What Is Women’s Liberation Saying?

“THE underlying mood of women in America today is one of conflict, frustration, deep division and change.”

That conclusion comes from a poll taken of both men and women. It reflects a mood that has become widespread among women in various parts of the world, especially in the United States.

Is this to say that before our time all women were content with their lot in life? No, because for centuries many of them did have complaints. Then what is different about the situation today?

What is relatively new is how wide an area of life the grievances cover and how persistent the outcry is. Also, beginning about the second half of the 1960’s many women began to organize and take definite action as never before. They now demand changes to correct what they claim are widespread injustices toward their sex. They say that the day is gone when they will passively submit to them.

This movement has generally been given the name “Women’s Liberation.” A dictionary defines the word liberation as being set free from bondage, the quality or state of being free, having the legal and political rights of a citizen. Those advocating women’s liberation are at times called “feminists.”

What kind of freedoms do the women in this movement desire? While the freedoms they want vary in detail from one group of women to another, there are several main trends among most who support the movement. One is their resentment at being treated only as objects for the sexual gratification of males, instead of being treated as persons. Men who regard women in this way are called “sexists.” Also, these women object to the excessive or blind belief in male superiority, labeling such “male chauvinism.”

Another strong objection is the fact that when women work for a salary, they usually do not get the same pay as men who do the same work. Also, they consider it unfair that women are excluded from many occupations and positions dominated by men.

Some of the women demand equal rights in the home. They want to have the husband share equally in doing the housework so that the wife can hold a job. They consider housework ‘inferior’ and would rather work outside the home in jobs they consider more interesting, challenging, or even ‘glamorous.’

Many women demand the right to get a legal abortion if they choose to end a pregnancy. They feel that this would free them from coming into slavery to another person, the unwanted child.

Another demand is that government agencies set up child-care centers. Mothers who work as the sole support of a family want someone to look after their children. They would rather work for a decent wage than accept welfare and barely exist. But they want some arrangement to care for their young children.

Tens of thousands of women have already marched through city streets to make known their demands. In New York, about sixty women ‘seized’ the Statue of Liberty and draped it with a banner that said: “Women of the World Unite!” According to one of the women, Miss Liberty was chosen because “it is ironic that a woman symbolizes the abstract idea of liberty, but in reality we are not free.”

In the Netherlands a group of women burned a corset before a statue of a famous Dutch suffragette. They then raided men’s public washrooms to dramatize their complaint that there were no such washrooms for women. They whistled at men on street corners and discussed out loud their good and bad points. The Dutch women demanded equal pay for women, an equal division of household duties between husband and wife, legalized abortions, sex education in schools and birth-control pills for teen-agers.

Norwegian women shocked the men of their country by turning out in huge numbers to vote for their own women candidates during local elections. Numerous city councils came into their control where their candidates won the majority. This included councils in two of Norway’s largest cities.

Differences of Opinion

However, we are not to think of women’s liberation as a unified, international movement under a central control. There are many groups and individuals involved, and wide differences of opinion exist among them. There are disagreements among women of different countries and racial backgrounds. Even within a nation or racial group there are wide areas of disagreement.

For example, some want to bring women into positions of power in today’s society by working with “The Establishment.” But others want to dismantle the established society completely and replace it with a different order. While some want more equality in marriage, others want to abandon marriage altogether. There are those who want total sexual freedom, including the acceptance of lesbianism for women and homosexuality for men. But others object to that kind of sexual freedom.

The women in the movement are not sure in which political direction they should go. The National Observer remarked of meetings of those in women’s liberation: “The workshops were lively with argument. In one, a group of young women . . . got into a shouting match with older delegates about political procedures and strategy.” One woman protested: ‘Look, I didn’t drive 600 miles to argue.’

While disagreements are common, at the same time the women warn that the depth and breadth of their feelings should not be underestimated. Others agree. The National Observer noted: “For those who don’t already, it is time to take women’s lib seriously.”

This is so because, while there are many disagreements among those favoring women’s liberation, the areas of agreement are even stronger. For instance, in Europe the outcry carries the same ring as in the United States: that women are second-class citizens and suffer discrimination in marriage, education, vocational training and jobs. They, too, demand equal pay for equal work, abortion reform, nursery schools and day-care centers.

