As a westerner in Dhaka, it’s almost impossible not to think about gender. There are very few women in public. A handful in rickshaws, a few in the market, only the poorest working out of necessity. None walking, none stopping for chai on the corner, none talking to men. They must be outnumbered 30 to 1 in public.
It’s not just that there are so many men or so many places for men. All public space is male space. Women are interlopers.
I can’t imagine what it would mean to be a woman here. And I really can’t imagine what it would be like to be a western woman, like my teammates and friends, in this context.
[Let’s not forget that women everywhere are marginalized. Even in the States and other western countries they do not have the same opportunities and they face struggles men often don't see or understand. It’s just more intense here.]
I just read The Upside Down Kingdom by Donald Kraybill. He points out that in first century Palestine a woman’s role was to stay home, care for the house, and raise male heirs. Women couldn’t study, own property, or speak to men in public.
Jesus allowed women to follow him in public. He encouraged Mary who sat to listen to his teaching when Martha was fulfilling her culturally proscribed role. He spoke with and took water from a Samaritan women (who was considered perpetually unclean). He allowed another stigmatized woman to anoint him for burial and praised her generous act. The women faithfully stayed near the cross. And God chose women, whose word wouldn’t count in a court of law, to be the first witnesses to the resurrection.
He reached out to women in radical ways and crossed all kinds of barriers with love. What does it mean to follow Jesus here, in a society in some ways similar to the one he walked in?
[On a related note, and because I like plugging my friends, you can check out the wonderful work of a woman peacemaker in Pakistan in a similar situation by reading the narrative my friend Kaitlin wrote about her life.]
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4 comments:
As a Western woman in Dhaka, I've struggles with this concept. How do I embrace and functionally display my identity as a women in Christ while at the same time showing respect for the culture? I have found great comfort in reflecting on Jesus' interactions both with women and children, particularly that women were the first to see for themselves and then hear that Jesus was indeed risen! I aspire to know how to affirm women here as valuable, to act prophetically and lovingly both to men and women. And I think I'll start by drinking chai!
no women disciples....
We too often forget the way women are treated in other places and cultures. Thanks for the reminder.
Thanks for this post. I, too, love Kraybill's book. It's a fine line for you between being "other-cultural" and being Western - blessings as you work through that.
And I'm so glad Jesus had lots of women followers yet chose to not scandalize them. He also walked the tension of being from one culture and coming into another - sometimes busting down barriers; sometimes living within them.
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