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Feminism in Sacred Scriptures
Feminism in Migration – a ministry of the gospel
To-day there is much being said and written about feminism that stands on the edge of new possibilities for a common thread in our society. We live in the present time aware of many victims strewn across the pages of our history. These unfold though the ideology of patriarchy and the exploitation of the poor and oppressed.
Recognising the need of feminism side by side with liberation theology, we can keep moving along the road to God’s righteousness in human consciousness that has been raised as a new voice to deal with the reality of patriarchy and its effect on the lives of women.
It seeks liberation and re-working of the structures that link to an androcentric way of looking at things. The fact is that women now have come forward to speak about their rights, the re-reading of the sacred texts, and the re-defining of the various institutional contents of social relations.
Their struggle heightens the new conviction that engages in discourse and contributes to the rich motif of inclusiveness in our Christian community. Their participation in any actual societal trends is one critique that echoes the concerns of all women.
At the Fourth World Women’s Conference in Beijing in 1995, one of the pressing issues that was discussed at length was that of violence against migrant women. In the popular perception, governments have been asked to provide services and assistance to those victims of violence and of all forms of discrimination against women.
It has become increasingly clear that sexist oppression and subordination experienced by women in many parts of the world are now being brought to the fore as part of our commitment to make a contribution towards redressing the imbalance in our society. It is now a dawning realization that we nourish right relations and justice as a force which would lead to healing.
While denouncing sexist and patriarchal structures, women have emerged in the gospel of liberty that is implicit in our search for renewal and humanization. It sees the reality that is committed to life, justice, and transformation.
I. The Social Context of Women Migrants
Since the onset of world-wide movements in migration, its increase in the total volume of immigration has reached a massive record in the public understanding of today’s immigration issues. Foremost, perhaps, is the upsurge sequence of migration from Asia, Central America, Caribbean, and Latin America. About 56 per cent of immigrants to Canada in 1992 were born in Asia and 40 per cent of immigrants to the United States in 1993 originated from Asia.
The human need to leave home in search of greener pastures has continued. For example, from the mid 1980 on, female immigrants outnumbered male immigrants to Australia. Mr Hugo writes that there is, “an apparent relationship between the ‘feminization’ of the Australian immigration intake and the increased share made up of Asian-origin persons since females outnumber males in most Asian immigrant scales.”
Within the parameters of poverty and growing political upheaval in some poor countries, there are factors that point out the need for attention. They are key issues which embrace political, economic, spiritual, and humanitarian reasons.
Looking more closely at these driving forces behind the changing conditions of our time, we find the increase in female migration, the heterogeneity in social class backgrounds of migrants, and the predominance of Asian applicants in labor migration. Their sojourning character is created and maintained by a system of recruitment and utilization of labor which serves to guarantee reliable, abundant and cheap labor for employers (See Bonacich and Cheng, 1984; marks and Richardson, 1984; Piore, 1979, for general discussions of international labor migration and capitalism, and Crawford, 1932; S. Wang, 1959; and Tinker, 1984, for information on Chinese and Indian International labor migration during the nineteenth century).
The fact that women’s work is often restricted to domestic roles – or is seen as such, points to the crucial question of the inter-relationship between women’s exploitation and their menial social status in the economic system.
Despite the restrictive immigration policies from the Western countries or governments of countries of origins for the protection of women migrant workers, for instance, it is a fact that a great influx continues and is felt more sharply given the present conditions. The embassies also intervene and help negotiate with the measures adopted between the sending and receiving countries. The literature on various components of change in migration phenomenon indicates though a miserable picture of violence against women. There are many accounts of maltreatment of women workers. They are reported as highly significant vulnerabilities in terms of human dignity. Some of them are: trafficking in women, sexual and domestic bondage , gender-specific violations of human rights, sexual harassment, secxual assault in the work place, forced prostitution, incest and sexual abuse, rape, food deprivation, female circumcision, emotional violence.
Such violence against women and its often deadly outcome is not restricted to the so-called First World, but similar statistics are found around the globe. The abuse and violence of many Asian migrant workers has been observed in Europe, Middle East and Canada. Those recruited into the entertainment industries in countries like Thailand, Indonesia, and Japan have also been subjected to violence and human rights abuse. Some 2,000 Asian maids have fled from the atrocities of their employers in Kuwait since the end of the Gulf War. The numbers reported in Kuwait were that 103,501 women were employed as domestic workers in 1989 constituting 5.1 per cent of the total population of the country; 98 per cent of them were Asian. (Shah, N.M. “Migration Between Asian Countries and Its Likely Future.”, Paper presented at the Expert Group Meeting on Population Distribution and Migration, Sta Cruz, Bolivia, 18-22 January). Those who were able to survive reported that they have been punished severely. They have been kicked, locked up, raped, beaten and mutilated by their male employer or his male relatives. However, in spite of these cruelties, these women domestic workers were amongst the very first workers who were brought back when Kuwait was liberated in February 1991. The Philippines, however, placed a ban on women domestic workers in 1982. At present, Kuwait is the only country where a ban on export of Filipino maids exists.
Aside from the demeaning treatment, sexual assault, physical violence, verbal abuse and rape, other disproportionate occurrences in the actual working conditions of the Asian domestic workers are having all mail going through employers; inability to establish a social life; working very long hours; having no free days; not having a private room; not being permitted to go out alone; and no contact permitted with any outsiders (cf. Guardian Weekly, 14 April 1996, p. 22). While these things can certainly aggravate their vulnerability as women working abroad, there is only minimal protection of women’s human rights and welfare.
The widespread use of rape by government and guerilla forces in the North Indian state of Cashmere or the trafficking in Burmese women and girls continues to escape the spotlight of the international press. This is the arena of life-struggle that is thrown into the glare of media attention. Perhaps without the widespread publicity and the heightened awareness of the people, some of these cases of cruelty would have remained dormant in police files or court dockets or been forgotten forever.
In our trends in overseas movement, another component introduced into the migrant labor system is the restricted access of women to formal employment. This has become a quagmire of cultural oppression. Their wages have always been low because of the inferiority status assigned to them by society and because their wage has never been considered to be the primary wage in the family although they still bear the brunt of the ideology of the most blatant examples of both racism and the insecure political and legal status, as all migrants do. (One of the most blatant examples of both racism and sexism and the impact of absurd generalizations about Asian women on policy measures were virginity tests done on Asian women as a screening device for their entry as “fiancées” into the United Kingdom. They were carried out under the assumption that Asian women from Indian subcontinent are always virgins before they get married and that it is not in their culture to engage in sexual activity before marriage (The Guardian, November 1979; Pramar, 1982:245).
Whether they are domestics or they sew high quality garments for high income and middle class women in the sweat shops of London, Paris or New York, or jeans in Manila, or clean German, Swedish and British hospitals and public toilets, their role in wage employment is usually not considered as their primary role, either by themselves or by their employers. They are of low social status and little economic importance.
Their role as a housewife or mother corresponds with the subsidiary level of employment. Hence, their wages are usually characterized by injustice delimited by an oppressive tradition or male-chauvinist attitude. In Germany, for instance, where the ideal of a Hausfrau (or, to borrow Moser’s and Young’s terminology (1981:56) the “housewifiization” of German women has been particularly strong, Turkish women – and by means of abusive generalization all migrant women – whose labor participation, by the way, has been higher than that of German women (Reprasentativumtersuchung ’73, Labour Supply and Migration in Europe, 1979. Mehrlander, 1980), were often labeled as victims of their tradition”, of Islam, or of male-chauvinist attitudes of their husbands who do not allow them to go out to work.
While women across cultures often remain locked in context where the expressions of sexual ghettos have become the norm and have grown by racial discrimination against women from the Third World countries such as the Afro-Caribbea, Latin America, and Asia, it is pretty clear that poverty and culture are contributory factors that underpin some imbalances in our societal relations.