What, then, of the claims of those who support the women’s liberation movement? Do they have a point? Is there any truth in what they are saying?

Is There Any Truth in What They Say?

IT WOULD be easy to dismiss women’s liberation as being entirely the product of women who just like to complain. Many men feel that way about it.

Yet, a wise person wrote: “When anyone is replying to a matter before he hears it, that is foolishness on his part and a humiliation.”​—Prov. 18:13.

If you had a pain in your body, would you appreciate a doctor who dismissed you as being just a complainer? Or would you want him to analyze the problem and tell you what the cause is and if there is a remedy?

Another Bible principle says: “As for anyone stopping up his ear from the complaining cry of the lowly one, he himself also will call and not be answered.”​—Prov. 21:13.

So the wise person listens. He weighs the facts to discern if a complaint is valid or not. Then he takes action accordingly.

What Cause for Complaint?

If you take an unprejudiced look at history, you will be compelled to agree that women have had many reasons for complaint.

Throughout history, the political, economic and religious power has been mainly in the hands of men. But the result has been a sickening repetition of brutality. Of World War II alone the World Book Encyclopedia states: “It has been estimated that civilian and military dead totaled 55 million. . . . Civilians suffered the greatest losses. . . . from bombings, massacres, forced migrations, epidemics, and starvation.”

Of course, one cannot say that things would have been any better had women made all the decisions. When women did rule some nations, things were really no different. Read the history about Cleopatra of Egypt, Zenobia of Palmyra, Mary I (“Bloody Mary”) of England, or Mary Queen of Scots. You will find that their rule was no improvement.

Yet, the fact remains that men have been primarily responsible for wars. Also, the weapons of war have been mostly the inventions of men. Women have seen their homes demolished, their loved ones killed or maimed. And as armies swept over large areas, women by the millions were brutalized. Untold numbers have been raped.

On the other hand, how much do women protest on either side during war? In both world wars, for example, were not the German women just as industrious in aiding their war effort as the English or American women were in theirs? When was the last time you heard that the majority of women refused to go along with the wars of a nation? Some of the loudest champions of certain war efforts have been women.

It is true, however, that in various lands many women have been treated little better than animals or slaves down through history. Among other things they were taught to commit suicide when their husbands died, had their feet bound and deformed, were not allowed to eat at the same table with men, or were sold to the highest bidder regardless of their feelings. And even in peacetime, thousands of women are raped every year. The list of oppressive acts against women is long, it cannot be denied.

Even in many ‘advanced’ societies today, women do experience forms of discrimination. The New York Times stated: “American law, with its roots in a medieval society that considered women as chattels, and with embellishments added by generations of male legislators and judges, has many features that might be said to deny women the equal protection of the laws.”

In New York state, girls considered “in need of supervision” can be imprisoned until age eighteen. But the cutoff age for boys on this count is sixteen. Sally Gold, a lawyer on the staff of the Department of Consumer Affairs, says that “a 16-year-old girl could . . . be placed in a reform school for up to four years for promiscuous behavior.” “There is no such notion for boys,” she says. A sixteen-year-old boy who was just as promiscuous would not be punished.

What About Family Life?

Many women complain about their role in family life. Is there any truth to their claims? Cornell psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner says:

“I have a great deal of sympathy for the anger and frustration that are reflected in the Women’s Liberation movement. Not only are women discriminated against in the so-called man’s world, but they have now been deprived of prestige in their role as women.

“It used to be that a mother would get recognition in her neighborhood for the fact that she had brought up her children well. Now the mother still has the responsibility for her children, but not enough support or recognition. Her husband is away most of the time, and her neighbors are often not really her friends.

“We are creating a situation where women are frustrated in both worlds.”

Many fathers shift the responsibility for training their children to the mother. As a result the mother has to make decisions and care for matters that the husband should be handling. Of this, Look magazine said:

“The American woman is accused of displacing her husband as head of the family. In her mind, she meets this familiar charge with the countercharge that she knows scarcely a household in which the mother doesn’t struggle​—in vain—​to have the father make the important decisions in the children’s lives, exercise the discipline, be a model of manliness to his sons. . . .

“By his own choice, and in the face of his wife’s protests, he leaves the vital decisions in his children’s lives​—their schooling, their sexual instructions, their religious and moral training—​to their mothers. He says that she ‘knows more about these things’ than he does, but even as he says this, he is entirely convinced that his wife robs him of authority in the home.”

