Men and Women​—The Difference

FOR about six thousand years, men and women have shared the planet Earth. They have raised families, worked, enjoyed good times and endured hardships together. Yet, in most places and at most times in history, women have been treated differently from men. Sometimes they have been cared for and protected. More often, they have been viewed as mere possessions or despised as inferiors. Why is this?

Charles Darwin theorized that women were intellectually inferior to men. His contemporary, Gustave Le Bon, viewed them as “the most inferior forms of human evolution.” Few today would admit to such opinions. Nevertheless, women and men are different. In what ways? And does this mean that one is inferior to the other?

Physical Differences

Some of the physical differences between men and women are evident. Women are designed to be mothers, men to be fathers, and the structures of their bodies reflect this fact. But there are other differences.

● In almost every country, women live to an older age than men. At the very beginning of life, 130 boys are conceived for every 100 girls. Nine months later, more male embryos than female have failed to survive, so that 106 boys are born for every 100 girls. By the time they grow to be teenagers, girls come to outnumber boys.

● Men athletes have larger and more muscular shoulders and arms. They also have bigger and stronger legs, and bigger hearts and lungs. Thus, in most events men outperform women. Yet women athletes have abdominal muscles that can be as strong as those of men. Although women perspire less copiously, their sweat glands are better distributed and their perspiration is more efficient​—a help for endurance. Stored body fat gives them a greater buoyancy in water and greater endurance, so that women dominate the sport of long-distance swimming.

Hence, it seems that, physically, men have the edge in strength, while women have the edge in endurance. What about other differences?

Other Differences

Do men and women think differently? This is a sensitive subject, since many feel that wrong ideas in this area have led to women’s being oppressed. Nevertheless, many researchers feel that there are differences.

● Girls usually become more skillful with their hands than do boys. They speak earlier and more fluently and come to be better at languages. They are often better at memorizing and intuitive thinking. Women often handle detailed and routine work more efficiently than do men.

● Boys grow up to be better at mathematics, mechanics and analytical thinking. They are also better at spatial organization and perception.

● Many women feel they cannot control their emotions as well as men​—although some deny this.

Of course, these differences are not rigid. There are men who are good at languages, and there are women who excel at mathematics. Anyone who has watched a nurse during a medical emergency knows that women are not entirely controlled by their emotions. Many work coolly and efficiently under pressure. And how many men are always cool, logical and self-controlled?

What causes the differences? Many feel we are made differently inside as well as outside. They say that male or female hormones make a person’s brain​—not only the body—​function in a manly or a womanly way. Others insist that differences between men and women are caused by the way boys and girls are brought up. Still others see an interplay between the two: the different ways in which boys and girls are treated reinforce the effect that hormones have on the brain. Whatever the reason, differences do exist.

Consequently, women have not always been treated well. They have often been exploited, and their freedom has been greatly limited. Let us consider some examples.

Women​—Second-Class People?

NOT long ago a man appeared in court in an Asian country that has legal equality between men and women. He was accused of killing his adulterous wife and found guilty. The punishment? A suspended sentence. Almost immediately afterward, a housewife appeared in the same court before the same judge. She was accused of killing her husband because he had been chasing after other women. She was found guilty and sentenced​—to 15 years in prison!

Many women complain that often they are viewed as second-class citizens, without the same rights, protections or considerations that men receive. The sad truth is that in many lands women are not valued or appreciated as much as men are. The above was one example of this. There are many others.

Among some Bedouins, when a new baby is born someone has the job of telling the father. If the baby is a boy, the father will be hailed with a word meaning “good tidings.” He will usually give a small gift to the news bearer and sacrifice a sheep or give a feast if he can afford it. But if it is a girl, there will be no “good tidings,” no reward and no feast. At mealtimes, in this tribe, the older men eat first, then the younger men and boys, and last of all the women and the girls.

There are countries where women may not drive automobiles. They may not travel without the consent of their husbands or guardians and then only in the company of relatives. Neither can they appear in mixed company on social occasions or hold a job that brings them in contact with men. And although they have the task of caring for young children, they have no opportunities to get an education.