II. Biblical Truths and Implications
To articulate some significant events that exhibit the new Christian awareness about women’s role and contribution to our church and society by and large, and the re-reading of Scriptures, we are led to bring to birth their stories, their own struggles and their faith significance in our lives. It is a fact that from a range of perspectives, the general movement focuses on the restoration of dignity, justice, and freedom. This is the message that has an enduring commitment to deal with concrete issues of life. It is women’s struggle to break out of their enforced silence and to establish connections between society and their interests.
On the biblical accounts, the great connecting threads are generated from the Book of Genesis (the Priestly story of Gen.1:1-24a and Yahwist story of Gen. 2: 4b-25) where men and women were created in God’s image. They are both equally images of God. So God created humankind (ha’adam) in God’s own image; in the image of God, God created them: male and female God created them (Gen. 1:27). According to Origen’s anthropological thought in his Homiliae in Genesim I, 12-14, his interpretation of Genesis 1:26-27a stresses that for man (homo), the fact of being in the image of God is constitutive. It is the inner man (homo interior) which is the image of God. In the allegorical presentation of Genesis 1:27, we read that homo interior consists of spirit (spiritus) and soul (anima), the spirit being described as male (masculus) and the soul as female (femina). In her soul she is homo and that it is this that gives her equal rank with man.
God created them in equality, devoid of subordination, in perfect mutuality. And it is explicitly underscored that humankind as sexually differentiated, forbidding any discrimination between men and women, for the idea of humankind ‘finds its full meaning not in the male alone but in man and woman’: male and female God created them.
In this text is affirmed the inherent dignity and equality of every human being – man and woman. It entails a concomitant meaning in the genesis of human rights, dignity, and equality.
However, highlighted by the patriarchal system that was caused by human sin and divine punishment, humankind fell apart and thus became deeply divided. Men ruled over women. They became subordinates, unknown or slaves in the bible. But then women whose lives are considered for their significance were receptive and vulnerable to the promise of redemption. Hence, aware of the divine message of salvation, the prophets longed for it, for the return of God’s plan, beyond patriarchy, of equality, co-responsibility, and love.
Looking at some women of antiquity in the Hebrew Scriptures, about forty per cent of a number of references to women might be called ‘metaphorical women’. This refers though to the use of female images or terms to allude to something not human, i.e. a city, or the people of Israel. Seven of them (8.2 per cent) refer to the Wisdom of God as female.
A. Women in the Hebrew Scriptures
1. Hagar’s story in the Book of Genesis 16:1-16 narrates her flight to the desert twice. Twice she also encountered God’s messenger. The first time was when she was pregnant with Ismael as she fled from her cruel mistress (cf. 16:7), the second time when she was banished from Abraham’s household and at the point of dying from thirst (cf. 21:16). On both occasions, God saved her and blessed her. These are two experiences of Hagar with God in the desert. Being a woman, a foreigner, a mistress, and a slave, she experienced to sail through the many shark-toothed pains of being marginalized and even discriminated.
She, the poor Egyptian slave, stayed on the level where she sought later the divine assistance. Thus far, she was blessed and cared for. There was no doubt lurked that concept of God who cares for the oppressed people like herself. Like anybody else, she was also a child of God and a co-creator of history.
2. Rahab: The Faithful Prostitute
In ancient biblical times, harlots solicited patrons by sitting veiled at crossroads or gateways or they conducted houses of prostitution and lived in them. One of them was Rahab.
In the book of Joshua 2:1-21 CCB, she is described as someone who would assist the men of Joshua son of Nun who surreptitiously sent them to reconnoiter. They were his spies at Jericho. Joshua instructed them, ‘Go and explore the country and Jericho.’ They departed and they went into the house of a prostitute called Rahab, to spend the night there. These two men were guided by Rahab to go up to the roof and hide themselves under some stalks of flax which she had laid out there. They were being chased by the men from Jericho. But after that, she let them down from the window on a rope as her house was facing against the city wall. Along with the assurance given her as a promise that they would spare her own family when they came back to conquer the city, she experienced what it is like to be a person with dignity and respect. She felt it since she had been used to being treated as an object to be used, abused, and misused.
According to the Jewish tradition, she became the wife of Salmon, who could have been one of the spies who appealed to her for aid. The Gospel of Matthew seems to confirm this tradition that Rahab married Salmon of the tribe of Judah and thus became the great-great grandmother of David, through whose line is traced – the Christ (cfr. Mt 1:5; Ru 4:18-22).
Her marriage into Israel’s faith and lifestyle did save her as she became a woman of tremendous faith. For her it was a liberating experience of God’s love and grace.
3. Jepthah’s Daughter (Jdg 1:29-40)
Like pieces of property, daughters sometimes were sold by their fathers as bondwomen, but not to foreigners (Ex 21:7-8). It says, “If a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not leave as male slaves do. If she does not please her master who intended her for himself, he must let her be bought back: he has not the right to sell her to foreigners, for this would be a breach of faith with him” (NJB). During period between Joshua’s death and before the monarchy, female offspring were considered inferior and of lesser value. Sometimes the father’s authority could exploit his own daughter. For example, Lot offered his unnamed daughters to be raped by the violent mob in the city of Sodom (cf. Gen. 19:8). Lot said, “Please, brothers, do not be wicked. Look, I have two daughters who are virgins. I am ready to send them out to you, for you to treat as you please, but do nothing to these men since they are now under the protection of my roof” (NJB).
Jepthah the Gileadite became Israel’s hero when Israel still lived in tribal societies and without a government. He made a covenant with Yahweh. He won in the battle.
With his daughter’s entrance onto the scene, we come to know who shall be sacrificed and who shall bear the tragedy of his unfaithfulness. The sad thing is that his family lineage would end with his only daughter’s death. She was without resentment or anger towards her father. Like a condemned criminal, she asks for a final request from her own father.
“Let this thing be done for me;
let me alone for two months
that I may go and wander
on the mountains, and bewail
my virginity. I and my companions” (Judges 11:37 RSV)
In biblical times, for a woman t remain a virgin and not fulfill her future role as wife and mother, was considered a deprivation of God’s blessing.
All Jepthah said was, “Oh my daughter, what misery you have brought upon me! You have joined those who bring misery into my life! I have made a promise before Yahweh which I cannot retract. For I have made a foolish vow to Yahweh, and now I cannot take it back” (Jdgs 12:35 NJB). Jepthah’s daughter then said to her father, “Grant me this! Let me be free for two months. I shall go and wander in the mountains, and with my companions bewail my virginity” (Jdgs 12:38 NJB).
Her death is a reflection of sacrifice that was freely given for her wicked and faithless father. Her self-giving was total and irrevocable. We see this self-giving in the context of Christ’s offering in response to our sins.
4. Ruth and Naomi
Ruth lived during the time of the judges. She was the daughter in law of Naomi who was married to Elimelech of Bethlehem. They had two sons, Mahlon and Chilion who married two Moabite women, Orphah and Ruth.
They migrated to Moab because of famine in Judah. Elimelech died in Moab. After ten years, his two sons died leaving Ruth and Orphah childless widows with their widowed mother in law. Naomi went back to Bethlehem where was born. She encouraged her two daughters in law to go back to their own families and start a new life. Orphah returned to her family but Ruth remained with her. The following is Ruth’s response to her mother in law and the continuation of the chapter:
Ruth replied, “Don’t press me to leave you and to stop going with you, for wherever you go, I shall go, wherever you live, I shall live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Where you die, I shall die and there I shall be buried. Let Yahweh bring unnamable ills on me; and worse ills, too. If anything but death should part me from you!” (Ruth 1: 16-17 NJB)
Realising that Ruth was determined to go with her, Naomi stopped urging her. So, the two went on until they reached Bethlehem. Their arrival set the town awake. Women asked, “Can this be Naomi?” She said to them, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara for Yahweh has made life bitter for me. I came away full but go back empty. Why call me Naomi, when Yahweh has afflicted me?” Thus it was that Naomi returned from Moab with her Moabite daughter in law and arrived in Bethlehem as the barley harvest began (Ruth 1:16-22 CCB)
Ruth married Boaz through the advice of Naomi. He was her kinsman according to levirate. They bore a son named Obed the father of Jesse who is the father of King David. Having experienced being widowed without any children and yet caught in poverty and emptiness, they decided to go back to their homeland. Bethlehem which means “house of Israel” was the city that prompted them to migrate to Moab.