Because too many men abdicate their family responsibilities, some in women’s liberation say that the family is outmoded and should be abandoned. But would that improve matters? Dr. Paul Popenoe of the American Institute of Family Relations states: “No society has ever survived after its family life deteriorated.” Harvard Professor Emeritus Carle Zimmerman said of the decay of family life in ancient Greece and Rome: “In each case the change in the faith and belief in family systems was associated . . . with enormous crises in the very civilizations themselves.”

Abandoning the family arrangement is like ‘throwing out the baby with the wash water.’ The fact that many families are happy and do cope with their problems shows that the fault does not lie with the family arrangement. It lies with people who are too selfish or unwilling to do their part.

What About “Equality”?

In nearly every field, a woman holding down a job does not get the same pay as a man who does the same work. This is a particular hardship for mothers who must work as the sole support of their families.

Because of such inequalities, some women now demand complete equality with men in all spheres of human activity. Yet, what would be the consequences if total equality were enforced?

If women had complete equality with men, governments would draft women to fight in the fields, jungles and trenches during wartime. Once when New York Times correspondent Gloria Emerson was in Khesanh, South Vietnam, the area underwent bombardment by North Vietnamese troops. She fled to a bunker which was occupied by American soldiers. Afterward she stated: “In that lonely moment I became more equal with men than I have ever cared to be. I would have gladly shared the horror of it with the fiercely fashionable advocates of women’s lib.”

Equality in every sense would do away with sound laws that govern the type of work women can be asked to do. If you are a woman, would you really want equality with men in digging coal out of a mine thousands of feet underground if men did their share of the housework? Would you really want to spend equal time plowing fields and shoveling manure with your farmer husband if he agreed to help you cook and clean at home? Is that what you prefer?

Still, some women claim it is unfair that they are consigned to the ‘dull’ housework. But other women find it challenging to manage a home, prepare menus, arrange furniture and decorations and help mold their children’s minds. To those who find this dull, many men would ask: How many ‘white-collar’ or ‘blue-collar’ jobs for men are ‘glamorous’ or ‘exciting’? Most of them are monotonous, frustrating and unsatisfying. The men are usually chained to a rigid schedule of hours, and if they deviate from that they imperil their jobs. Many of them envy the more flexible schedule their wives have at home.

Of all the working wives or mothers that you personally know, how many of them would keep their jobs if they did not need the income? Very few women prefer the monotony of a rigid job schedule over caring for a home. Ask the women, the wives and mothers, who do have to work and see if this is not so.

Recently, women were asked about this in a poll. It showed that, by a 71- to 16-percent vote, women agreed that “taking care of a home and children is more rewarding than having a job.”

Sex Symbols

Do men treat women merely as sex symbols? Unfortunately, many, many men do just that. The only interest such men have in women is the sexual gratification they might get.

To cater to this, motion pictures, magazines and advertisements are filled with females in sexually suggestive situations or poses. Who is to blame? In most cases it is the men who control the production of these things.

Yet, who forces the women to perform or pose? You will find that nearly all the women do it of their own free will.

In the United States it was recently revealed that female college students at Wayne State University were posing naked for male customers to photograph. Their fee was $15 for thirty minutes, the girls classifying this as ‘working their way through college.’ But many other girls have worked their way through school without selling their bodies to do it.

Thus, women do allow themselves to be used in ‘sexist’ ways. They do become prostitutes of their own free will. They do willingly pose for immoral purposes. And many women do wear sexually suggestive clothing, including very short dresses. So a large part of womankind must share the blame for encouraging males to be ‘sexist.’

Related to this is the fact that because abortion is still illegal in most places, women have been injured and killed by bungled abortions. That is one reason why many women now demand legal abortions on request. But where does the fault lie? Is it really wrong for the law to want to give the unborn child a chance to live? Remember, you were once in your mother’s womb. Should your mother have had the legal right to abort you?

Science News of December 18, 1971, states: “It is now possible to accurately determine who gets abortions, . . . the most common patient is a young, single, white woman pregnant for the first time.” These women ignored God’s laws against fornication and got pregnant. Who was to blame​—the unborn child? Why punish the innocent, commit murder to do it, and then demand that the murder be legalized?

