Week 3: Essay

My reading this week of the Book of Adam and Eve, got me thinking about the role of women in past and present society. The story of Lilith in particular stood out to me in this respect. In addition to Lilith, Eve's role in the story as a whole provides some insight into the view and role of women both now and then. From both Eve's and Lilith's story, we learn some hard truths about what it means to be a woman even in our modernized society in which we continue to strive for equality with men: that women are seen as inherently inferior beings, many human tendencies that are typically of a negative connotation are often thought of as "woman-like," and it is almost abnormal for a woman to have or desire strength and power.

Lady Lilith

Eve

In her story, Lilith is painted as a sort of wild woman who should be punished for desiring to run free. I tried to emphasize this depiction of Lilith in my retelling of her story by comparing her to a witch in order to drive home the idea that Lilith's request for equality and power was viewed as unnatural and even wicked. Women cannot be made equal to men even if, as we saw of Lilith, they arise from the same circumstances. Lilith was punished because she refused to accept this societal truth and demanded that she be seen as her husband's equal. In the end, after Lilith flees, it must be that Woman is taken from the flesh of Adam so that there will be no question of her supplicant role. This perception of women can be found in current society in instances of women holding the same position as men, yet getting paid less for it, and women expected to accept it. The perception of women as inferior is something that has definitely been addressed on a large scale, but given how long this perception has existed, there is much more ground that need be covered.

Ginzberg's description of the creation of Eve serves as an etiology of all of tendencies that women are thought to possess, and thereby deemed "woman-like." Some of these tendencies include jealousy, grudge holding, vanity, and eavesdropping. These and other tendencies have to do with the manner and the material from which God created Eve. God struggled when deciding from which part of Adam Eve should be created - if created from the mouth she would be a tattler, from the head and she would be prideful, from the ear and she would be an eavesdropper, and so on. So God created Eve from the rib, a chaste part of the body in hope that Woman would be a chaste creature. However, when Eve allowed sin to enter the world, she obtained all of the poor, "womanly" qualities that God had hoped to spare her and thus imposed said qualities upon all women after her. Many of these qualities that are supposedly inherent to women are vast generalizations used to attempt to make sense of the complex female psyche. Phrases like "you women are so dramatic," or "women stay mad forever," make it seem like women alone are capable of having injured feelings or harboring bad feelings toward one another. Almost any display of negative emotion is synonymous with being female to the point that if a male should deign to show envy toward another person, express that something has offended him, or hold a grudge, he is mocked for "acting like a chick" or "being a little girl." There is nothing wrong or unmanly with showing emotion, but when insulted in the worst way - having his manhood challenged - it is easy to see why these emotions have such a negative connotation.

"What women are like"

Though in modern society, it is becoming generally more accepted when women hold positions of power, there is still a bit of a stigma placed on being a powerful woman. Female executives are often portrayed like Meryl Streep's character in The Devil Wears Prada, or Charlotte Pickles in the 90s cartoon series Rugrats - cold, ruthless, "dragon-ladies" who have no time for things like family, sympathy, or any sort of emotion. We have to create this businesswoman persona in order to make sense of having women in the workplace, because women, with their highly emotional tendencies and bleeding hearts, couldn't possibly be successful in the fast paced rat race that is the business world, right? No, there has to be a character to which successful women in the workplace can be assigned that is a departure from the traditional view of women. "Normal" women don't belong in the workplace, but this "businesswoman" can do whatever she wants. Again, this is why Lilith is portrayed as almost demon-like - her desire for power was abnormal, so she must be assigned a role that fits her abnormality.

The Dragon Lady

I'm not saying that all people or even all men have this schema for women. Actually, more and more of society is becoming progressive minded and drawing attention to some of the issues that I have addressed. However, enough people still hold this schema that it continues to hold women back from equality with men. As we chip away at that number, we can move closer to that goal.