I read an article the other day about attitudes toward having a woman as president of the United States. The results were predictable: Those who opposed the idea were mostly men who were religiously conservative. Many more Republicans felt this way than Democrats, but the number was not as wide as some might assume it to be. A recent Pew Poll found that 53% of all Americans believe there are too few women in political leadership, while 37% said there are just enough and 8% said there are too many. US News & World found that 80% of voters, 18-34, in battleground states believe a woman would be an effective president. The first time this kind of poll was taken in this country was 1937, in which a third of the people asked believed a woman could be a good president.
We might look at these numbers and think, wow, things are getting better. And they are. But if you don’t think women are capable of being president, I would say the same thing I say about people who are racists – what in God’s name is wrong with you? How, after all these years of teaching and learning and discovering that all people are equal in God’s eyes – and Constitutionally – can anyone think a woman can’t lead? It should be 100% for equality. In fact, most nations in the world have never had a woman president or the equivalent. It is, however, the rare democracy that can make that claim, and we are one of those rarities. So – why?
Unless you have lived under a rock, or on the moon, there is no way you could not have seen that women are just as, or more, capable of being rational, intelligent, compassionate leaders. The nonsensical trope that women are “too emotional” is filled with ignorance; have you listened to some of the men running for office or being questioned for a spot on the Supreme Court? Have you watched male coaches on the sidelines? Emotion is something we all experience, and as long as our emotions don’t cause us to make dumb decisions, they are not a problem. Of course, we know that, in fact, emotion often rules the day, and that is not generally a good thing.
The only reason to believe women can’t lead us is if your values (usually religious) tell you so, or you are an ignoramus (which can be cured). The religion part is a problem since the overwhelming majority of them (over 200 in America alone) don’t allow women to lead. According to an article from 2021 in The Christian Post, seven denominations allow this, and mine (the United Church of Christ) was the first. There are also a number of non-Christian religious groups that consider women to be equal to men. I can’t be clearer about this – Inequality goes against God’s desires. Your religion might be lovely, but if it doesn’t deem women worthy of ordination, it is a purveyor of inequality. This false concept bleeds into every part of life. It teaches us that if women can’t lead worship, how can they lead a nation? How can they tell men what to do? It is misogyny, pure and simple, and it is not of God. Equality is a God-Thing – Inequality is of the Devil. We can agree to disagree on many things, but not this. Equality is the only way. Period.
Prayer – Thank You God for creating us as equals and forgive us if we think otherwise. Renew is if we believe in inequality. Amen.
Our picture is the first woman Bishop in the Church of England, Barbara Harris, who died in 2020.