In a patriarchal society, the woman becomes man’s possession. She has no identity in society. But Boaz treated Ruth kindly. He loved her. He redeemed their land in Bethlehem.
Oral tradition has preserved Ruth as David’s great grandmother. Her fidelity recalls the faith of Israel in Yahweh.
5. Abigail (1 Sam 25:2 ff)
Abigail was the wife of Nabal, a Calabite and a rich man. He came from the mountain of Carmel. He was miserly and churlish. Described as a woman with open-mindedness, intuition, full of wisdom, and knowledge about Israel’s “land of holiness” which deals with the root of revenge, Abigail was a pacifier. She was intelligent and beautiful too (! Sam 25:3).
She was the one who hastily took two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five sheep ready prepared, five measures of roasted grain, a hundred bunches of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs and loaded them on donkeys (2 Sam 25:18 NJB). That time David asked food from Nabal for his men because they were all hungry and besides, it was the time of the sheep-shearing festival which is a period of traditional hospitality. But Nabal refused to give them food. Abigail on the one hand, gave them food without letting his husband know about it.
Following from this, she asked forgiveness for any offence that her husband Nabal had committed. She prostrated herself on the ground when she saw David. But David said to her, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today! Blessed be your wisdom and blessed you yourself for today having restrained me from the crime of bloodshed and from exacting revenge! But as Yahweh, God of Israel, lives, who prevented me from harming you, had you not hurried out to meet me, I swear Nabal would not have had a single man or boy left alive by morning! David then accepted what she had brought what she had brought him and said, ‘Go home in peace; yes, I have listened to you and have pardoned you’ (1 Sam 25:32-35 NJB).
She returned to Nabal. He was having a feast though. He was in high spirits, and drunk. Hence, she opted to wait for the following day to tell him everything what had happened when she met David. But Nabal’s heart died within him and he became like a stone. About ten days later Yahweh struck him, and he died (1 Sam 25:37-38).
When Nabal died David sent Abigail an offer of marriage (2 Sam 25:40). She became one of his wives. Certainly, she must have considered it a great privilege to be married to Israel’s future leader, even if she might only be one of his wives.
6. Miriam (Exodus 2, 15:1-21, Numbers 12)
Miriam was the sister of Moses and Aaron. She was known as “the sister of the child” when she stood guarding the child Moses placed in a basket during the critical time when Egypt’s Pharaoh ordered the killing of all Hebrew male children. She was the one who presented to the Pharaoh’s daughter that she would find a nurse amongst the Hebrew women to nurse the child. She went and called the child’s own mother (Ex 2:7).
She was also known as a prophetess who is inspired to teach the will of God. There was no mention here about her marriage but she led the women in festive dance, singing to the people when the Israelites escaped from the bondage of Egypt as they crossed the Red Sea. “Sing to Yahweh the glorious one, horse and the rider he has thrown into the sea” (15:21). The preceding song was sung by Moses and the Israelites (Ex 15:1), but it was Miriam who was identified as the leader of the song. This is the victory chant that has been expanded into a thanksgiving psalm. Its starting point though describes the destruction of Pharaoh’s army. This develops the theme of God’s power and his care for his people. What her part was in the composition of this national anthem is not know, but she had an equal share with Moses and Aaron in weaving it into the conscious life of Israrel. She walked with them through thick and thin along the desert away from the Sea of Reeds. Her presence with them provided strength and support especially those moments when the people started to doubt about their faith in Yahweh.
According to tradition, when she died, a very solemn celebration was held for thirty days. Like her brothers, she was not able to enter the promised land and she died in Kadesh. Her prayer known as the Song of Miriam (Ex 15:21; Ex 15:1a-18), Song of Deliverance, the Song of Moses, the Song of the Sea, the Song of Moses and Miriam” is her song of exaltation and liberation when the Israelites were freed from Egypt.
7. Deborah (Judges 4:1-5-31)
Deborah was a political and religious leader during the time of the judges. She lived in Tomer-Deborah in the hill country of Ephraim. She was a prophet, a judge, and she was placed at the height of political power by the common consent of the people.
When Israel was being oppressed by the Canaanites under the leadership of a king, Jabin and their military head official, Deborah assumed the role as judge like Jepthah and Gideon. She exhibited a remarkable courage and faith in God. Unlike Miriam who was a secondary leader responsible to the top position, Deborah was a primary leader with a man responsible to her.
Deborah has a beautiful prayer known as the “Song of Deborah (Jdg 5). It is one of the oldest examples of biblical literature, dated around 1125 B.C.E. and roughly contemporaneous with the events it describes.
B. Women in the Christian Bible (New Testament)
Despite the labyrinthine intricacies of the Jewish norms and cultural traditions, Jesus chimed in the importance of women in society to heighten his special predilection for them. References to women, however, in Acts and Paul’s letters are quite few. These are the following:
1. Tabitha
2. Lydia
3. Priscilla
4. Four daughters of Philip who are present in the Acts of the Apostles.
In the epistles though, names of numerous women are mentioned as missionaries, leaders of house-churches, and ministers. Those included by name from the epistles as in Rom 16:1-16 are the number of women who have worked with Paul. Some of them are:
1. Chloe (1 Cor 1:11, 3d Sunday after Epiphany, Year A)
2. Enodia and Syntyche (Phil 4:2-3, Proper 24, Year A)
3. Lois and Eunice (2 Tim 1:5, Proper 22, Year C)
4. Apphia (Philem 2, Proper 18, Year C)
The texts inferring an equality and diversity of functions seem to be developed from Paul’s Christology – Gal 3:28 (cf Eph 5:21). Women actively functioned in the church as deaconesses (Rom 16:1; Tim 3:11) widows; (1 Tim 5:9-16); prophets (1 Cor 11:5). They are Paul’s co-workers (Phil 4:2-3).
They exercised a dramatic influence on the missionary endeavours. Their influence was similar to that of “Jewish or proselyte women in the religious propaganda of Judaism.
In Ephesians 5:21-33: “Wives be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord . . “ careful scholarship has identified the form of this text as a ‘household code’, common in Greco-Roman writings as a series of prescriptions for household behaviour of husbands and wives, parents, and children, and master and slaves. In this case, one must ask to what extent is the evidence culturally conditioned and what is the essential core of revelation.
This is what it means to move along being culturally and historically conditioned by their faith journey. Their human commitment to, and love for, faith that enabled their Christian allegiance to keep pace with its invitations and challenges.
It is clear that in the gospel accounts, women were amongst the followers of Jesus from the beginning and they were faithful to the end (Mk 15:40-41; 16:1; Lk 8:1-3). According to some gospel narratives, women were the first designated by Jesus as his witnesses (Lk 24: 48; 24:22, 33) from the beginning.
They are scriptural witnesses to the centrality of Christian proclamation, i.e. the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Jesus welcomed them in his public ministry. He told them and only them that he was the Messiah, the Saviour. He explored the potentially vibrant witnessing by sending women to give testimony to his Resurrection. He sent them as apostles to the apostles Interestingly, while the truth may well be that, it was women who anointed him, proclaimed him, prepared him for burial, and announced his return, Jesus’ vision for them has a connection between the ongoing process of emancipation and commitment to wholeness of life. He saw the web of oppression and appropriated for them the Law of Torah.
It was women, in fact, whom Jesus put at the very centre of the only two mysteries of the faith that are basic and essentially differentiating to the faith – the Incarnation and the Resurrection but only women were there.