Consider, too, this sad report. In India, the second-most populous country in the world, “it is not uncommon today to hear of abandoned babies in city drains, in a jungle or outside a temple or foundling home. For every baby boy abandoned, there are five baby girls. Experienced nurses in public hospitals report that the desire to get rid of girl babies is so strong that some mothers have to be forced to feed them. Sometimes it even drives parents to commit infanticide on female babies.”​—India Today, August 1-15, 1980.

Reportedly, in that country girls are viewed as an economic liability, hence the dismay when they are born. Marrying them off costs a lot of money, and once married, they are at the mercy of their in-laws. That this can lead to great unhappiness was shown by a recent newspaper headline: “Women suicide assumes alarming rate in India.”

Of course, women are not oppressed everywhere. There are countries where they have a lot of influence and seem close to equality with men. And even where not equal, their rights are often protected. However, millions of women live under great disadvantages. Sometimes they are weighed down by sheer hard work.

Who Does More Work?

For one thing, in many of the world’s poorer countries, most of the work involved in food production is performed by women. A United Nations study of one African region found that the men there worked an average of 1,800 hours a year in agriculture, and then their work was more or less finished. The women, on the other hand, worked an average of 2,600 hours a year in the fields, and then their work had only begun. In addition they had to do their regular chores at home.

Thus, the women there work an average of eight hours a day, almost every day, 52 weeks a year, before they can start their cooking, washing, cleaning and other household chores​—for which, of course, they usually have no modern conveniences. In Africa women do 60 to 80 percent of all agricultural work, plus 50 percent of animal husbandry, and 100 percent of the needed food processing.

A study of an Asian village revealed an average working day of 16 hours for women. In the case of younger women, this work load was combined with frequent pregnancy, childbirth and breast feeding​—jobs that are tiring enough by themselves.

Seemingly, much of the outside help directed to poor countries only adds to this problem, since it is often directed to the jobs traditionally done by men. A certain African country, for example, imported 100 tractors but only one mechanical weeder. The result? The plowing time​—a man’s job—​was drastically reduced, while the sowing and weeding time​—the woman’s job—​was correspondingly increased. It seems that many women need all that built-in endurance just to survive!

Of course, in poorer countries everyone’s life is hard. There is much abject poverty, malnutrition, horrible sickness and deep ignorance. Often, both men and women are trapped by oppressive traditions that keep them from acting in a more humane and reasonable way toward one another. But it must be admitted that in many cases women have the greater burdens to bear. Just to keep going under such hardships is an achievement in itself.

What, though, about lands where the situation of women is easier?

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Does the Bible teach that women are of inferior nature, as compared with men?

No. Adam called Eve “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” (Genesis 2:23) Eve was Adam’s “complement.”​—Genesis 2:18.

Women referred to in the Bible did many things requiring intellectual capacity. Huldah served as a prophetess to King Josiah. (2 Chronicles 34:22) Deborah both prophesied and judged for the Israelites. (Judges 4:4, 5) Abigail counseled David, when he was king-designate, and saved him from bloodguilt. (1 Samuel 25:23-35) A “capable wife” is described as being skilled in purchasing. She organizes and controls a large household, budgets and plans for the future, engages in trade, buys property and organizes successful farming ventures. She possesses the quality of wisdom.​—Proverbs 31:10-31.

Also, women were to receive holy spirit and prophesy in the last days. (Joel 2:28) They were among the first members of the Christian congregation, and were to play a prominent part in the telling of the “good news.”​—Acts 1:14; 2:4; Psalm 68:11.

Women in Wealthier Lands

IN EUROPE and America, during the last century, most men seemed to agree with Charles Darwin that women were inferior, and their freedoms were thus limited. Women received only a limited education and were not allowed to vote. Once they were married, their husbands controlled any wealth they possessed, and most trades and professions were barred to them (although poor women worked long hours in factories, for a smaller wage than men). Morally, they were expected to be innocent and pure​—although this was not always expected of their menfolk.

Then women rebelled. After years of struggle, they were finally allowed to vote. Following that, other barriers crumbled. They were given additional educational opportunities and were accepted into professions and trades that formerly were for men only. Today, women are politicians, judges, doctors, lawyers, mechanics, athletes, scientists, company presidents, soldiers and policewomen. The permissive society also allows them to be as “impure” as men, if they wish.