Object to God as “He”

The objection is also raised that equality should even cover references to God. Mary Daly, professor of theology at Boston College, said: “God is dead for us women as long as God is imaged as exclusively male.”

However, Dr. Margaret Mead, famous American anthropologist, disagrees. The New York Times reports as follows:

“Dr. Margaret Mead declared yesterday that she had been working for women’s equality all her life, but that she could have ‘no sympathy, as a scholar, with the amount of utter nonsense’ that she said had been spoken by some members of the women’s liberation movement. . . .

“‘What in thunder is gained in reversing “God is He” into “God is She” except irritating people?’ she asked. ‘It gets us nowhere. All you get with a reversal is the opposite again.’”

Demanding an absurdity only brings scorn and diverts attention from real injustices. Also, when an absurdity is demanded, the tendency of observers is to consider other claims as possibly being absurd too. Note the following, written by a woman to the editor of the Miami Herald:

“Until recently I was proud of being a woman, proud of what she represented, proud of her role in society. Now, I’m disturbed and ashamed as I watch many of my adult female colleagues jump up and down, like a child wanting a two-cent lollipop, scream and demand certain rights​—many of which they have not earned and several which they will not use effectively.

“It seems the ‘ladies’ behind the liberation of women movement are trying, with circus dramatics, to speak for women as a unit without any consideration for those of us who are content. . . .

“I, as well as many other women, protest against being degraded by over-emotional, dissatisfied females who desire a masculine identity because they are personally unfulfilled as a woman. Exchanging a bra for a gun, demanding rights and obligations beyond a woman’s physical and emotional endurance, is not going to be the pretty picture many foresee.”

However, this does not alter the fact that women have been, and still are, suffering injustices. So, what we really need to know is this: How should men treat women? What can be the results when men treat women properly?

To arrive at answers to these questions, it would be well to analyze first just how men and women are constructed. What role is most natural for them?

Each Designed for a Role

NOTHING can change the basic fact that there are two sexes in the human family. Children are going to be born either male or female.

But how basic are the differences in the sexes? What do these differences mean? Is there a way of life that suits each better?

If you examine the living creation, you will find that there is usually a way of life that best suits each living thing. For instance, do palm trees or cactus plants flourish in cold northern areas? No, they do best in hot climates. But the Douglas fir thrives best in cooler northern climates. Polar bears do better where it is cold, but giraffes do better where it is warm.

True, to an extent living things can adapt to changing conditions. But the farther away they get from the situation that suits them best, the more problems they will have.

There are also ‘best’ conditions in the relationship between a man and a woman. The farther they deviate from these, the more problems they will experience.

Fundamental Differences

What should be recognized is that there are fundamental differences between a man and a woman that no amount of talk will change. The obvious difference is in physical appearance and in the different sexual organs. Also, the genetic code of the human family has firmly locked into it the fact that the male has the more rugged build and is stronger.

Compare, for example, the records set at Olympic Games. The Olympic record for the 100-meter (about 110 yards) dash for men is 9.9 seconds, but for women it is 11.0 seconds. At this short distance, men can cross the finish line about 10 or 11 yards ahead of women. The Olympic high-jump record is over 7 feet 4 inches for men, but less than 6 feet 3 inches for women. In every comparable event, the men run and swim faster, jump higher, and throw weights farther than women.

Why do men have the greater physical strength? Because they were created with a different role to play in life than women. They would have to do the heavier work and take the lead in providing for the family and giving it protection.

Does this make women “inferior”? Is a well-proportioned woman’s body “inferior” to a well-proportioned male’s body? Is it of less value, or less useful? Which is “superior,” the oak tree or the rose? In their own way they are each valuable and desirable.

In addition to the difference in body structure and strength, women go through different physical cycles, such as menstruation and menopause. Hence, we cannot escape the truth of the matter, that there are very basic differences between men and women physically. In fact, scientists can tell, without knowing in advance the sex of a person, whether a body cell belongs to a male or to a female. As one source points out: “All the cells of the body of the man differ from those of the body of the woman.”

Other Differences

Since there are such unalterable physical differences between men and women locked into their genetic codes, it should not seem strange that there would also be emotional or psychological differences. Rutgers University anthropologist Lionel Tiger states:

“Briefly, there is considerable evidence that differences between males and females do not result simply from male conspiracy, . . . they occur in such a wide variety of situations and cultures that the feminist explanation is inadequate in itself to help us understand them, and that there are biological bases for sexual differences which have nothing to do with oppressing females but rather with ensuring the safety of communities and the healthy growth of children. . . .