Fr Raymond Brown related that in John’s gospel, “the Samaritan woman, Martha and Mary are characters absolutely equal in importance to the blind man and Lazarus.”
The Samaritan woman meets Jesus in the open. She readily accepts his challenge to her that she go out and spread the Word to all people she meets. This is the movement from the human faith experience of trust in him that calls for a loving service that is Christian discipleship. Jesus’ predilection for women is the beginning of a new era in the history of women. It may not be all of them who remained faithful to him but many of them took an uphill journey of faith which is indicative of their response to Jesus. They remained with Jesus until he died, they (or at least one of them) visited the tomb first, they announced that the body had disappeared and they proclaimed their faith in Jesus’ resurrection.
Mary, the Mother of God, expressed her fiat, her consent to the fulfillment of God’s salvific work in Jesus. In the annunciation narrative, it is very natural to affirm at that point she did not know yet the implications of her role in redemption. But she did vouch for that acceptance to the conception of a son. Her “yes” however, was a gradual process of discernment which was essentially an act of faith. In fact, because of her faith her motherhood was made possible. Her motherly role is rather in relation to her as the beloved disciple and hence not a physical one. In faith, she received the mission and the message of the Redeemer, and she conceived Him in her heart and in her body. Her role in redemption history is the personal destiny she has got from God. “She has believed” and is blessed for her faith.
III. The Integration of Ministry and Feminism in Migration
From a definition of “people who believe in Risen Christ and who answer the call of the Spirit to continue his mission of proclaiming, serving and witnessing to the reign of God in the world,” the particular expression of ministry has become the focus on what binds and unites us in a variety of ways. What was predominant before was that ministry was defined by the hierarchy and not the community of Christian disciples that stem from the right of baptism – sharing their gifts to bring that love of Christ to others. Within the heart of a new dimension, as the true people of God, it is no longer the barrier between ‘laos’ and ‘ethne’ for the ‘all transcendent unity of the ‘laos’ neither can, nor should be disrupted by differences in race, status, gender, education, or wealth. This is best expressed profoundly by Paul in Gal. 3:26 ff.
“For you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
For many exegetes, it is considered as a pre-Pauline baptismal confession. And in Rom 9:25 it says, “those who were not my people, I will call ‘my people’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘my beloved.’
Indeed, we are all God’s people who move beyond the narrow limits of our human nature with our shared vision that transcends our differences that brings man and woman together in Christ as anew Christian awareness. This denounces such a Hellenistic principle that was taken by Judaism in the synagogue liturgy.
As a critical corrective that leads to the right and duty to bring women’s gifts to the service of the community, Pope John XXIII in his encyclical on World Peace laid before the Church three (3) important signs of the times: the emancipation of the workers, the position of the developing countries, and the increasing participation of women in public. His words though in his opening speech at Vatican II, “In the present order of things, Divine Providence is leading us to a new order of human relations . . . In similar vein, Pope John Paul II recalls that John XXIII had designated a sign of the times the fact that ‘women are becoming ever more conscious of their human dignity, that they will no longer tolerate being treated as inanimate objects or mere instruments that they claim rather, in domestic and in public life, the rights and duties that befit a human person. ’
While movements against immigration emerge and have thus become the icon argument in the hallmarks of this century, women migrants have been vulnerable to different forms of oppression and subordination. It is a reality that seeks justice and freedom. It is implicit in Christianity to challenge the sinful practices and structures of injustice. The emerging arousal of interest in migrant women has to be treated on the main body of migration literature and other channels of communication as a way to introduce this phenomenon that aims to make a critical contribution in redressing the imbalance in our society.
In the words of Carolyn Osiek in her book Beyond Anger she says that what we need is a transformation of patriarchy into a discipleship of equals. It has a prophetic implication which thus involves an ongoing conversion of attitude that echoes a new understanding of healing and reconstruction. Mary Daly however remarked that patriarchy seemed to be everywhere. The new meaning makes visible in many situations with our critical eye that is cast on them. It may be victorious but it is not rooted in the praxis of Jesus. In him all culturally and historically conditioned prejudices and partialities break down. It is a human commitment that makes us grapple with our own understanding of a woman, of the feminine, and of what it means to be a person in our search to full humanization. Our understanding of Jesus moves along our faith experiences and his fellowship with women and men heightens his love for them. Matthew 25 gives an account of the nature of diakonia which conveys the idea of a service of love. The spiritual aspect of its love and human compassion is identified with Jesus, with the poor of Yahweh.
As part of our ministry, we are called to become aware of the feminine in Church and society. We need to underscore their feminine needs and interests. The claims of justice are their demands to give expression to a feminist consciousness. Perhaps there is a need to link their direct interests with the social and ecclesial conditions. Seen as their growing openness to a radical altering of patriarchal structures, we are call to re-define the very nature of work, family, and the institutional expressions of social relations. It is not just altering words in any written accounts to be more “inclusive”. It is more than that. Feminism has multiplicity of perspectives. It cannot be simply categorized in one single approach or theology. It involves a paradigm shift that is transforming not only in thought and action but also in symbolic expressions. It is our task to look for the common thread that binds us together and colors our spirituality. Their totality, gifts, and qualities are the one that need to be appreciated and determined especially in the migratory movements.
Women’s participation in emigration is not merely a flight from poverty. It is more than that. It is a result of an increasingly patriarchal society whereby they experience inequalities in socio-economic opportunities. Among the migrant workers in Europe there are probably two million women.
As we come to grips with the implications of ministry in the New Testament such as: from apostolic office (2 Cor 3:3), to almsgiving (2 Cor 8:19), from prophecy (1 Pet 1:10-12) to preaching (Acts 19:22); from personal service (Phil 13) to Eucharist; from study (Heb) to reconciliation; from washing feet (1 Tim 5:4) to catechesis (1 Tim 4:6, 11), we are wounded healers
IV. Conclusion
The world context in which we attempt to re-think the conflicting circumstances of women in the migration experiences has been the ethical basis that our ministry has undertaken. Their assertiveness today is parked by the tensions that are both sharp and liberating. It is their voice that heightens their struggles for transformation, women migration issues in the light of the sacred scriptures, issues related to the development of a hermeneutics of suspicion, the movements for justice and biblical re-appropriation in their sitz ‘im leben.
Our commitment to Christian conversion and values is along which we can journey with them toward building a discipleship of equals. Their genuine insights and analyses of the patriarchy are indications of growth in the formation of theological discourse in multidisciplinary perspectives. It is a deep call to rescue them from all the running sores of discrimination and oppression.
While hailing most of the changes since the opening of Vatican II, we are still like ‘a curious relic from a distant past’ wondering if feminism is a foreseeable threat to Church’s Magisterium or fear of being misunderstood as separatist and un-feminine. A deconstruction of the patriarchal traits, for instance of the biblical texts, does not reduce the biblical content to nothing. The problem of the androcentric bias can be overcome by biblical interpreters today. Women migrants’ contributions to the current high levels of international migration and labor force participation have spawned an enormous literature on migration. Their stories are worth recalling for they are central part of our own story to-day which provides legitimacy to the emerging mind-set of women consciousness recognizing their courage, leadership, and contribution to society.
This is the new gift of time. It is God’s grace that continues to show the epiphany episode of Immanuel – ‘God-with-us in the shared experiences of life. It is a giant leap towards a Christian insight of unity portrayed in the significant pilgrimage of justice, liberation, and wholeness.
There is a little poem by William Wordsworth (1770-1850) whose poetry became an important source of the 19th century’s understanding of an interaction between the natural world and human imagination.
[She dwelt among the untrodden ways] 1799 1800
She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A Maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love:
A violet by a mossy stone
Half hidden from the eye!
Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.
She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!
(Wordsworth seems to speak here of a perceived negligence by the world in reference to Lucy who lived unknown, unacknowledged, unrecognized by people. This phenomenon involves the need to see her like the migrant women caught in the web of oppression, alienation, violence, and abuse).
