. and joined by “sister marches” in another 673 cities in the nation and, roughly, 150 cities internationally.
It is being referred to now as a “positive show of unity” (Bellingham Herald), a representation of the “unique and diverse” and a “movement of movements”— claiming to represent rights for which all women in the world stand. It will be looked upon as a symbol, and in the history books it will represent women from this era like the women’s suffragettes represent their era.
I am a woman of this current era. I am 21 years old and a Christian. This “movement” does not represent me.
All I saw on Saturday, all I have read about since then, portrays a lewd and vulgar woman. A woman who is fighting for her opinions to be respected while not respecting the diverse opinions of others, as witnessed by the mere fact pro-life women were not represented in this march because they espouse “a specific type of diversity.”
I saw women asking to be respected, treated as equals and not objectified, and yet many of them walked around using their bodies as a statement rather than their words. I saw women who were marching against things — — like an infringement of their rights — that will not be taken away in a representative democracy. I saw and spoke with women who either marched or supported the march, whose view on what the walk was about differed drastically.
Women have been fighting for years against the stereotypes so often given to them: emotional, up-tight, ignorant, wishy-washy, aimless talkers, ignorant and weak, however, this weekend all I saw them display, through their actions and words, was exactly what, as a gender, we have been fighting against. It was a temper-tantrum with a lack of cohesion as to what they were complaining about.
What rights are we, as women in this nation, currently denied? Do we not have the freedom to vote? Do we not have equal employment opportunity? Are we not able to immigrate, when doing so legally? Do we not live in a representative democracy where there is a systematized way of putting people into power and allowing not only the majority to speak, but also checks and balances to prevent a dictatorship? Do we not have free speech? Do we not have “reproductive rights” established, unfortunately in my opinion, by Roe v. Wade in 1973? Are victims of rape not able to seek justice against their attacker by the due process of law?
Their mission statement says, “We stand together, recognizing that defending the most marginalized among us is defending all of us,” but if they are supporting the murder of the most marginalized — unborn children — who literally have no voice, they are not defending but killing the most marginalized. Even a secular author recognizes this, acknowledging, “you cannot boast advocacy for human rights while simultaneously denying the humanity of unborn human beings. You can’t even advocate for all women’s rights while fighting against the unalienable right to life of the developing young woman in the womb” (Kelsey Kurtinitis, Lifesite). Though this manifesto presents bold rhetoric, its motto is weak and hypocritical. The things they claim to march for they cannot defend.
I am a woman. I am 21 years old and a Christian. This movement does not represent me.
This legacy of “womanhood” is not the legacy I want to leave behind to my children. It is not what I want generations years from now opening up and reading in their history books and saying, “This is what it means to be a woman” because no one else defended or presented a different worldview. These women are standing not for others, but for themselves and what is right for them and their own bodies, in a country where all rights have been afforded to them.
This is not what I want to be characterized as. I want my identity not to be found in what society tells me I should or should not be, what I can and cannot do, but, ultimately, what God has done for me, expects of me and what God intended when He created both male and female distinctly. I do not want to be told, because I did not walk nor do I support the walk, that I do not support nor understand women. I cannot support a “movement” where one of its most divisive beliefs is crying out for justification and support to kill. Or a “movement” complaining about rights already given to us rather than fighting for those rights other women do not have.
The Bible has the highest view of women and their divine design as daughter, sister, wives and mothers. Read Proverbs 31, Song of Solomon, Ephesians 5:22–33, remind yourselves of the women mentioned in the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11 or in the opening of Matthew where Christ’s genealogy is laid out.
In a world that is becoming more discordant, loud, tumultuous, frustrating and scary, know where your identity lies. Your identity is in Jesus Christ and as a believer, saved by grace through faith, you are called to go and make disciples of all nations. This does not mean only internationally. You, especially with the chaos the United States seems to be in at the moment, have a beautiful mission field. You can offer hope to women who are placing their hope and identity in things that will never satisfy them. You can present these lost women who are executing innocent lives — or supporting the practice — with the forgiveness that can only be provided through Christ. You give them the good news of freedom from the law, of sacrificially loving relationships between a man and woman, of the beauty of submission as exhibited through Christ with God and the church with Christ.
Yes, that conversation seems intimidating. Standing out amongst a sea of people who are saying you are wrong is a daunting task, especially in a world belligerently screaming that those who have faith in Christ are idiotic, dumb, blind and illogical.
Remember, Christ has marched before you and set an example and provided you a great advocate in the Holy Spirit. He has displayed the greatest sign of love — the cross — written the greatest history book and mission statement — the Bible — and also provided us with the greatest hope for our future. Present and tell others that same history and that same future, leaving a legacy and testimony like those that have been left for us.