“Now we know that the intricate DNA genetic code makes it possible for the individual to inherit not only simple physical characteristics, such as size, shape and chemical makeup, but also a whole set of propensities for particular social behavior which goes with a given physiology.”

So the genetic code determines more than the physical characteristics that make the two sexes different. It also gives each sex different emotional factors that make them react differently. As a rule women have more tender qualities than men. They are more prone to be sociable, sensitive and considerate. Often they have greater patience.

Why were they created with different physical and emotional traits? Because they have different roles to play.

Where Women Excel

Nowhere is this more evident than in the woman’s role as a mother. Not only has she the physical equipment for giving birth to and feeding the baby, but she has the emotional traits to care for it.

The fact that throughout history people earth wide have seen the necessity and wisdom of having mothers care for babies surely suggests much more than just a male conspiracy. What it clearly shows is that she was created for a different role, but one that makes the woman vital to human society. How vital? Ask yourself: Where would the human family, including you, be without mothers? It would not be at all! The Bible says: “As the woman is out of the man, so also the man is through the woman.”​—1 Cor. 11:12.

Also, mother love, even more than father love, is an absolute necessity for the normal development of babies. Extensive studies of babies raised in orphanages reveal that those who lacked the loving care of mothers suffered damage from which most of them never completely recovered. They were far more likely to grow up with serious emotional, mental and even physical problems.

Dr. Peter Neubauer, director of the Child Development Center in New York, says:

“The love and affection [the child] receives from his mother or a mother-figure, most critically from his birth through age 3, will determine the path of emotional development that will carry him through his life. . . .

“About all we used to say was that a mother should hold her baby while feeding him. Now we know that it is indeed the ‘petting’ (the touching), the ‘joyful faces’ (the sights) and the ‘loving words’ (the sounds), together with the smells and the tastes, that are the urgent requirements of infancy.

“It is the nonsense talk, the singing, the smiling at and the smiling back at, the cuddling, the rocking, the hoisting and the laughing that constitute ‘love and affection.’ . . .

“If something has gone wrong, it becomes increasingly difficult to repair after the age of 3.”

Have you ever observed a loving mother with her baby? How obvious it is that she is the superior in giving the baby what it needs in early life! It is not that the father’s role is unimportant, but at the very early stage in the child’s life the mother’s role is the more vital one.

Satisfaction in Filling Role

When women understand and fulfill their role in the family, instead of fighting it, they can get enormous satisfaction. One woman wrote to the Ladies’ Home Journal: “We were created to be different in nature from man but not of lesser value. It is my fondest desire to be feminine, which is my natural role in life, and to encourage my spouse to be more masculine according to his nature.”

A mother wrote: “Speaking personally, my greatest satisfaction in life is the time spent with my husband and the things we do together. But that includes having the children around us, watching them grow up and taking pride in them.”

Another mother commented on the charge that women have an “identity problem.” She said she had none, but instead was viewed with great love, affection and admiration by her husband and two children. She pleaded: “Women, don’t liberate me from all this!”

An article in McCall’s magazine noted: “No matter what any man [or woman] says, the average woman who makes her world a better place for her family to live in accomplishes more than a dozen captains of industry who devote their lives to fabricating steam boilers or manufacturing automatic bacon slicers.”

However, when a woman has a husband, father or brother who does not understand her role and her needs and who does not treat her right, then she can indeed be unhappy. Very often these are the women seeking liberation.

But just how should a man treat a woman? How, especially, should a husband treat a wife? And is having babies her main role in life?

[Picture on page 11]

It is obvious that a woman is the superior in giving a newborn baby what it needs; yet is that a woman’s main role in life?

How Should Men Treat Women?

WHAT is the best way for men to deal with women? How, especially, should a husband treat his wife for the greatest benefit to both?

The answer to such questions can come only from the one who is the best qualified. Who is that? It has to be the One who designed and made the minds and bodies of men and women. Surely the Creator, Jehovah God, knows best how his own creation should operate for the best results.