To-day there is much being said and written about feminism that stands on the edge of new possibilities for a common thread in our society. We live in the present time aware of many victims strewn across the pages of our history. These unfold though the ideology of patriarchy and the exploitation of the poor and oppressed.
Recognising the need of feminism side by side with liberation theology, we can keep moving along the road to God’s righteousness in human consciousness that has been raised as a new voice to deal with the reality of patriarchy and its effect on the lives of women.
It seeks liberation and re-working of the structures that link to an androcentric way of looking at things. The fact is that women now have come forward to speak about their rights, the re-reading of the sacred texts, and the re-defining of the various institutional contents of social relations.
Their struggle heightens the new conviction that engages in discourse and contributes to the rich motif of inclusiveness in our Christian community. Their participation in any actual societal trends is one critique that echoes the concerns of all women.
At the Fourth World Women’s Conference in Beijing in 1995, one of the pressing issues that was discussed at length was that of violence against migrant women. In the popular perception, governments have been asked to provide services and assistance to those victims of violence and of all forms of discrimination against women.
It has become increasingly clear that sexist oppression and subordination experienced by women in many parts of the world are now being brought to the fore as part of our commitment to make a contribution towards redressing the imbalance in our society. It is now a dawning realization that we nourish right relations and justice as a force which would lead to healing.
While denouncing sexist and patriarchal structures, women have emerged in the gospel of liberty that is implicit in our search for renewal and humanization. It sees the reality that is committed to life, justice, and transformation.
I. The Social Context of Women Migrants
Since the onset of world-wide movements in migration, its increase in the total volume of immigration has reached a massive record in the public understanding of today’s immigration issues. Foremost, perhaps, is the upsurge sequence of migration from Asia, Central America, Caribbean, and Latin America. About 56 per cent of immigrants to Canada in 1992 were born in Asia and 40 per cent of immigrants to the United States in 1993 originated from Asia.
The human need to leave home in search of greener pastures has continued. For example, from the mid 1980 on, female immigrants outnumbered male immigrants to Australia. Mr Hugo writes that there is, “an apparent relationship between the ‘feminization’ of the Australian immigration intake and the increased share made up of Asian-origin persons since females outnumber males in most Asian immigrant scales.”
Within the parameters of poverty and growing political upheaval in some poor countries, there are factors that point out the need for attention. They are key issues which embrace political, economic, spiritual, and humanitarian reasons.
Looking more closely at these driving forces behind the changing conditions of our time, we find the increase in female migration, the heterogeneity in social class backgrounds of migrants, and the predominance of Asian applicants in labor migration. Their sojourning character is created and maintained by a system of recruitment and utilization of labor which serves to guarantee reliable, abundant and cheap labor for employers (See Bonacich and Cheng, 1984; marks and Richardson, 1984; Piore, 1979, for general discussions of international labor migration and capitalism, and Crawford, 1932; S. Wang, 1959; and Tinker, 1984, for information on Chinese and Indian International labor migration during the nineteenth century).
The fact that women’s work is often restricted to domestic roles – or is seen as such, points to the crucial question of the inter-relationship between women’s exploitation and their menial social status in the economic system.
Despite the restrictive immigration policies from the Western countries or governments of countries of origins for the protection of women migrant workers, for instance, it is a fact that a great influx continues and is felt more sharply given the present conditions. The embassies also intervene and help negotiate with the measures adopted between the sending and receiving countries. The literature on various components of change in migration phenomenon indicates though a miserable picture of violence against women. There are many accounts of maltreatment of women workers. They are reported as highly significant vulnerabilities in terms of human dignity. Some of them are: trafficking in women, sexual and domestic bondage , gender-specific violations of human rights, sexual harassment, secxual assault in the work place, forced prostitution, incest and sexual abuse, rape, food deprivation, female circumcision, emotional violence.
Such violence against women and its often deadly outcome is not restricted to the so-called First World, but similar statistics are found around the globe. The abuse and violence of many Asian migrant workers has been observed in Europe, Middle East and Canada. Those recruited into the entertainment industries in countries like Thailand, Indonesia, and Japan have also been subjected to violence and human rights abuse. Some 2,000 Asian maids have fled from the atrocities of their employers in Kuwait since the end of the Gulf War. The numbers reported in Kuwait were that 103,501 women were employed as domestic workers in 1989 constituting 5.1 per cent of the total population of the country; 98 per cent of them were Asian. (Shah, N.M. “Migration Between Asian Countries and Its Likely Future.”, Paper presented at the Expert Group Meeting on Population Distribution and Migration, Sta Cruz, Bolivia, 18-22 January). Those who were able to survive reported that they have been punished severely. They have been kicked, locked up, raped, beaten and mutilated by their male employer or his male relatives. However, in spite of these cruelties, these women domestic workers were amongst the very first workers who were brought back when Kuwait was liberated in February 1991. The Philippines, however, placed a ban on women domestic workers in 1982. At present, Kuwait is the only country where a ban on export of Filipino maids exists.
Aside from the demeaning treatment, sexual assault, physical violence, verbal abuse and rape, other disproportionate occurrences in the actual working conditions of the Asian domestic workers are having all mail going through employers; inability to establish a social life; working very long hours; having no free days; not having a private room; not being permitted to go out alone; and no contact permitted with any outsiders (cf. Guardian Weekly, 14 April 1996, p. 22). While these things can certainly aggravate their vulnerability as women working abroad, there is only minimal protection of women’s human rights and welfare.
The widespread use of rape by government and guerilla forces in the North Indian state of Cashmere or the trafficking in Burmese women and girls continues to escape the spotlight of the international press. This is the arena of life-struggle that is thrown into the glare of media attention. Perhaps without the widespread publicity and the heightened awareness of the people, some of these cases of cruelty would have remained dormant in police files or court dockets or been forgotten forever.
In our trends in overseas movement, another component introduced into the migrant labor system is the restricted access of women to formal employment. This has become a quagmire of cultural oppression. Their wages have always been low because of the inferiority status assigned to them by society and because their wage has never been considered to be the primary wage in the family although they still bear the brunt of the ideology of the most blatant examples of both racism and the insecure political and legal status, as all migrants do. (One of the most blatant examples of both racism and sexism and the impact of absurd generalizations about Asian women on policy measures were virginity tests done on Asian women as a screening device for their entry as “fiancées” into the United Kingdom. They were carried out under the assumption that Asian women from Indian subcontinent are always virgins before they get married and that it is not in their culture to engage in sexual activity before marriage (The Guardian, November 1979; Pramar, 1982:245).
Whether they are domestics or they sew high quality garments for high income and middle class women in the sweat shops of London, Paris or New York, or jeans in Manila, or clean German, Swedish and British hospitals and public toilets, their role in wage employment is usually not considered as their primary role, either by themselves or by their employers. They are of low social status and little economic importance.
Their role as a housewife or mother corresponds with the subsidiary level of employment. Hence, their wages are usually characterized by injustice delimited by an oppressive tradition or male-chauvinist attitude. In Germany, for instance, where the ideal of a Hausfrau (or, to borrow Moser’s and Young’s terminology (1981:56) the “housewifiization” of German women has been particularly strong, Turkish women – and by means of abusive generalization all migrant women – whose labor participation, by the way, has been higher than that of German women (Reprasentativumtersuchung ’73, Labour Supply and Migration in Europe, 1979. Mehrlander, 1980), were often labeled as victims of their tradition”, of Islam, or of male-chauvinist attitudes of their husbands who do not allow them to go out to work.
While women across cultures often remain locked in context where the expressions of sexual ghettos have become the norm and have grown by racial discrimination against women from the Third World countries such as the Afro-Caribbea, Latin America, and Asia, it is pretty clear that poverty and culture are contributory factors that underpin some imbalances in our societal relations.
