The Sound Of Silence; The Woman's Role In Church Series

The Sound of silence, the woman’s role in church

The world has changed a lot in the last 60 years. I grew up watching TV sitcoms like “Father Knows Best” and “Leave it to Beaver.” These shows portrayed the Dad as the one with all the answers and Mom was the caretaker of the home. She was always perfectly dressed and oh, so cheerful.

But eventually June Cleaver left the comforts of her home and entered the work place.

In an article ‘Women in the Workplace’ By: Yenisse Alonso and Vickie Brint the following observation was made;

“In 1950, only one in every three women entered the workforce; by the 1960s, social and economic forces made higher education more available to women, thus increasing their job opportunities. As a result, more women married later and postponed having children. In 1998, the number of women entering the workforce had climbed to three out of every five women. And in 2006, women comprised 46 percent of the paid workforce.”

And Margaret Anderson hung up her apron for some combat fatigues.

Women in the Military: Combat Roles Considered Authored by Jake Willens, 7 August 1996. “There are approximately 32,000 women in the U.S. military, comprising about 13 percent of the total U.S. Armed Forces (Defense Almanac 1995). In 1970, only 1.4 percent of the total military was comprised of women, a number that more than tripled to 4.6 percent in 1975, nearly doubled to 8.3 in 1980, rose to 10 in 1985, 11 in 1990, to the current 13 percent (Government Executive March 1994)”.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution June 27, 2005

Washington - With more than 200,000 women serving in the U.S. military, Americans have long been accustomed to seeing them marching in combat boots right alongside men.

The latest statistic places the number at 287000 or 15% of the total U. S. Armed Forces (Dept of Defense) Sept 30, 2011

Laura Pettri decided she no longer need Rob to raise little Richie.

According to Wikipedia; Since the 1960s, there has been a marked increase in the number of children living with a single parent. The 1960 United States Census reported that 9% of children were dependent on a single parent, a number that has increased to 28% by the 2000 US Census. The spike was caused by an increase in unmarried pregnancies, which 36% of all births by unmarried women, ----. In 2000, 11% of children were living with parents who had never been married; --- The results of the 2010 United States Census showed that 27% of children live with one parent, consistent with the emerging trend noted in 2000. 80% of these were women.

Harriet Nelson left her cookie baking for some wine tasting and we now find this statistic; ScienceDaily (Feb. 24, 2009) — “Low to moderate alcohol consumption among women is associated with a statistically significant increase in cancer risk and may account for nearly 13 percent of the cancers of the breast, liver, rectum, and upper aero-digestive tract combined, according to a report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.”

Donna Reed decided to light one up with the fellows;

Women and Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General “In 1965, 51.9 percent of men were smokers, whereas 33.9 percent of women were smokers. By 1979, the percentage of women who smoked had declined somewhat, to 29.9 percent. However, the decline in smoking among men to 37.5 percent was much more dramatic. The gender gap in adult smoking prevalence continued to close after the 1980 report, but since the mid-1980s, the difference has been fairly stable at about 5 percentage points. In 1998, smoking prevalence was 22.0 percent among women and 26.4 percent among men.”

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) published the following article

"Girls born in 2009 will live shorter lives than their mothers April 19, 2012 (ATLANTA) - “From 1989 to 2009, life expectancy for men improved by 4.6 years on average but only by 2.7 years for women. And throughout the country, women were more likely than men to have no progress in life expectancy or to have their lifespans get shorter over time.

IHME’s research shows that the biggest drivers of health disparities nationwide are preventable causes of death, including tobacco, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, and alcohol. IHME found that a larger percentage of women than men had inadequately treated high blood pressure and high cholesterol.”

The June Cleavers and Margaret Andersons of the US are actually losing years off their lives due to the stress and abuse of alcohol and tobacco that their male counterparts have been experiencing for years. As the Virginia Slims ads said in the 70s “You’ve come a long way, baby”

But this is not really current events. Paul dealt with issues of women’s rights when he penned the letters to the churches and those he mentored.