However, some professions are still hard for women to penetrate, while the wages of women remain, on an average, only two thirds those of men. Some women, too, still suffer from the cruelty of men. They are abandoned by their husbands to bring up the children alone. Or they have to work hard to hold the home together, while the husband spends his time drinking, gambling or in other vices. Countless women, too, are raped, and countless wives are severely beaten. Hence, proponents of women’s liberation and others continue to struggle for further changes.

Despite the ongoing struggle, it is undeniable that women now have a lot of opportunities in what used to be a “man’s world.” This is partly because, for the first time in history, married women can control to some extent the size of their families. Hence, they can even choose not to have children, but to devote their lives to a career.

Many appreciate these greater freedoms. But these freedoms have also brought new problems for the 20th-century woman.

How Can You Know . . . ?

A girl who is a freshman at Princeton University said: “Motherhood is important to me. A career is important too. It’s not a pleasant choice.” Another girl put it this way: “It’s almost harder now because you do have a choice. You want to do the right thing. You want to be happy. But how do you know what makes you happy?”​—New York Times.

How do women solve this problem? Many sacrifice their careers, stay at home and rear families. One said: “My children are still my first priority. I have put off advancing a career because they are, in my view, the most important contributions I can make to society.” However, some who have made this choice report feeling unhappy at being viewed as “only a housewife.”

Others go the other way. They feel that the career they have in mind is worthwhile, and they sacrifice having a family. Others, again, try both​—a family and a career. How is that possible? A woman president of a public relations firm answers: “You can have it all, but be prepared to be always tired.”

The choice is not easy. But even if a woman opts for an interesting career, her problems do not stop there.

They Pay a Price

Dr. Ruth Moulton, a psychoanalyst, said: “Several of my patients have peptic ulcers, something which was formerly mostly confined to males. More of them complain about migraines. And I’ve seen a big increase in allergies, particularly the asthmatic and bronchial kind where the coughing and wheezing are aggravated by anxiety.”

Dr. Hans Selye, an endocrinologist, said that the more women assume jobs formerly delegated to men, “the more women are subject to so-called male diseases, such as cardiac infarctions, gastric ulcers and hypertension. They get the same satisfactions, but at a price.”​—Sunday News Magazine (New York).

Thus, as women share men’s prospects, they share his diseases too.

Is This Really Freedom?

The new freedoms also victimize women in hidden ways. The permissive society encourages them to abandon “old-fashioned” morality and be more lax. Modern methods of contraception have removed (to an extent) the threat of unwanted pregnancies, while modern medicine can handle venereal disease (to a degree). Yet young women have found other problems with immorality. There is an emotional toll too.

A woman columnist commented perceptively: “I don’t think it is suited to women to sleep around when they are young because I think that young women are nice, idealistic, warm-hearted creatures who should be developed as people, and not exploited.” She goes on: “Women need to feel valued for themselves and not just for their sexuality . . . Promiscuity, in the end, makes women feel nothing.”​—Sunday Telegraph (London).

Sexual harassment is another hazard faced by women as they move into the work force. In the United States, “50 percent or slightly more of the women [in one government department] . . . reported incidents of sexual harassment,” ranging from a leer to rape.​—New York Times.

And here are two more problems. The first: when a successful woman comes to earn more money than her husband, the husband is likely to feel challenged and insecure​—which can cause severe strains on the marriage. One woman agreed to give up a successful career in real estate because of this.

The second? “Women continue to bear the brunt of domestic and child care responsibilities, even when they are in full time employment and, despite rhetoric to the contrary, there is little difference among social classes. It can in fact be suggested that women have less freedom now than 40 years ago.”​—The Guardian (London).

Many women would probably prefer to stay at home. But if they have to help with paying household expenses and then do all the housework, too, they have a heavy burden.

Who Is to Blame?

Hence, while from some points of view the situation of women is better than it used to be, problems remain. Why is that?