II. Biblical Truths and Implications
To articulate some significant events that exhibit the new Christian awareness about women’s role and contribution to our church and society by and large, and the re-reading of Scriptures, we are led to bring to birth their stories, their own struggles and their faith significance in our lives. It is a fact that from a range of perspectives, the general movement focuses on the restoration of dignity, justice, and freedom. This is the message that has an enduring commitment to deal with concrete issues of life. It is women’s struggle to break out of their enforced silence and to establish connections between society and their interests.
On the biblical accounts, the great connecting threads are generated from the Book of Genesis (the Priestly story of Gen.1:1-24a and Yahwist story of Gen. 2: 4b-25) where men and women were created in God’s image. They are both equally images of God. So God created humankind (ha’adam) in God’s own image; in the image of God, God created them: male and female God created them (Gen. 1:27). According to Origen’s anthropological thought in his Homiliae in Genesim I, 12-14, his interpretation of Genesis 1:26-27a stresses that for man (homo), the fact of being in the image of God is constitutive. It is the inner man (homo interior) which is the image of God. In the allegorical presentation of Genesis 1:27, we read that homo interior consists of spirit (spiritus) and soul (anima), the spirit being described as male (masculus) and the soul as female (femina). In her soul she is homo and that it is this that gives her equal rank with man.
God created them in equality, devoid of subordination, in perfect mutuality. And it is explicitly underscored that humankind as sexually differentiated, forbidding any discrimination between men and women, for the idea of humankind ‘finds its full meaning not in the male alone but in man and woman’: male and female God created them.
In this text is affirmed the inherent dignity and equality of every human being – man and woman. It entails a concomitant meaning in the genesis of human rights, dignity, and equality.
However, highlighted by the patriarchal system that was caused by human sin and divine punishment, humankind fell apart and thus became deeply divided. Men ruled over women. They became subordinates, unknown or slaves in the bible. But then women whose lives are considered for their significance were receptive and vulnerable to the promise of redemption. Hence, aware of the divine message of salvation, the prophets longed for it, for the return of God’s plan, beyond patriarchy, of equality, co-responsibility, and love.
Looking at some women of antiquity in the Hebrew Scriptures, about forty per cent of a number of references to women might be called ‘metaphorical women’. This refers though to the use of female images or terms to allude to something not human, i.e. a city, or the people of Israel. Seven of them (8.2 per cent) refer to the Wisdom of God as female.
A. Women in the Hebrew Scriptures
1. Hagar’s story in the Book of Genesis 16:1-16 narrates her flight to the desert twice. Twice she also encountered God’s messenger. The first time was when she was pregnant with Ismael as she fled from her cruel mistress (cf. 16:7), the second time when she was banished from Abraham’s household and at the point of dying from thirst (cf. 21:16). On both occasions, God saved her and blessed her. These are two experiences of Hagar with God in the desert. Being a woman, a foreigner, a mistress, and a slave, she experienced to sail through the many shark-toothed pains of being marginalized and even discriminated.
She, the poor Egyptian slave, stayed on the level where she sought later the divine assistance. Thus far, she was blessed and cared for. There was no doubt lurked that concept of God who cares for the oppressed people like herself. Like anybody else, she was also a child of God and a co-creator of history.
2. Rahab: The Faithful Prostitute
In ancient biblical times, harlots solicited patrons by sitting veiled at crossroads or gateways or they conducted houses of prostitution and lived in them. One of them was Rahab.
In the book of Joshua 2:1-21 CCB, she is described as someone who would assist the men of Joshua son of Nun who surreptitiously sent them to reconnoiter. They were his spies at Jericho. Joshua instructed them, ‘Go and explore the country and Jericho.’ They departed and they went into the house of a prostitute called Rahab, to spend the night there. These two men were guided by Rahab to go up to the roof and hide themselves under some stalks of flax which she had laid out there. They were being chased by the men from Jericho. But after that, she let them down from the window on a rope as her house was facing against the city wall. Along with the assurance given her as a promise that they would spare her own family when they came back to conquer the city, she experienced what it is like to be a person with dignity and respect. She felt it since she had been used to being treated as an object to be used, abused, and misused.
According to the Jewish tradition, she became the wife of Salmon, who could have been one of the spies who appealed to her for aid. The Gospel of Matthew seems to confirm this tradition that Rahab married Salmon of the tribe of Judah and thus became the great-great grandmother of David, through whose line is traced – the Christ (cfr. Mt 1:5; Ru 4:18-22).
Her marriage into Israel’s faith and lifestyle did save her as she became a woman of tremendous faith. For her it was a liberating experience of God’s love and grace.
3. Jepthah’s Daughter (Jdg 1:29-40)
Like pieces of property, daughters sometimes were sold by their fathers as bondwomen, but not to foreigners (Ex 21:7-8). It says, “If a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not leave as male slaves do. If she does not please her master who intended her for himself, he must let her be bought back: he has not the right to sell her to foreigners, for this would be a breach of faith with him” (NJB). During period between Joshua’s death and before the monarchy, female offspring were considered inferior and of lesser value. Sometimes the father’s authority could exploit his own daughter. For example, Lot offered his unnamed daughters to be raped by the violent mob in the city of Sodom (cf. Gen. 19:8). Lot said, “Please, brothers, do not be wicked. Look, I have two daughters who are virgins. I am ready to send them out to you, for you to treat as you please, but do nothing to these men since they are now under the protection of my roof” (NJB).
Jepthah the Gileadite became Israel’s hero when Israel still lived in tribal societies and without a government. He made a covenant with Yahweh. He won in the battle.
With his daughter’s entrance onto the scene, we come to know who shall be sacrificed and who shall bear the tragedy of his unfaithfulness. The sad thing is that his family lineage would end with his only daughter’s death. She was without resentment or anger towards her father. Like a condemned criminal, she asks for a final request from her own father.
“Let this thing be done for me;
let me alone for two months
that I may go and wander
on the mountains, and bewail
my virginity. I and my companions” (Judges 11:37 RSV)
In biblical times, for a woman t remain a virgin and not fulfill her future role as wife and mother, was considered a deprivation of God’s blessing.
All Jepthah said was, “Oh my daughter, what misery you have brought upon me! You have joined those who bring misery into my life! I have made a promise before Yahweh which I cannot retract. For I have made a foolish vow to Yahweh, and now I cannot take it back” (Jdgs 12:35 NJB). Jepthah’s daughter then said to her father, “Grant me this! Let me be free for two months. I shall go and wander in the mountains, and with my companions bewail my virginity” (Jdgs 12:38 NJB).
Her death is a reflection of sacrifice that was freely given for her wicked and faithless father. Her self-giving was total and irrevocable. We see this self-giving in the context of Christ’s offering in response to our sins.
4. Ruth and Naomi
Ruth lived during the time of the judges. She was the daughter in law of Naomi who was married to Elimelech of Bethlehem. They had two sons, Mahlon and Chilion who married two Moabite women, Orphah and Ruth.
They migrated to Moab because of famine in Judah. Elimelech died in Moab. After ten years, his two sons died leaving Ruth and Orphah childless widows with their widowed mother in law. Naomi went back to Bethlehem where was born. She encouraged her two daughters in law to go back to their own families and start a new life. Orphah returned to her family but Ruth remained with her. The following is Ruth’s response to her mother in law and the continuation of the chapter:
Ruth replied, “Don’t press me to leave you and to stop going with you, for wherever you go, I shall go, wherever you live, I shall live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Where you die, I shall die and there I shall be buried. Let Yahweh bring unnamable ills on me; and worse ills, too. If anything but death should part me from you!” (Ruth 1: 16-17 NJB)
Realising that Ruth was determined to go with her, Naomi stopped urging her. So, the two went on until they reached Bethlehem. Their arrival set the town awake. Women asked, “Can this be Naomi?” She said to them, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara for Yahweh has made life bitter for me. I came away full but go back empty. Why call me Naomi, when Yahweh has afflicted me?” Thus it was that Naomi returned from Moab with her Moabite daughter in law and arrived in Bethlehem as the barley harvest began (Ruth 1:16-22 CCB)
Ruth married Boaz through the advice of Naomi. He was her kinsman according to levirate. They bore a son named Obed the father of Jesse who is the father of King David. Having experienced being widowed without any children and yet caught in poverty and emptiness, they decided to go back to their homeland. Bethlehem which means “house of Israel” was the city that prompted them to migrate to Moab.
