Gender Equality VS. Gender Sameness

"Men of quality are not threatened by women of equality."--unknown

Equality. It conjures up different meanings for different people. Although most Christians would affirm that men and women possess equal worth, the term equality makes some uncomfortable because they feel it connotates gender sameness; a sort of scary, dreaded androgynous approach to the sexes that will eventually lead to a church full of transvestites or something. :)

Egalitarians are often accused of propagating this gender sameness. Since I am trying to convey the egalitarian perspective on biblical equality, I feel it's important to further define what exactly is meant by this term and make distinctions between gender equality and gender sameness, according to an egalitarian worldview. I have noticed some confusion among some of the comments and e-mails I've received so far. Just because egalitarians advocate women's full participation within the church and home does NOT mean they deny the unique and intrinsic differences in men and women. In fact, it is these differences and specialized strengths found in each sex that compel egalitarians to ensure both men and women have a voice in the church: so each sex can benefit from the unique insight and input of the other. So the church can become a Body that is diverse, equipped, and balanced. A Body that utilizes the beauty, creativity, and communal leadership that both femininity and masculinity bring to the table. While egalitarians recognize distinct differences between the sexes, they also believe that these differences have been used as a smokescreen to justify discrimination against women.

J. Lee Grady sums up these concepts nicely in his book 10 Lies the Church Tells Women:

The word equality is used often in this book to describe the relationship between the genders. That's because the Bible teaches that men and women in terms of their worth and value to God, their shared spiritual inheritance, and their shared role in governing creation. This does not mean that men and women are not uniquely designed. God created male and female with inherent physical and emotional distinctions, and the New Testament declaration that there is no male or female in Christ is not a biblical endorsement of androgyny. Paul's words in Galatians are a fundamental acknowledgment that while men should be masculine and women should feminine, a person's gender does not limit him or her from enjoying the benefits of salvation or the Holy Spirit's empowering grace.

Here is an excerpt from Rebecca Merrill Groothuis from Christians For Biblical Equality elaborating on egalitarian concepts of gender equality.

Evangelical egalitarianism, or biblical equality, refers to the biblically-based belief that gender, in and of itself, neither privileges nor curtails a believer’s gifting or calling to any ministry in the church or home. In particular, the exercise of spiritual authority, as biblically defined, is deemed as much a female believer’s privilege and responsibility as it is a male believer’s. Biblical equality does not mean women and men are identical or undifferentiated. Biblical egalitarians recognize average differences (both learned and intrinsic) between women and men, and affirm that God designed men and women to complement and benefit one another. Although it shares with feminism the belief that unjust treatment of women should be remedied, biblical equality is not grounded in feminist ideology, which is derived from cultural factors and philosophies. Rather, biblical equality is grounded simply and solely in the properly consistent interpretation of God’s written word. On this basis, biblical egalitarians (a) affirm that the gifts and callings of the Spirit are distributed without regard to gender, and that all believers in Christ stand on equal ground before God, and (b) repudiate the notion that the Bible grants to men spiritual authority and
other religious privileges that it denies to women.

I thought it was important to more clearly define some of these concepts before proceeding with the rest of the series on unusual women of faith and before we get into New Testament scripture and interpretation. The less confusion, about what each side actually believes and is working towards, the better!

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