Men, of course, share much of the blame. It is men manifesting the “works of the flesh” who harass girls at work or violently rape them. (Galatians 5:19) It is husbands who are “lovers of themselves . . . having no natural affection” who selfishly take advantage of their wives or beat them. (2 Timothy 3:2, 3) Other men are thoughtless, perhaps not realizing that housework is hard, physical labor and that a wife would often welcome some help.

However, tradition and culture are often to blame too. There is a traditional idea that some jobs are “men’s work” and others “women’s work.” Hence, many men are too embarrassed to help out in the home or to do some of the “women’s work” in the fields, for fear of being laughed at.

Additionally, the modern world has to take its share of the blame. It is the modern world that produces the pressures that cause businesswomen (and men) to get ulcers. The modern world produced the “sexual freedom” that victimizes those young girls who are afraid to say No, and winks its eye at harassment on the job. And the modern world produces the situation where a woman has to choose between two very strong desires.

Is there any help with these problems? Yes, there is. Let us introduce you to some women who are able to handle them successfully.

Problems and Prospects of 20th-Century Women

CONSUELO is from Puerto Rico and has been married for nine years. Regarding the problems faced by a modern woman, she believes that the world has yet to come up with better advice than what is found in the Bible.

For example, on the subject of equal wages, she says: “Probably wages should be equal when a man’s and a woman’s qualifications are similar and they both work hard at their jobs. I can understand why some women feel bitter. But I look at things differently.

“To me, the wages I earn are not the most important thing in life. I can see working for one of two reasons: either I need the money, or I am doing something I feel is worthwhile. In the first case, if I was earning enough for my needs, then I would be satisfied. The Bible warns: ‘Those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare.’​—1 Timothy 6:9.

“If you compare yourself with others, you will always find someone better off than you are. In many cases, men do earn more than women. But then, American women earn more than both men and women in most other lands. It makes for a peaceful mind if you compare yourself with those worse off than you, rather than with those better off.

“On the other hand, if I were to do a job I thought was worthwhile in itself, then money would not be so very important.”

Don’t Be a Victim

Regarding the so-called sexual revolution, Christian women realize that, in truth, this victimizes women. Popular entertainment and other propaganda lead men to think that women want to be immoral, and these cause women to feel that they have to be immoral in order to appear normal.

But a Christian knows the boundaries. The Bible tells us: “This is what God wills . . . that you abstain from fornication.” (1 Thessalonians 4:3) A woman following this advice may have to learn to say No. But she will avoid the heartbreaking problems caused by promiscuity. And she will be pleasing God.

What about the problem of sexual harassment at work? Often, Christian conduct can make a difference here, as Connie found out.

Connie is a young woman, married for five years, who used to work in a large office. But she avoided the problem of sexual harassment, and she explains how: “A lot has to do with the way you carry yourself. If you keep your relationship with the men on a business level​—having a sense of humor, perhaps, but not for that kind of joke—​most of them will respect you.

“I found that some of the girls in the office would be overfamiliar with the men, would share off-color jokes and look at magazines of questionable taste. While the men appeared to enjoy the familiarity, they would lose their respect for these girls. Myself, whenever I heard unclean jokes or bad language, I would walk away. After a while, they seemed to respect me for the stand I made, and did not bother me.”

What Connie was doing, in effect, was applying the Bible’s counsel: “Let fornication and uncleanness . . . not even be mentioned among you, just as it befits holy people.” (Ephesians 5:3) And it was a protection to her. Of course, this will not deter the most determined of the harassers. Consuelo knew one girl who had to leave a firm because of the way one of the men was acting toward her. This was a wise move, following the Bible counsel: “Flee from fornication.”​—1 Corinthians 6:18.

Husbands and Housework

On the matter of the husband’s helping in the home, Gladys, who has raised a family, feels this is often a matter of training. Before the war, when many women did not go out to work, in many homes it seemed only natural for women to do all the housework. Their sons grew up to expect this, and that is probably why a lot of men today feel strange doing housework. But the situation has changed. “It certainly would be nice,” says Gladys, “when both husband and wife work, for men to do their share in the home. I suppose that it is up to mothers now to train their sons to work in the home just as they train their daughters.