Keep in mind that marriage is not an accident, something that just happened to develop over the ages. The first marriage was ordained by God. First, God created the man, then the woman, joining them together as husband and wife. Each was given somewhat different qualities and responsibilities. Of this, Genesis 2:18 says: “It is not good for the man to continue by himself. I am going to make a helper for him, as a complement of him.”

A complement is a counterpart, something that makes complete. It provides what is lacking or needed. In the case of the man and woman, each was created with a need that the other filled. Their qualities balanced, or complemented, each other so well that the man and woman as a married couple were considered to be “one flesh.” (Gen. 2:24) That this worked in the best interests of both can be seen by what the Bible account also says: “After that God saw everything he had made and, look! it was very good.”​—Gen. 1:31.

Note too that when the woman was created it was not said that her only function was to have children. The woman’s relationship to her husband as a complement, or partner, is what is singled out for specific mention. She obviously complements him in childbearing, because neither one can accomplish this alone. But she complements him in many other ways too.

God’s View of Women

Also, the relationship of the woman to her Creator, Jehovah God, was more important than her relationship either to her husband or to the children she would have. This can be seen in several ways. One was the fact that, while the man was given heavier responsibilities, the female also was given qualities that reflected God’s personality, having these in common with the man.

The woman, for example, certainly is in no way inferior to man in the quality of love, and this is the dominant quality in God’s personality. God’s Word says: “He that does not love has not come to know God, because God is love. . . . God is love, and he that remains in love remains in union with God and God remains in union with him.” (1 John 4:8, 16) That holds just as true for women as it does for men.

Then, too, the apostle Paul included, not just men believers, but also women disciples when he said: “All of us, while we with unveiled faces reflect like mirrors the glory of Jehovah, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, exactly as done by Jehovah the Spirit.” (2 Cor. 3:18) In fact, the most conclusive evidence of God’s high regard for women is that he grants women the privilege of being among those who form his Son’s heavenly government. That is why the Bible says in this regard: “There is neither male nor female; for you are all one person in union with Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28) So God has a high and loving regard for women, dealing with them as persons, their relationship to him being just as important as the man’s relationship to God.

Who Was More at Fault?

However, in time both the first man and the first woman began to desire something that could never be theirs. They wanted to be like God in having the right and ability to determine for themselves what was right and what was wrong, instead of guiding themselves by God’s laws. The woman rebelled first, then the man.​—Gen. 3:1-6.

From this some have concluded that ‘if it were not for women we would be in the garden of Eden.’ But that is not accurate. Man was created first and made the family head with the greater responsibility. As the ‘captain’ of his ship, he should have steered a straight course even in troubled seas. But that first man, Adam, failed as a family head. Since he had the greater responsibility, he had the greater guilt. Hence, Romans 5:12 says: “Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin.”

As a result of moving away from God’s guidance, the human family began to devise their own rules of conduct. In this, the woman in many cases has come out the loser, for man’s greater physical strength and aggressiveness enabled him to dominate the female and often abuse her, which was contrary to God’s purpose.

God’s Superior Ways Unfold

Yet, God set a time limit on permitting human foolishness. As the centuries passed, God gradually revealed what he would do to remedy the bad situation into which the human family had come.

About fifteen centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ, God revealed more of his purposes by his dealings with the nation of ancient Israel. Through Moses, he gave Israel a law code. Incorporated in it were provisions for the benefit of women. These brought the Israelite women into a situation far superior to that of women living in the surrounding pagan nations.

Centuries later, Jesus Christ introduced Christianity, unfolding God’s purposes more fully. Under the Christian arrangement, women came into a position superior even to that in ancient Israel. True Christianity was a way of life far, far superior to any ever devised by man, and woman would reap the benefits when it was practiced in the way God purposed.

Under Christianity, the role of man as ‘captain’ of the family was maintained. It was the best arrangement, considering how God made man and woman. So, as Ephesians 5:23 says, “A husband is head of his wife as the Christ also is head of the congregation.” And if there were no head in a family, what would happen? There could be constant bickering and disagreement over decisions, with no one making the final one. But it is necessary for the welfare of the family to have someone authorized to make final decisions, and God has assigned that role to the husband.

For instance, if a man is driving an automobile, and sees a difficult traffic situation developing that calls for an immediate response in direction or speed, it would only make matters worse for his wife to insist that she had a view on the matter and he should do it her way. Someone has to make final decisions, and when the husband does so in a loving and considerate way, it really does work for the best of the family.

