In the 21st century, every organization with a mission to support women has had to consider how to define “woman.” Women of the ELCA defines “woman” as inclusively as possible, seeking to include all who identify as women in our circle of support. Yet, it is worth considering, what does it mean to identify as a woman? While sometimes this feels like a new question, the question of the nature of woman (What makes a woman a woman?) has long been debated. Throughout the centuries and across the globe, many women have entered into the discussion in order to push back against a definition that a patriarchal culture has constructed.
So, for this Women’s History Month, we are providing a series of blogs on some of the different ways women have defined themselves and how that definition can help all of us who want to help women thrive.
by Jennifer Hockenbery
Feeling Rad Trad? Some history of ult-fem definitions of woman.
This week, we start by defining women as a category that is distinct from that of men but equal in dignity! This view of woman has been held by those who call themselves complementarians, gender essentialists, difference feminists, and rad-trads. It includes women like the 12th-century German Abbess Hildegard of Bingen, the 20th-century Jewish Catholic philosopher Edith Stein, and contemporary womanist Rebecca Walker. While gender essentialists are sometimes criticized for playing into patriarchal definitions of femininity, their point is that the attributes traditionally labeled as feminine are good and deserve respect.
One of the big problems with patriarchy, according to different feminists, is the way it devalues virtues that are decried as feminine. These argue that liberal feminists who only worry about equality too often play into patriarchal definitions of strength, power, and domination as the good rather than celebrating feminine virtues such as compassion, service, and gentleness. They argue that these virtues are at least as important as traditionally male virtues. These are virtues that would re-mold our society if they were honored.
Sr. Prudence Allen has just released a new edition of her work, The Concept of Woman, which credits Hildegard of Bingen as the first feminist complementarian, arguing that to be a woman is distinct from being a man but equal in dignity. Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th-century German Abbess, was known in her day for studying the biology of women’s bodies, for her reformation of codes for nuns given this knowledge, for her brilliance, and for her artistry with music and physical beauty. Her nuns were chastised for wearing elaborate headdresses and for wearing their hair loose. Hildegard said that there is no shame in women’s hair or women’s beauty. She decried the idea that this would tempt men.
Living in the same era as the brilliant philosopher Heloise, Hildegard did not believe that women were an inferior version of men. Women were created as co-equal partners to men in the stewardship of creation. Hildegard praised women’s compassion, gentleness, and warmth. She reminded Barbarossa, the militant Holy Roman Emperor, that Jesus embodied these virtues more than those of physical strength, wealth, and domination. And while she suggested that women’s bodies made women naturally warm, collaborative, and nourishing, she acknowledged that women came in at least four varieties (as did men) including women who desired other women and women who did not need or desire sex. More importantly, she insisted that the Holy Spirit gives gifts without regard to biological sex, noting many male saints who were feminine in virtue and female saints who had masculine strength and intellectual might given by God. She credited her own intellectual prowess to the Holy Spirit when interacting with the men who taught philosophy and theology at the Sorbonne. They wrote her for advice on many issues, despite the rules that women were not allowed to teach in theology without a dispensation.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a young Jewish philosopher, Edith Stein, also argued that women and men were different. She explained that their differences were exactly why both should be included in all professions and all levels of politics. She, writing her doctoral dissertation on empathy, found that she had different interests and gifts than the men with whom she worked. However, she was equal in intellectual ability. Her mother, who, as a single mother, supported her large family, too, had different gifts than many men. Yet, Stein found her mother was able to fill the roles of both father and mother for the children. Stein, a Jew who later converted to Roman Catholicism, also faced ethnic discrimination, losing the job she finally attained when German universities started hiring women because of Hitler’s scourge against all Jews in the university system. She was murdered at Auschwitz for being a Jew and a Catholic who encouraged Catholics to stand against Hitler. In the late 20th century, her writings on women’s rights influenced John Paul II, the philosopher Pope, who indicated that the dignity of woman needed recognition throughout the Christian church.
Today, some feminists who follow in the steps of Hildegard and Stein face backlash. One example is Rebecca Walker, the daughter of Alice Walker. Alice Walker coined the word Womanism as a phrase that empowered African American ideals of women. Rebecca Walker urges womanists not to turn their backs on those who want to be mothers or those women who want to embrace traditional feminine virtues. She reminds all of us that the hatred of what is often called femininity owes much to patriarchal culture. While all women do not embrace traditional feminine virtues, all people should recognize that there is value in gentleness, compassion, beauty, and warmth. The judgement against these as weak virtues is a judgement of patriarchal culture. Embracing women means also embracing our rad-trad sisters and ourselves when we are feeling ultra-femme!
Dr. Jennifer Hockenbery is interim executive director for Women of the ELCA and editor of the Journal of Lutheran Ethics. She is the author of Thinking woman: A philosophical Approach to the Quandary of Gender.
Photo of Hildegard of Bingen. Used with permission.
Photo of Edith Stein. Used with permission.
Photo of Rebecca Walker by . http://www.rebeccawalker.com/presskit.htm (presskit Rebecca Walker). Used with permission.