Why are women considered to be the “weaker sex” if we are consistently expected to be strong?
This is something that I have struggled with. No matter what trials we face, we are expected to fight them. Our lives are turned upside-down and we are expected to just endure through it because we are…weaker?
Webster defines weak as “lacking strength or vigor” (vigor-active strength or energy of body or mind)
However, the word we are looking at is “weaker.” That changes everything. Just because we may not be as strong as men physically, doesn’t mean we are weak.
How is it possible for us to be weaker yet in so many instances we have endured where men have given up?
For example, in marriages often times it is the man who leaves the marriage. He’s given in to his own desires instead of staying strong and constant, showing his weakness. The wife has remained strong and endured, throughout all the hardships that the two have shared. Her heart has been broken, her will has been tested, her mind has been confused by many different emotions, and yet she is still there.
*These are just a few of the women of the Bible who were used to set an example that women can be, through God, strong, leaders, and endure through trials.
How is it possible for us to lead if we are the weaker sex?
• Deborah was used to lead men, not very common in that day. She went with Barak’s army in fighting Sisera’s army. He wouldn’t go without her. Don’t forget Jael, another woman, who slew Sisera by driving a nail through his temple.
How do we stand strong in the face of danger?
• Esther was used by God to save the Jews from Haman’s evil plot. She stood up for them even though she knew her life may be taken because she was a Jew.
How can we endure through trials when we are so broken inside that it feels like we can’t go on?
• Naomi was a woman of God. She had lost her husband and sons, returning to her home bitter, angry, and hurt. Yet, she endured.
Sometimes we have to be the leaders, be strong, and endure. Pray for the women in your lives to be women that God can allow them to be.
Women are indeed strong. Maybe they are considered weaker, however, because 1 Peter 3:7 states, "Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered."
I'm not going to guess at what this means, as I have not yet studied it out. I just suppose this is why some may believe women are weaker.
Some may also believe they are weaker because as a general overall rule, they tend to show their emotions, or let their emotions make them do things we might call irrational. Men generally pride themselves on keeping their emotions under control. So when we do things considered irrational, we (general statement) have thought it out.
As to my personal conviction, these are generalities that do not apply to all women. There are plenty of women who can overcome their emotions and do what is right, even when their husbands will not (such as the virtuous woman of Proverbs, or Abigail with King David.) I think the important thing for both sexes to focus on is doing what God has commanded them, and following the path God said in the Bible. This would include keeping all vows made on that special day.
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The Weaker Sex
By Julie Halliday
Why are women considered to be the “weaker sex” if we are consistently expected to be strong?
This is something that I have struggled with. No matter what trials we face, we are expected to fight them. Our lives are turned upside-down and we are expected to just endure through it because we are…weaker?
Webster defines weak as “lacking strength or vigor” (vigor-active strength or energy of body or mind)
However, the word we are looking at is “weaker.” That changes everything. Just because we may not be as strong as men physically, doesn’t mean we are weak.
How is it possible for us to be weaker yet in so many instances we have endured where men have given up?
For example, in marriages often times it is the man who leaves the marriage. He’s given in to his own desires instead of staying strong and constant, showing his weakness. The wife has remained strong and endured, throughout all the hardships that the two have shared. Her heart has been broken, her will has been tested, her mind has been confused by many different emotions, and yet she is still there.
*These are just a few of the women of the Bible who were used to set an example that women can be, through God, strong, leaders, and endure through trials.
How is it possible for us to lead if we are the weaker sex?
• Deborah was used to lead men, not very common in that day. She went with Barak’s army in fighting Sisera’s army. He wouldn’t go without her. Don’t forget Jael, another woman, who slew Sisera by driving a nail through his temple.
How do we stand strong in the face of danger?
• Esther was used by God to save the Jews from Haman’s evil plot. She stood up for them even though she knew her life may be taken because she was a Jew.
How can we endure through trials when we are so broken inside that it feels like we can’t go on?
• Naomi was a woman of God. She had lost her husband and sons, returning to her home bitter, angry, and hurt. Yet, she endured.
Sometimes we have to be the leaders, be strong, and endure. Pray for the women in your lives to be women that God can allow them to be.
Women are indeed strong. Maybe they are considered weaker, however, because 1 Peter 3:7 states, "Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered."
I'm not going to guess at what this means, as I have not yet studied it out. I just suppose this is why some may believe women are weaker.
Some may also believe they are weaker because as a general overall rule, they tend to show their emotions, or let their emotions make them do things we might call irrational. Men generally pride themselves on keeping their emotions under control. So when we do things considered irrational, we (general statement) have thought it out.
As to my personal conviction, these are generalities that do not apply to all women. There are plenty of women who can overcome their emotions and do what is right, even when their husbands will not (such as the virtuous woman of Proverbs, or Abigail with King David.) I think the important thing for both sexes to focus on is doing what God has commanded them, and following the path God said in the Bible. This would include keeping all vows made on that special day.
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