Editorial June 17, 2002 Issue

Time to topple another wall—the prison of gender stereotypes

Editor

Some of the most potentially damaging stereotypes are those that confine women and men to limited roles, or that place on men expectations of abusive behavior.

Today people around the world are rightly demanding that both society's laws and human behavior more closely pattern the male/female equality that, in the Sentinel's view, derives from a more balanced masculine-feminine concept of God. Over a century ago, Sentinel founder Mary Baker Eddy wrote, "Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which indicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 332).

This shift away from viewing God as a stern father-figure is shaking the mental landscape. This stirring is seen and felt in ordinary lives—at home, at work, in government at every level, in churches—just as it has been seen and felt in the theological arena. For example, enrollment in US seminaries currently stands at more than 50 percent women. On the other hand, men are more likely today than they were a decade ago to be primary child-care providers (and the proportion of children living with single fathers doubled from two percent in 1980 to four percent in 1999).

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