In a patriarchal society, the woman becomes man’s possession. She has no identity in society. But Boaz treated Ruth kindly. He loved her. He redeemed their land in Bethlehem.
Oral tradition has preserved Ruth as David’s great grandmother. Her fidelity recalls the faith of Israel in Yahweh.
5. Abigail (1 Sam 25:2 ff)
Abigail was the wife of Nabal, a Calabite and a rich man. He came from the mountain of Carmel. He was miserly and churlish. Described as a woman with open-mindedness, intuition, full of wisdom, and knowledge about Israel’s “land of holiness” which deals with the root of revenge, Abigail was a pacifier. She was intelligent and beautiful too (! Sam 25:3).
She was the one who hastily took two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five sheep ready prepared, five measures of roasted grain, a hundred bunches of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs and loaded them on donkeys (2 Sam 25:18 NJB). That time David asked food from Nabal for his men because they were all hungry and besides, it was the time of the sheep-shearing festival which is a period of traditional hospitality. But Nabal refused to give them food. Abigail on the one hand, gave them food without letting his husband know about it.
Following from this, she asked forgiveness for any offence that her husband Nabal had committed. She prostrated herself on the ground when she saw David. But David said to her, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today! Blessed be your wisdom and blessed you yourself for today having restrained me from the crime of bloodshed and from exacting revenge! But as Yahweh, God of Israel, lives, who prevented me from harming you, had you not hurried out to meet me, I swear Nabal would not have had a single man or boy left alive by morning! David then accepted what she had brought what she had brought him and said, ‘Go home in peace; yes, I have listened to you and have pardoned you’ (1 Sam 25:32-35 NJB).
She returned to Nabal. He was having a feast though. He was in high spirits, and drunk. Hence, she opted to wait for the following day to tell him everything what had happened when she met David. But Nabal’s heart died within him and he became like a stone. About ten days later Yahweh struck him, and he died (1 Sam 25:37-38).
When Nabal died David sent Abigail an offer of marriage (2 Sam 25:40). She became one of his wives. Certainly, she must have considered it a great privilege to be married to Israel’s future leader, even if she might only be one of his wives.
6. Miriam (Exodus 2, 15:1-21, Numbers 12)
Miriam was the sister of Moses and Aaron. She was known as “the sister of the child” when she stood guarding the child Moses placed in a basket during the critical time when Egypt’s Pharaoh ordered the killing of all Hebrew male children. She was the one who presented to the Pharaoh’s daughter that she would find a nurse amongst the Hebrew women to nurse the child. She went and called the child’s own mother (Ex 2:7).
She was also known as a prophetess who is inspired to teach the will of God. There was no mention here about her marriage but she led the women in festive dance, singing to the people when the Israelites escaped from the bondage of Egypt as they crossed the Red Sea. “Sing to Yahweh the glorious one, horse and the rider he has thrown into the sea” (15:21). The preceding song was sung by Moses and the Israelites (Ex 15:1), but it was Miriam who was identified as the leader of the song. This is the victory chant that has been expanded into a thanksgiving psalm. Its starting point though describes the destruction of Pharaoh’s army. This develops the theme of God’s power and his care for his people. What her part was in the composition of this national anthem is not know, but she had an equal share with Moses and Aaron in weaving it into the conscious life of Israrel. She walked with them through thick and thin along the desert away from the Sea of Reeds. Her presence with them provided strength and support especially those moments when the people started to doubt about their faith in Yahweh.
According to tradition, when she died, a very solemn celebration was held for thirty days. Like her brothers, she was not able to enter the promised land and she died in Kadesh. Her prayer known as the Song of Miriam (Ex 15:21; Ex 15:1a-18), Song of Deliverance, the Song of Moses, the Song of the Sea, the Song of Moses and Miriam” is her song of exaltation and liberation when the Israelites were freed from Egypt.
7. Deborah (Judges 4:1-5-31)
Deborah was a political and religious leader during the time of the judges. She lived in Tomer-Deborah in the hill country of Ephraim. She was a prophet, a judge, and she was placed at the height of political power by the common consent of the people.
When Israel was being oppressed by the Canaanites under the leadership of a king, Jabin and their military head official, Deborah assumed the role as judge like Jepthah and Gideon. She exhibited a remarkable courage and faith in God. Unlike Miriam who was a secondary leader responsible to the top position, Deborah was a primary leader with a man responsible to her.
Deborah has a beautiful prayer known as the “Song of Deborah (Jdg 5). It is one of the oldest examples of biblical literature, dated around 1125 B.C.E. and roughly contemporaneous with the events it describes.
B. Women in the Christian Bible (New Testament)
Despite the labyrinthine intricacies of the Jewish norms and cultural traditions, Jesus chimed in the importance of women in society to heighten his special predilection for them. References to women, however, in Acts and Paul’s letters are quite few. These are the following:
1. Tabitha
2. Lydia
3. Priscilla
4. Four daughters of Philip who are present in the Acts of the Apostles.
In the epistles though, names of numerous women are mentioned as missionaries, leaders of house-churches, and ministers. Those included by name from the epistles as in Rom 16:1-16 are the number of women who have worked with Paul. Some of them are:
1. Chloe (1 Cor 1:11, 3d Sunday after Epiphany, Year A)
2. Enodia and Syntyche (Phil 4:2-3, Proper 24, Year A)
3. Lois and Eunice (2 Tim 1:5, Proper 22, Year C)
4. Apphia (Philem 2, Proper 18, Year C)
The texts inferring an equality and diversity of functions seem to be developed from Paul’s Christology – Gal 3:28 (cf Eph 5:21). Women actively functioned in the church as deaconesses (Rom 16:1; Tim 3:11) widows; (1 Tim 5:9-16); prophets (1 Cor 11:5). They are Paul’s co-workers (Phil 4:2-3).
They exercised a dramatic influence on the missionary endeavours. Their influence was similar to that of “Jewish or proselyte women in the religious propaganda of Judaism.
In Ephesians 5:21-33: “Wives be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord . . “ careful scholarship has identified the form of this text as a ‘household code’, common in Greco-Roman writings as a series of prescriptions for household behaviour of husbands and wives, parents, and children, and master and slaves. In this case, one must ask to what extent is the evidence culturally conditioned and what is the essential core of revelation.
This is what it means to move along being culturally and historically conditioned by their faith journey. Their human commitment to, and love for, faith that enabled their Christian allegiance to keep pace with its invitations and challenges.
It is clear that in the gospel accounts, women were amongst the followers of Jesus from the beginning and they were faithful to the end (Mk 15:40-41; 16:1; Lk 8:1-3). According to some gospel narratives, women were the first designated by Jesus as his witnesses (Lk 24: 48; 24:22, 33) from the beginning.
They are scriptural witnesses to the centrality of Christian proclamation, i.e. the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Jesus welcomed them in his public ministry. He told them and only them that he was the Messiah, the Saviour. He explored the potentially vibrant witnessing by sending women to give testimony to his Resurrection. He sent them as apostles to the apostles Interestingly, while the truth may well be that, it was women who anointed him, proclaimed him, prepared him for burial, and announced his return, Jesus’ vision for them has a connection between the ongoing process of emancipation and commitment to wholeness of life. He saw the web of oppression and appropriated for them the Law of Torah.
It was women, in fact, whom Jesus put at the very centre of the only two mysteries of the faith that are basic and essentially differentiating to the faith – the Incarnation and the Resurrection but only women were there.