What Kind of Headship?

But just what does the husband’s headship mean? As noted, it means that in the family he has the right to make final decisions, especially in serious matters. But how should he exercise that headship? Does it entitle him to be a boss, a dictator?

That is not at all what God has in mind, for Ephesians 5:28, 29 declares: “Husbands ought to be loving their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, for no man ever hated his own flesh.” The husband is under obligation to be as considerate of his wife as he is of himself, since they are “one flesh.”

But much more is involved. God also commands husbands to do this: “You husbands, continue dwelling in like manner with [your wives] according to knowledge, assigning them honor as to a weaker vessel, the feminine one.”​—1 Pet. 3:7.

How do you honor another person? Why, you treat that person with respect. You have consideration for that one’s opinions, likes and dislikes. You give that one the preference when there is no issue at stake. You do what Colossians 3:12, 13 says: “Clothe yourselves with the tender affections of compassion, kindness, lowliness of mind, mildness, and long-suffering. Continue putting up with one another and forgiving one another freely.”

These are the qualities that make it easy for women to love and to respect their husbands. In fact, one happily married woman, when asked what she appreciated most about her husband, replied: ‘The tenderness and consideration that he has for me.’ And that is just what God says husbands should show their wives.

Also, while at first the mother’s role in a child’s life is critical, in time the father’s grows more important. That is why God’s law tells fathers to take the lead in training their growing children in the vital things of life, such as morality, religion and discipline. While the mother also plays an important part in all this, it is the father who is to take the lead.​—Eph. 6:4.

Part of taking the lead is in setting a good example, ‘practicing what you preach.’ And here one of the finest things a father can do for his children is to love their mother. What a fine example that sets for the future mothers and fathers!

There is more. Ephesians 5:25 says: “Husbands, continue loving your wives, just as the Christ also loved the congregation and delivered up himself for it.” Yes, the husband is to have such consideration for his wife that he would be willing to lay down his life for her! That is what Jesus did for those he loved.

Now, then, what sensible woman would want liberation from a man who shows her that kind of honor, respect, consideration, tenderness and loyalty? Of course, she has her role to play too, and the Bible gives much good counsel on this. But here we are discussing primarily the responsibilities of the man.

Treatment of Other Women

How should men deal with other women not their wives? The young man Timothy was given this counsel that was inspired by God: “Do not severely criticize an older man. To the contrary, entreat him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters with all chasteness.”​—1 Tim. 5:1, 2.

A man should have respect for an older woman as if she were his mother. And he must be morally upright toward a younger woman, as though she were his sister, not considering her a ‘sexual object’ but dealing with her as a person.

Right View of Woman’s Role

Jesus had high regard for women. He did not view them as ‘inferior,’ as ‘sexual objects’ or as just baby producers. On one occasion he visited two sisters, Mary and Martha. Martha busied herself in preparing things, but Mary “sat down at the feet of the Lord and kept listening to his word.” When Martha complained that Mary was not helping her, Jesus commended Mary instead, saying that she “chose the good portion, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42) Jesus was not belittling household duties, but was showing that there are more important things than that for women.

On another occasion a woman said to Jesus: “Happy is the womb that carried you and the breasts that you sucked!” But Jesus told her: “No, rather, Happy are those hearing the word of God and keeping it!” (Luke 11:27, 28) He showed that a woman’s relationship to God is more important than her role as a mother. After all, only a minority of a woman’s life is involved in childbearing and the raising of children. And if a man, even a husband, asks a woman to break God’s laws, what then? The Bible principle is: “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.”​—Acts 5:29.

So when you really study what the Bible has to say about how men should treat women, you can see that God has certainly placed the women in a position of dignity and favor. True, most men in this world do not abide by God’s high standards. But that does not make the standards wrong. Instead, it exposes the wrong attitude of such men. And someday they will have to answer to God for it.

Men who are true Christians do accept God’s standards. If you investigate Jehovah’s witnesses, you will find that they do. They constantly learn how to apply these standards in their lives, with increasing benefits to themselves and the women they deal with. And when their wives, mothers and sisters also have the same high regard for God’s superior standards and play their roles properly, they find great harmony and happiness. None of them seek liberation from that, and not because they are forced to stay in that arrangement, but because they want to, seeing it as a far superior way of bringing them happiness than any other.

