From: dic5340@hertz.njit.edu (David Charlap)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Re: sexism
Date: 16 Oct 92 18:19:31 GMT
Article-I.D.: njitgw.1992Oct16.181931.23530
Organization: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, N.J.

In article <1992Oct16.131246.22397@athena.mit.edu> terra@athena.mit.edu (Terra Incognita) writes:
>I'm sorry if you misunderstood -- it was not my intention to put down
>women's traditional role in society.  Some women are very happy in this
>role and thrive in it, and I say, more power to them.  However, some
>women are not (my own mother, for example.)  The only problem I have
>is with the notion that the traditional role is the only appropriate
>role for women in society, or that women are biologically destined for
>this role.  I think human beings are more complex than this.

True, but when was the last time you saw a man get pregnant?  True,
burdens should be shared equally among couples, wherever possible, but
there are some that are biologically impossible for men to share.

>Some women don't want to dedicate 1/4 or so of their lives solely to
>taking care of the family, and there are some men out there who do.

Someone has to, and Judaism demands a lot more out of a man than out
of a woman, which would force a man to neglect his family to fulfil
his obligations.  I guess the only solution is to hire housekeepers...
:-)

>When a person is stuffed into a role to which he/she is not suited,
>it's often not just that individual who suffers for it.

True.  When a man who wants to go and work in the fields (or stay home
with the kids) is forced to attend services and learn Torah, he's not
the only one who suffers, either.  In Judaism, women aren't the only
ones who have their places.

>In any case, perhaps I didn't elaborate my main point well enough,
>but it was that the role given to Jewish women is in many ways not
>very different from the role of women in other traditions -- since
>women are relegated to this role and restricted in their range of
>religious expression, they have fewer ways in which to feel and
>behave uniquely Jewish.

No.  The big difference is that Judaism respects and honors this role.
In traditional Western cultures, the wife/housekeeper/childbearer is
an object of scorn and ridicule and contempt.  This is why the Women's
movement is so justified.  But in Judaism, a woman's traditional role
is one to be honored.  After all, she who raises the children bears
the responsibility for the next generation of Jews - not a
responsibility to be taken lightly.  And in the home, the wife has the
final word and can overrule her husband.

>Not that there's anything inherently *wrong* with that traditional
>role, but it seems to be widely used as an excuse to exclude women
>from full participation in religious life. 

And a pretty poor excuse at that.  Women are not (or shouldn't be)
excluded from religious life.  Women are given an easier time since
the Torah understands the tremendous burden keeping a Jewish home is.
So women are not obligated to obey mitzvot that are bound by time
(like going to shul).  

When coupled with the Jewish principle that it is better to serve God
out of obligation than out of your own desire, it should become clear
why certain apparant "exclusions" take place.  Women are not called to
lead a congregation because they are not obligated to be there, etc.
I don't entirely agree with this, but it logically follows from the
principle of "obligation above desire".

Much of what you see is more tradition than Halacha, but where Halacha
is called into play, there is very little that is anti-woman.  There
are differences between the sexes, but neither is intended to have an
advantage over the other.
-- 
David Charlap         |"there aren't 50,000 things for which it's worth writing
dic5340@hertz.njit.edu| software; and the computer industry doesn't have enough
----------------------+ programmers to create that much good software.
Therefore, most of it must be worthless" -- Boris Beizer "The Frozen Keyboard"