Women’s identity and empowerment: A biblical perspective

Abstract

This study was conducted to analyze the role, identity, and empowerment of women in the midst of the old and gender-biased society in their times. The Bible was used for randomly selecting women in different periods of Biblical history in the Near East and the Middle East. Their stories were randomly chosen and analyzed using the combination of narrative and fish bowl method. Descriptive method was employed in analyzing and critiquing their identity and personality. The study made the following conclusion: The status of women in history and modem times has been formed and influenced in whole, or in great part, from the religious beliefs and culture of the times. There has been vivid evidence that they are denied equality in almost every level of society, and in every culture worldwide. With women possessing no power, this religious prejudice is carried into almost every aspect of most women’s lives. Also, the gender domination of power in all levels of society has virtually assured that the status has remained firmly entrenched even in the “enlightened” modem society. However, a cursory study of the attitude Jesus had for the women in his life reveals, not condescension or apathy, but respect, love, in equal measure of their male counterparts that women are not inferior in the sight of God, but in the primitive, ignorant, and oppressive view of the male-dominated world.