Women’s Rights
The movement for women’s rights and equality of the sexes that began in the last century is a major force for human betterment. Yet amidst the profusion of feminist ideas and trends, can scriptures instruct us to discern what is best and most enduring? This section deals specifically with women’s rights in society. The more fundamental man-woman relationship is marriage, and there the matter of sex roles and equality of the sexes comes up with special force—see Chapter 19: Ethics of Married Life.
Against the persistent mistreatment of women, scriptures affirm the essential equality and dignity of both man and woman before God. Scriptures also affirm the right of women to an education and to seek the highest goal of faith—an outstanding Buddhist passage praises the resolve of a nun who defeats the Devil’s whispering that women are not fit for enlightenment. On the other hand, the scriptures encourage the traditional womanly role of childbearing as the basis of female dignity. Further, there is scriptural warrant for the subordination of women as a consequence of the Fall and the first woman’s sin—a theme to which Father Moon adds a unique twist when he attributes women’s subordination at least in part to the degradation of men to the level of “archangels.”
It is undeniable that men and women are distinctly unequal in their physical stature and abilities. A Buddhist text ridicules the notion that such external differences have any meaning, based on its perspective that Mind is the only reality. That won’t do for Father Moon, who affirms the reality of the created world. Rather, he teaches that love is the basis of the equality of men and women. He supports the traditional value of childbearing, calling it God’s special gift to women, but at the same time he applauds women who aspire to leadership positions in society and he encourages his women followers to take on traditional male roles. In this respect his thought resonates with the dreams of the pioneering American feminist Susan B. Anthony, who is quoted here.