Why We Need Feminism

Last week, in a school that is 67% women, we elected one woman and five men as ASSP officers. This is not a random occurrence but fits the history of SPU and is indicative of larger issues of gender roles, power, privilege, inequality, and oppression. Speaking as one of the five men elected as an ASSP officer, I want to say that we (our world, our campus, you and I) need feminism.

Now let me be upfront in saying that I do not feel like I am the best person to write this commentary. I am a male, white, English-speaking, educated, straight, young, American from an upper-class family - it is difficult to imagine being afforded more undue power and privilege. College has served to begin to open my eyes to many areas in which my privilege blinds me and leads to ignorance and complacence to injustice, most recently in relation to gender and sexuality. There are many women and men at SPU who I have much to learn from and could shed greater light on how inequality between women and men plays out in our world and at SPU.

But I think we have to start somewhere. Honestly, it would be much easier for me to not write this post; it would be much easier for me to hide in my ignorance. I lend my voice not to say that I have the right analysis and all the answers, but rather to say that things are a mess, and I am part of the mess. Brothers, we must begin to listen to, grieve with, and stand by our sisters even though it is discomforting, painful and convicting. I think we must dwell in the ugliness and recognize our part in it before we can truly move forward toward beauty and justice.

There is a deep lie, one of many such lies, that has take hold in our world and is evident at SPU that goes like this: men are to lead and women are to follow. The horror of patriarchy is not behind us.

If I may be so bold, SPU is patriarchal. Of course, I do not think this is intentional. We as individuals on the whole want to respect and empower women. We employ equitable hiring processes. We, far more than most Christian Universities, are actively talking about injustices against women and feminism. I am being intentionally provocative. But the fact is we elected five men and one woman to our top positions of student leadership. The fact is that this is not a random occurrence but a recurring act throughout the history of SPU. The same pattern is clearly there too in the administration of the University.

Now, I fully trust our leadership and believe everyone elected to be qualified and competent. I mean, I am one of them! But we lose something from not having women in the top spots of leadership. And we must ask ourselves: why is this so?

I said I do not have the full analysis, but I think in large part it goes back to the lie. I fear that  many of us, consciously or unconsciously, voted for a candidate simply because he was a man. Our acquiescence to traditional gender roles shapes how we, men and women, get involved, understand our calling, and build our identity. It is a cyclical problem because since we believe women are to follow, they have been constrained to do so, and thus the belief is reinforced. It becomes exceedingly difficult for women to enter the top positions of leadership due to the basic fact that there have been few women there before.

We need feminism because of disparity in leadership, but this is but a small indication of a much larger issue. I think feminism has suffered from being represented as solely a push toward equal status and power. It is much more than just getting equal pay. Feminism is a movement for justice. In a very real sense, half of humanity experiences oppression. Women are raped, beaten, burned, hidden, demeaned, molested, ignored, played with, objectified, silenced, killed. If that is not enough, they are often then blamed for this.

We need feminism because women are suffering. We need feminism because people are more outraged by the word vagina then by the reality of this suffering. We need feminism because it is a lived our expression of loving the other.

Men, we need feminism too. We need to feminism in order to help us reclaim and redefine masculinity. We need feminism to open our eyes to the injustices that we do not see and the injustices that we carry out. We need feminism to help teach us to listen, comfort, serve and love.

SPU, we need feminism. We say we are about engaging the culture and changing the world.Well, this is not just about "out there" "someday." Let's engage the reality at SPU that women are underrepresented in leadership, and we are not free of the abuse that pervades our world. It is painful to acknowledge this. I do not have the solutions, but let us sit in the pain and discomfort, grieve, and listen to each other. Let us not turn a blind eye.

Gender Divides at SPU

"You are all God’s children through faith in Christ Jesus. All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

- Galatians 3:26-28 (Common English Bible)

This is one of the most powerful verses in Scripture. In Christ, racial, class and gender divisions are all broken down. Our identity is not in the labels and roles of this world. We are defined by being children of God.

This is not to say that Christians are to be a homogeneous group blind to social and cultural distinctions. No, rather we recognize that our diversity is drawn out in our unity in Christ. We are free to be who we truly are as Christ overcomes the sinful social structures built around our diverse characteristics. 

Take the case of gender: God created us male and female. We do not deny our sexuality, but we deny the gender roles and divisions that have been constructed in a fallen world. What does it mean to be neither male nor female in Christ? It does not mean that we stop being men and women but that we, men and women, look to Christ as our guide. It means that our Spiritual gifting and calling does not depend on our gender. It means that we submit to and love one another. It means that we reject evil cultural and social forces that have warped and and distorted gender. The Church holds out a great hope to the world: all stand equal before God. 

But, sadly, the Church has not always held out this hope, and I have seen gender divides persist at SPU. These divides will not end through "gender-blindness." We must recognize how our culture has influenced us and affected us, individually and communally, male and female. 

There are at least two concentrated areas of division that I see at SPU.

The first, I think, is more widely recognized. At the highest levels of student and administrative leadership there is a deficit of women. In ASSP this year, only one of the six elected positions is occupied by a woman, Audrey. There has not been a female ASSP president in my time here, and I do not know the exact numbers but I have heard that is something like there has only been seven female student body presidents in the last seventy years. A reality more shocking given the infamous ratio of SPU. On the administrative level, there has never been a female University President at SPU. Currently, Marjorie Johnson is the only woman holding a Vice Presidential position. On the Board of Trustees, there are 13 men and only 2 women. This is problematic. 

The second division I see in the service ministries at SPU: Latreia, Sprint, and Urban Involvement. My freshmen year, I volunteered with a UI team serving burritos to homeless folks, and I was consistently the only boy. I currently serve on UI core and there are only three of us guys and twelve girls. Last year there were only two guys and the year before only one. A common complaint among UI team leaders is lack of guy volunteers. On Sprint core its 2 guys to 6 girls which is more appropriate given the SPU ratio, but Sprint usually struggles to attract men to go on the summer mission trips. Latreia core has one guy to four girls and also tends to have more female volunteers. 

Men of SPU, why are we not serving alongside our sisters?

Notice that the positions associated with power (I firmly believe all the ASSP positions are service-oriented, but they are the roles typically identified with power and popularity) are dominated by men while the positions associated with humility and service are overwhelming occupied by women. Something is deeply wrong here. I do not think this is how the body of Christ should look. I do not pretend to have the "solution," but I believe much conversation, prayer, and inviting the Spirit to break down our divisions are the way forward.