Fr Raymond Brown related that in John’s gospel, “the Samaritan woman, Martha and Mary are characters absolutely equal in importance to the blind man and Lazarus.”
The Samaritan woman meets Jesus in the open. She readily accepts his challenge to her that she go out and spread the Word to all people she meets. This is the movement from the human faith experience of trust in him that calls for a loving service that is Christian discipleship. Jesus’ predilection for women is the beginning of a new era in the history of women. It may not be all of them who remained faithful to him but many of them took an uphill journey of faith which is indicative of their response to Jesus. They remained with Jesus until he died, they (or at least one of them) visited the tomb first, they announced that the body had disappeared and they proclaimed their faith in Jesus’ resurrection.
Mary, the Mother of God, expressed her fiat, her consent to the fulfillment of God’s salvific work in Jesus. In the annunciation narrative, it is very natural to affirm at that point she did not know yet the implications of her role in redemption. But she did vouch for that acceptance to the conception of a son. Her “yes” however, was a gradual process of discernment which was essentially an act of faith. In fact, because of her faith her motherhood was made possible. Her motherly role is rather in relation to her as the beloved disciple and hence not a physical one. In faith, she received the mission and the message of the Redeemer, and she conceived Him in her heart and in her body. Her role in redemption history is the personal destiny she has got from God. “She has believed” and is blessed for her faith.
III. The Integration of Ministry and Feminism in Migration
From a definition of “people who believe in Risen Christ and who answer the call of the Spirit to continue his mission of proclaiming, serving and witnessing to the reign of God in the world,” the particular expression of ministry has become the focus on what binds and unites us in a variety of ways. What was predominant before was that ministry was defined by the hierarchy and not the community of Christian disciples that stem from the right of baptism – sharing their gifts to bring that love of Christ to others. Within the heart of a new dimension, as the true people of God, it is no longer the barrier between ‘laos’ and ‘ethne’ for the ‘all transcendent unity of the ‘laos’ neither can, nor should be disrupted by differences in race, status, gender, education, or wealth. This is best expressed profoundly by Paul in Gal. 3:26 ff.
“For you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
For many exegetes, it is considered as a pre-Pauline baptismal confession. And in Rom 9:25 it says, “those who were not my people, I will call ‘my people’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘my beloved.’
Indeed, we are all God’s people who move beyond the narrow limits of our human nature with our shared vision that transcends our differences that brings man and woman together in Christ as anew Christian awareness. This denounces such a Hellenistic principle that was taken by Judaism in the synagogue liturgy.
As a critical corrective that leads to the right and duty to bring women’s gifts to the service of the community, Pope John XXIII in his encyclical on World Peace laid before the Church three (3) important signs of the times: the emancipation of the workers, the position of the developing countries, and the increasing participation of women in public. His words though in his opening speech at Vatican II, “In the present order of things, Divine Providence is leading us to a new order of human relations . . . In similar vein, Pope John Paul II recalls that John XXIII had designated a sign of the times the fact that ‘women are becoming ever more conscious of their human dignity, that they will no longer tolerate being treated as inanimate objects or mere instruments that they claim rather, in domestic and in public life, the rights and duties that befit a human person. ’
While movements against immigration emerge and have thus become the icon argument in the hallmarks of this century, women migrants have been vulnerable to different forms of oppression and subordination. It is a reality that seeks justice and freedom. It is implicit in Christianity to challenge the sinful practices and structures of injustice. The emerging arousal of interest in migrant women has to be treated on the main body of migration literature and other channels of communication as a way to introduce this phenomenon that aims to make a critical contribution in redressing the imbalance in our society.
In the words of Carolyn Osiek in her book Beyond Anger she says that what we need is a transformation of patriarchy into a discipleship of equals. It has a prophetic implication which thus involves an ongoing conversion of attitude that echoes a new understanding of healing and reconstruction. Mary Daly however remarked that patriarchy seemed to be everywhere. The new meaning makes visible in many situations with our critical eye that is cast on them. It may be victorious but it is not rooted in the praxis of Jesus. In him all culturally and historically conditioned prejudices and partialities break down. It is a human commitment that makes us grapple with our own understanding of a woman, of the feminine, and of what it means to be a person in our search to full humanization. Our understanding of Jesus moves along our faith experiences and his fellowship with women and men heightens his love for them. Matthew 25 gives an account of the nature of diakonia which conveys the idea of a service of love. The spiritual aspect of its love and human compassion is identified with Jesus, with the poor of Yahweh.
As part of our ministry, we are called to become aware of the feminine in Church and society. We need to underscore their feminine needs and interests. The claims of justice are their demands to give expression to a feminist consciousness. Perhaps there is a need to link their direct interests with the social and ecclesial conditions. Seen as their growing openness to a radical altering of patriarchal structures, we are call to re-define the very nature of work, family, and the institutional expressions of social relations. It is not just altering words in any written accounts to be more “inclusive”. It is more than that. Feminism has multiplicity of perspectives. It cannot be simply categorized in one single approach or theology. It involves a paradigm shift that is transforming not only in thought and action but also in symbolic expressions. It is our task to look for the common thread that binds us together and colors our spirituality. Their totality, gifts, and qualities are the one that need to be appreciated and determined especially in the migratory movements.
Women’s participation in emigration is not merely a flight from poverty. It is more than that. It is a result of an increasingly patriarchal society whereby they experience inequalities in socio-economic opportunities. Among the migrant workers in Europe there are probably two million women.
As we come to grips with the implications of ministry in the New Testament such as: from apostolic office (2 Cor 3:3), to almsgiving (2 Cor 8:19), from prophecy (1 Pet 1:10-12) to preaching (Acts 19:22); from personal service (Phil 13) to Eucharist; from study (Heb) to reconciliation; from washing feet (1 Tim 5:4) to catechesis (1 Tim 4:6, 11), we are wounded healers
IV. Conclusion
The world context in which we attempt to re-think the conflicting circumstances of women in the migration experiences has been the ethical basis that our ministry has undertaken. Their assertiveness today is parked by the tensions that are both sharp and liberating. It is their voice that heightens their struggles for transformation, women migration issues in the light of the sacred scriptures, issues related to the development of a hermeneutics of suspicion, the movements for justice and biblical re-appropriation in their sitz ‘im leben.
Our commitment to Christian conversion and values is along which we can journey with them toward building a discipleship of equals. Their genuine insights and analyses of the patriarchy are indications of growth in the formation of theological discourse in multidisciplinary perspectives. It is a deep call to rescue them from all the running sores of discrimination and oppression.
While hailing most of the changes since the opening of Vatican II, we are still like ‘a curious relic from a distant past’ wondering if feminism is a foreseeable threat to Church’s Magisterium or fear of being misunderstood as separatist and un-feminine. A deconstruction of the patriarchal traits, for instance of the biblical texts, does not reduce the biblical content to nothing. The problem of the androcentric bias can be overcome by biblical interpreters today. Women migrants’ contributions to the current high levels of international migration and labor force participation have spawned an enormous literature on migration. Their stories are worth recalling for they are central part of our own story to-day which provides legitimacy to the emerging mind-set of women consciousness recognizing their courage, leadership, and contribution to society.
This is the new gift of time. It is God’s grace that continues to show the epiphany episode of Immanuel – ‘God-with-us in the shared experiences of life. It is a giant leap towards a Christian insight of unity portrayed in the significant pilgrimage of justice, liberation, and wholeness.
There is a little poem by William Wordsworth (1770-1850) whose poetry became an important source of the 19th century’s understanding of an interaction between the natural world and human imagination.
[She dwelt among the untrodden ways] 1799 1800
She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A Maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love:
A violet by a mossy stone
Half hidden from the eye!
Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.
She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!
(Wordsworth seems to speak here of a perceived negligence by the world in reference to Lucy who lived unknown, unacknowledged, unrecognized by people. This phenomenon involves the need to see her like the migrant women caught in the web of oppression, alienation, violence, and abuse).
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