Still, even compatible men and women need liberation. From what? From a world filled with hatred, crime, war, poverty, sickness and death; from a world that has caused such injustices, not only to women, but to men and children too. Will such liberation ever be a reality?

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When a woman told Jesus, “Happy is the womb that carried you,” he answered: “No, rather, Happy are those hearing the word of God and keeping it!”

True Liberation Nearing

WOMEN do need liberating, in many ways. But then, so do men. India’s prime minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi said: “Men are no more liberated than women.”

The reality is that the entire human family is in need of liberation. The Toronto Daily Star commented:

“The feeling of being trapped and unfulfilled is not confined to the female. We live in a mass, industrialized society in which a great many people are lonely, rootless, unfulfilled and lacking in a satisfying identity and the opportunity to make full use of their capacities.

“The people are both men and women. To pinpoint marriage and male domination as the causes of female unhappiness is to blindly distort and to ignore the realities of life in the 20th century.”

The industrial civilization has not proved to be the blessing many thought it would be. Much of it is proving to be a curse. It is producing large cities with teeming millions of people jammed together. Has life been improved by these ‘concrete jungles’ that wall off the sky and sun, and keep trees and grass and hills out of sight? Is it an improvement when people are afraid to walk city streets at night, and even in the daytime in some places? What about pollution, and strangling traffic conditions?

What good is a so-called ‘high standard of living’ when it cannot really be enjoyed? What pleasure is there in work when jobs become drudgery and the individual becomes an insignificant cog in a huge mass-production scheme?

Everywhere you look, men and women, and children, have serious problems from which they need liberating. For example, in the richest country on earth, the United States, about one fourth of all persons over sixty-five years of age are forced to live on incomes that the Department of Labor considers as at poverty level. Many more are forced to exist on incomes not much higher. All the time, prices rise, and many married women are forced to work away from home because their husbands’ income is not enough.

Also, consider this report from Time magazine: “About 300 million people in the world have highly visible deformities, which cause emotional problems not just for the victims but for the society around them.” And what about the mentally ill? What, too, of the poor and hungry of the world, which is the majority of the human family? Do not all these need liberation?

There is no longer any question that men, as well as women, have become victims of the oppressive system of political, economic and religious rule that has dominated the earth. That system is the end product of man and woman’s desire for independence from God. What a failure human rule that ignores God has proved to be!​—Jer. 10:23.

What this earth needs now is for God to remove the present system and replace it with his own righteous arrangement. We need his perfect wisdom, justice, love and guidance directing human affairs. But is such a hope just a dream?

No, it is not just a dream! Why not? Because God’s time limit for permitting human wickedness is fast drawing to a close. All the evidence in fulfillment of God’s own recorded prophecies shows that we are nearing the end of this oppressive system of things.

Soon, when that time limit is up, God will assert his almighty power and wipe this earth clean of the bad effects of human rule. Daniel 2:44 foretells: “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite.”

That heavenly government is the one for which Jesus Christ taught his followers to pray. (Matt. 6:10) All ruling authority over the earth will reside with it, not with humans. It will enforce God’s righteous laws all over the earth. And it will provide true liberation, in a most desirable way.

That liberation will include freedom from human oppression and injustice. It will include freedom from economic want, enabling women to play their normal role in life. And it will also provide freedom from those great enemies of mankind​—sickness, old age and death. God’s promise is: “He will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore.”​—Rev. 21:4.

Think of that! Think of a time when men and women will fulfill their roles as their Creator purposed, so that there will be no friction, grief, sorrow or tears in their relationship with one another. And with sickness, aging and death gone, what a happy life that will be! Concerning the time of such liberation, God’s Word promises: “The meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace. The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.”​—Ps. 37:11, 29.

True liberation will soon be a reality, but only in God’s way. That is why it is futile to look for relief to any part of this doomed system. It is also why God’s Word says: “The world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever.” (1 John 2:17) Persons interested in true and permanent liberation should hasten to find out what God’s will is. Jehovah’s witnesses will be pleased to help them, free of charge, with the use of the Bible.

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God’s kingdom will bring in true and permanent liberation, making the earth a Paradise. Even the animal kingdom will be at complete peace with man