“I think a young couple should be able to talk about this problem and work things out properly. Surely, a mature man who ‘loves his wife as he does himself’ could not conscientiously relax in an armchair while his already tired wife was working around the house​—unless she preferred it that way.”​—Ephesians 5:33.

The Problem of Happiness

Regarding the question of career or family, Gladys feels that Christian principles can help here too. She has pursued a career and raised a daughter, and she says: “It is a matter of balance. I made sure my daughter did not suffer because of my career, but, equally, I felt that what I was doing was important. So I had the motivation to keep on with my career.”

“One thing I will say,” she goes on, “each person has to make her own decision about this. She has to answer the question: ‘What do I really want to do with my life?’ The desire for motherhood is strong in most women, and it is a beautiful and essential part of our humanity. If a girl sacrifices her opportunity for this, it should be for a good reason.”

The Bible shows that a woman, or a man, must be accomplishing something constructive in order to be truly happy. (Acts 20:35; Ecclesiastes 2:8, 10, 11) Parenthood can satisfy that need. And so can some careers.

Consuelo says: “My career is in the Christian ministry and I feel I am truly accomplishing something. Girls who choose such a ‘giving’ career instead of motherhood find many rewards that more than compensate. But each one should choose for herself. And if she has chosen for the right reasons, she will not be disturbed by what others say.”

To Improve the Situation

Hence, by applying Bible principles, many of the problems women have to face today can be handled. But is it enough just to “handle” the problems? Isn’t there something more that women should do about them?

Connie commented: “I don’t believe that what is happening on earth today is God’s will for mankind. I feel it is God’s will that women should be treated better than they often are. But God has shown that his way to deal with the problem is by means of his kingdom. That is why we pray: ‘Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.’ (Matthew 6:9) I feel that the best way a Christian woman can help is by using her energy in working toward the fulfillment of that prayer.

“One way to do this is by educating people about God’s will. I know that Jehovah’s Witnesses are preaching about God’s kingdom all around the world, and they are teaching men that their wives are not inferior creatures. Because of this, traditional ideas that lead to women’s being oppressed are being corrected in many families.”

Gladys agrees: “Yes, men are being trained to treat their wives in a Christian way. Truly Christian men do not abandon their families. Nor do they gamble and drink their money away or refuse to help in ‘woman’s work’ when necessary. Men learn this when they respond to the educational work of Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

While individuals may change, however, we cannot force radical change on the world​—much as we may wish we could. The problems are too deeply rooted. Nevertheless, the Bible says: “The world is passing away and so is its desire.” (1 John 2:17) And with it will pass away all its prejudices and injustices.

Also, the Bible offers a more lasting solution: “There are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell.” (2 Peter 3:13) This new system is very close. And hundreds of thousands of women realize that it is the true solution to women’s problems in this 20th century.

In the following article, we would like to tell you the experiences of just one of those hundreds of thousands of women.

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Does the Bible work against the interests of women?

Some people think so because the Bible teaches the headship of man over the woman, particularly in the family and congregation arrangement. However, consider what else it says:

• “Husbands continue loving your wives, just as the Christ also loved the congregation.” (Ephesians 5:25)

• “Husbands ought to be loving their wives as their own bodies.” (Ephesians 5:28)

• “You husbands, continue dwelling in like manner with [your wives] according to knowledge, assigning them honor.” (1 Peter 3:7)

• “The form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their tribulation.” (James 1:27)

Does God ‘Care About Women’?

‘Yes!’ answers the writer of this real-life experience

“A FEW years ago I had come to a point in my life where I felt I really needed God’s help. But could I go to him with confidence that he would care enough about me to help? I must admit that I had my doubts. Why? Because I am a woman, and I had bitterly decided that God didn’t really care that much about women. What gave me such a negative view of God? My experiences as I grew up led me to feel that way.

“You may know that, at one time Mormonism, the prominent religion in Utah, U.S.A., encouraged the practice of polygamy. Then, in 1890, the policy was changed, and polygamy was no longer permitted for mainstream Mormons. However, not everyone went along with the change in policy. Some fundamentalists began to organize their own sects, secretly continuing the practice of taking many wives.

