Years of practice and (intelligent) design

Laney Homan, 30, drew excited murmurs with her talk on meal planning, complete with a recipe for a surefire "freezer pleaser" -- a triple batch of meatloaf (secret ingredient: oatmeal). Thanks to a computerized system for generating grocery lists, Homan said, "I've actually trained my husband to shop for me."

Laughing, she threw her palms toward the heavens and added: "Praise Jesus!"

For the rest of the nearly three-hour class, guest lecturer Ashley Smith, the wife of a theology professor, laid out the biblical basis for what she calls "the glorious inequalities of life."

Smith, 30, confided that she sometimes resents her husband for advancing his career "while I'm changing diapers and getting poop all over me."

But then she quoted from Ephesians: "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord." And from Genesis: God created Eve to be a "suitable helper" for Adam.

"If we love the Scripture, we must do it," said Smith, who gave up her dreams of a career when her husband said it was time to have children. "We must fit into this role. It's so much more important than our own personal happiness."

-- "They Love to Do Their Homework," LAT, Oct 11, 07

One of the great things about the Bible is that you can find scriptural justification for nearly everything -- avoiding seafood (Leviticus 11:9-10), killing your prospective son-in-law (Genesis 34:1-25), selling off your daughter as a sex slave (Exodus 21:7-11).

That little point aside ... this is where I make real enemies by pointing out that while housework may be time- or labor-intensive, it's rarely rocket science. It is no more difficult to learn how to pan-fry a steak than it is to learn how to change a tire -- and you don't see boys taking a curricula derived from Popular Mechanics' "25 Skills Every Man Should Know." Having critical thinking skills comes in handy when grocery shopping, yes, but that's not the same as parsing the numbers for your hedge fund.

I'm just sort of baffled by the have-it-both-ways approach here. On the one hand, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is promoting this really traditional gender role. On the other, they're trying to give it heft and legitimacy in a modern world by cloaking it in the guise of a college-level education. I can't figure out if this is good news or bad news for those of us who don't share Ashley Smith's specific outlook.

Comments

[Polly]

Men make decisions. Women make dinner.

If anyone ever wonders why I'm single....

We must fit into this role. It's so much more important than our own personal happiness.

Yes. God wants you to be MISERABLE. That is his plan for you, Ashley Smith. A life of NEVERENDING MISERY. Praise Him! For in His eternal benevolence, He wants you DEAD INSIDE!

You know, I always think this about these kind of idiot right-wing Christian nut jobs, but whatever happened to the idea that God's will is mysterious and beyond the ability of humans and human society to fully comprehend? This idea that religion is all about quick 'n' easy answers to questions like, Why am I here? just seems the antithesis of at least the kind of religion I grew up with.

[Kyle]

You know, aside from the part where it's completely INSANE, I also see this as being part of the "everything worth doing requires a bachelors' degree" syndrome. If you're going to see homemaking as a career, it seems like it might work better as an apprenticeship kind of situation -- learn from your mom, or do a year as an au pair, or something. This has happened to a lot of the allied health professions recently -- big increases in 4-year degrees for dental hygiene, radiation techs, and other careers that used to be 2-year degrees. It seems like you can't be middle-class without a 4-year degree anymore.