“Anything you can do I can do better” – line from Annie Get Your Gun
I’m just throwing these thoughts out there…a lot of them are very general statements…
I believe a woman can do anything she puts her mind to, she can be anything and accomplish anything. When it comes to doing a “man’s” job, although a woman is more than capable, should she? What defines a “man’s job” anyway? The issue of man and woman’s roles is decidedly a grey area.
I believe women and men are created very differently not just in our anatomy but also at the deep levels of our soul. We are made differently to reflect the different aspects of God, we are gifted differently in order to play different roles in our world. While there are many things that a man and a woman can both do, men are better suited to some things and women to others. There is a reason for this. When a woman tries to take on a man’s role, she is robbing herself and the world of her essential femininity. This femininity is not something to look down upon. While there is a paradigm shift going on in the hearts and minds of many women, I still get the sense that the modern woman does not put enough value on her uniquely feminine attributes. She seems to look down upon the roles that women are supposed to play as being “less than”, when in fact it is so unique and absolutely essential.
Woman was created because “it was not good for man to be alone”. That was not for mere companionship, Adam could not live out his role and his purpose without Eve. She was created as a vital and essential part of God’s plan for the world, because she was uniquely gifted as a woman. The feminine soul is essential to the world and when a woman pursues a man’s role, for whatever the reason, she robs the world of that. When we are not living out what we were created to be, when we are not living out our true selves, our true design as uniquely feminine or masculine, I think we will not be content in our souls and we’ll constantly feel a restlessness that does not satisfy. Do you not feel most alive, and most content when you are living out what is inside of you? Your desires, your design, your true self? I don’t think we (women) can be our true selves when we are trying to be like men.
There are so many extremes on both ends of the spectrum when it comes to these gender roles. In some areas of Christian culture (and I suppose other “culture” as well) there may be a male dominance that is unhealthy. This “law” that women “can’t” do this or that causes great resentment in women. While I do feel there are injustices there, I think that a greater injustice is being done in the minds of the women, because they become so focused on doing what they are not “allowed” to do that they begin to think that what they are permitted to do is meaningless and does not hold as much value as the roles or tasks that the men have. Women don’t want to just bring a casserole to a family that has just lost a loved one, or had a baby, they want to do something “really important”. Understandably, that is not all a women is good for, and there are many roles women should be able to share in the church, involving leadership and speaking and more. (I personally feel God has called me to speaking and teaching, and if anyone told my I couldn’t because I was a woman…well…) But, my point here is that bringing a casserole to a family in need, is not meaningless. If all the women wanted to do the “really important” and manly things, who would bring the casseroles to the families in need? And don’t we all love getting a homemade casserole during a difficult time? 
In all seriousness there are vital roles to be played by women that are being looked down upon, by women themselves .
Some of the essential aspects of the feminine soul are the ability to bring beauty, cultivate beauty, unveil beauty, the ability to be vulnerable, to be tender and nurturing, fierce and strong, intuitive and wise. These are just of few of the unique characteristics of the feminine soul. Characteristics which are played out best by a woman, not by a man. We can do these things in a way a man never could. Likewise men have gifting in their masculine soul that we could never do as well as they could….
I should also point out that there are definitely times when a man is not capable or available and a woman must take on his role and she does it well. There is so much to this issue, I could write a book…ha ha maybe I will. I’m still processing these ideas on my own feminine journey and I haven’t come to any definite conclusions yet…
I leave you with some thoughts from the great philosopher Chris Rock
” Some girls say ” I don’t need no man to help me raise a child”. You don’t need no man, shut up with the BS. You can do it without a man but that doesn’t mean it’s to be done. You could drive a car with yo feet if you want to but that doesn’t make it a good idea!! …
What do you mean you don’t need a man to raise a kid? You could be the best mom in the world, the most powerful, but nothing you can say more powerful than “I’m gonna tell yo daddy!” …
…if a kid can’t read, that’s momma’s fault, if he can’t read ’cause there ain’t no lights in the house, that’s dad’s fault!
