Sarah Ellis, in her best selling book The Women of England: Their Social Duties and Domestic Habits {1839}, articulated a set of widely accepted beliefs about the "natural" roles of men and women; in this formulation, men are "naturally" suited to striving in the public world to advance themselves and their families, while the "innate" moral beauty and selflessness of women make them ideally suited to the vocation of the home and raising children.
After reading this, I thought about all the ways we, as a society, have suffered since departing from these well-defined God-given roles between the sexes. First, let's take the issue of women getting an education. I am all for women getting educated. The problem comes with WHERE they get educated. If they are educated in the public school system, they are in a school that is mandated to be anti-God which is completely opposite of what God has commanded we teach our children and who we should be learning from.
I believe women should have the opportunity to become teachers and nurses or whatever they want if that is what they desire as long as they can leave these professions without a lot of school debt when they get married and have children. I am seeing too many women so wrapped up in their education and career that when the man of their dream comes along, they can't pick up and leave to be with him. He is now saddled with her huge debt load and many times trying to fit his schedule into hers. She was created to be his help meet, not the other way around.
Women working before they get married is okay if this is what they want to do. Even once they get married, it is probably okay as long as they can be the help meet in every way to their husband that the Lord has called them to be. Are they able to keep their homes neat and tidy? Are they able to fix nourishing meals? Are they able to have the energy for many intimate times with their husband? Are they free to have and raise children as soon as they get married?
Every couple must ask these questions and make sure their marriage and raising godly offspring is a top priority. Way too often, couples put their marriage and having children on the back burner and financial wealth as a priority. "Our society is so captivated with earning money, having money, and spending money that we can think of nothing else. NOTHING in Scripture and in the chosen lifestyle of Christ could be clearer: Wealth is NOT an objective of the spiritual life" {Dr. Richard Swenson}.
Once women have children, however, I believe wholeheartedly that they need to be home full-time with their children since they are the ones with the God-given qualities children need as they are growing up and every indication from the Word shows us that God intends mothers to be the ones raising their children, since they know them best and love them the most.
Feminists lied to women and made them think life was all about us. It is NOT all about us. When we only think about ourselves, our happiness, and our fulfillment as the feminist movement promised, destruction lies in its wake. When women wanted to become men and "strive in the public world to advance themselves," many of them left their homes and families in the dust. We can see the consequences of this all around us. Divorce has skyrocketed, single mothers are becoming more the norm than the exception, and latch-key children are coming home to cold, empty homes with no training or supervision.
The words by Sarah Ellis correspond to God's given roles for the sexes. He built us differently for different roles. Children need their mothers just as much as mothers need their children. When mothers work, the husband is the one neglected. When the husband is neglected, divorce is too often the outcome. When divorce happens, the children suffer greatly. The only person made happy with mothers working outside of the home is the mother who fell for the lie that it's all about her. Everyone else, including society, has suffered.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house,
Your children like olive plants around your table.
Psalm 128:3
***I realize that some mothers have to work, however,
God's ideal is something we should all strive to fulfill since His ways are best.
***I realize that some mothers have to work, however,
God's ideal is something we should all strive to fulfill since His ways are best.