“Thus, when I was a very young girl, my father decided to investigate some of these fundamentalist sects to see if they had the truth. Following his investigation, he decided that polygamy was indeed God’s will for mankind.

“That was quite a decision! My mother had already borne him four children and was expecting a fifth. She was confused and bitter. She argued and wept, and when she went into a hospital to have her fifth child she wanted to die. In fact, she almost did die, but finally rallied. Eventually, she came to believe that perhaps polygamy was God’s will, but she never felt that my father was the right man to live this ‘high law of God.’

“As my father became more and more involved in polygamy, he was constantly reminding us that he was doing ‘God’s will.’ Those words ‘God’s will’ stuck in my mind whenever I watched him prepare for a courting date, ‘righteously’ doing his duty by going out with women other than my mother. Whenever I would wake up at night and see my mother in bed alone because my father was with another woman, I could not forget the words ‘God’s will.’ I began to feel that God was very unfair to women.

“Yes, I blamed God for our unhappy family situation. Of course, I know now that it is not God’s will for a man to take several wives. God’s will is that men should be ‘husbands of one wife,’ and that ‘husbands ought to be loving their wives as their own bodies,’ not causing them grief and insecurity. (1 Timothy 3:12; Ephesians 5:28) However, at that time I did not know these truths. My father’s misrepresentation of God sowed seeds of bitterness in my heart.

“My mother knew the whole thing bothered me, so she tried to console me. She reasoned: ‘After all, polygamy is much better than adultery, and men are natural-born polygamists who cannot stay with just one woman. That seems to be the way God made them.’ However, these words merely gave me a sense of hopelessness. ‘Why did God make men this way?’ I wondered. ‘Why must a woman share her husband with other women? Are women merely possessions of men so that they can bear children for them?’ I believed in God. But I accepted my father’s teachings and began to feel very disadvantaged because I was a girl.

An Effort to Break Away

“In my father’s sect it was the custom for girls to be married off at an early age. However, when I became a teenager I could not face giving myself to any man to become just one of his wives. I felt it would be better to marry someone with no beliefs at all. My father was busy with his other wives, or with trying to obtain other wives, so I was free to go my own way. I kept as separate as I could from the members of my father’s religion, and my life became more and more ungodly. I got involved in the hippie life-style, and eventually married a young man involved in the same way of life. But my problems were not solved.

“I discovered that men can mistreat women even without doing ‘God’s will.’ It seemed to me that women were disadvantaged without religion as well as with it. My new husband did not give up his free-living ways after our marriage. I figured men were not only natural-born polygamists, but were natural-born adulterers. Almost every man I knew was cheating on his wife, so I felt it was something every woman had to put up with sooner or later. Additionally, I discovered more about the physical problems of being a woman. A painful miscarriage, among other things, made me feel that men had all the enjoyment out of living together while women had all the problems.

“I went for a while to meetings of a group interested in the Women’s Liberation movement. I learned from this group more reasons to be resentful at the plight of women, but soon stopped attending when the group did not seem to accomplish anything of real value to me. I continued to blame God for being unfair to women. Yet soon I found out that I was the one who was being unfair. I was judging on insufficient evidence. Before long I learned of another side of the picture.

A New View of Matters

“I badly needed help. But where could I go? I started to read the Bible on my own and to pray to God. Would God answer my prayer, even though I was ‘only a woman’?

“Soon two young Christian women visited me. They offered me the latest issues of the Watchtower and Awake! magazines, two publications that discuss the meaning of the Bible and the reasons for the problems we face in this world. I had no money, but they gave me the magazines anyway. I did not read them, or the succeeding issues that the young women returned with. But eventually I agreed to study the Bible with one of the young women.

“At first I was not very interested. Soon, however, my interest grew. I started to view in another light the stories from the Bible that my father had told me in order to justify his actions. I saw the reason why people​—both men and women—​suffer. I learned God’s viewpoint, that he does not consent to the oppression of women by men. It is not ‘God’s will’ for men to multiply wives, or to do other things that cause them pain and suffering. I found that, in truth, ‘God is love,’ and I began to warm to his love.​—1 John 4:8.

“However, fragments of doubt remained about how, really, God views women. I prayed for more help.

A Deeper Understanding

“One day I read the history of Jacob in the book of Genesis. Previously, I had always avoided this account because it involved polygamy. However, I now got down to reading it.

“Jacob was in love with Rachel, and he had worked for seven years in order to be able to marry her. However, he was tricked into marrying her older sister, Leah. The father of the two girls, Laban, claimed that he had deceived Jacob because it was the custom that the eldest girl in the family should be married first. Seven days later Jacob married the girl he really loved, Rachel​—although he had to work another seven years to pay the bride price for her. Now Leah began to feel the pain of being a wife who was not loved.​—Genesis 29:16-30.

“As I read this story to myself, it began to take on a new meaning. It was not God who caused Jacob to take two wives. A man, Laban, tricked him into it. And it certainly was not God who made Leah to be an unwanted wife. In fact, Jehovah was the only one who comforted her in her sorrow. Time and again Leah acknowledged Jehovah’s help. Not only that, but when Rachel became unhappy, Jehovah helped her too.​—Genesis 29:31-35; 30:22-24.

“My heart was moved as I read of Jehovah’s kindness and concern for both of these women. He did not treat their problems as insignificant or ‘just feminine emotion,’ and therefore not really important. He truly cared.

“After that I found many other accounts in the Bible that showed beyond doubt that Jehovah God cares for women. I became confident that, just as God listened to the prayers of Leah and Rachel as they endured a situation that was far from ideal, God would listen to my earnest prayers too.

“Moreover, the account of the creation of Eve showed me the value of and the need for womankind on the earthly scene. (Genesis 2:18) Woman was a complement of man. Hence, her different qualities enriched the human race. I devoured the advice and encouragement that the Bible contains especially for women.​—Proverbs 31:10-31; 1 Peter 3:1-6; Matthew 26:6-13.

“I noted that, while showing that ‘the head of a woman is the man,’ the Bible counsels men to deal with women respectfully and with consideration. (1 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Peter 3:7; Proverbs 5:18-21; Ephesians 5:28-33) And I was particularly touched by the way Jehovah remembered widows, who in earlier days​—and often today, too—​were poor and helpless.​—James 1:27.

“Once I had felt that men have all the fun and women all the suffering in matters of sex. But through having three children, I came to see childbearing as a great blessing given to women by God. Even through the pain, many women will agree that it is one of the most exciting things that can ever happen, a joy that men can only wonder at but never really know.

“That is not to say that one sex is better or more important than the other. The apostle Paul sums up the matter very nicely: ‘Besides, in connection with the Lord neither is woman without man nor man without woman. For just as the woman is out of the man, so also the man is through the woman; but all things are out of God.’​—1 Corinthians 11:11, 12.

“Thus I came to realize that God does care about women. And the best refuge for women who feel oppressed in this system of things is with him. I would like to invite everyone to investigate the Bible and its unprejudiced God, Jehovah. As far as salvation is concerned, he is an ‘equal opportunity’ God. We can all love​—and be loved by—​Jehovah.”​—Contributed.

[Blurb on page 14]

“Are women merely possessions of men so that they can bear children for them?”

[Blurb on page 14]

“God does not consent to the oppression of women by men”

[Blurb on page 15]

“My heart was moved as I read of Jehovah’s kindness”

[Blurb on page 16]

The best refuge for women who feel oppressed in this system of things is with God.

“As far as salvation is concerned, Jehovah is an ‘equal opportunity’ God”

“[Box on page 15]

“My father told me that one example he was following was that of Abraham. Abraham had children by two women, his wife Sarah, and a slave girl named Hagar. However, the reason for this was that God had promised the childless Abraham that his offspring would become a great nation. When Abraham’s wife, Sarah, became too old to have children, she gave him the slave girl Hagar, thinking that perhaps the promised child would be born through this one. Notice that it was Sarah who gave the girl to Abraham. Abraham was not multiplying wives for himself. And, as it turned out, this was not God’s way to fulfill his promise. Later Jehovah miraculously restored Sarah’s childbearing ability, and the promised son was born through her.​—Genesis 12:1-3; 16:1-4; 21:1-5.”