Garnett Roper & Danielle Roper, Contributors
Former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller holds a Bible at her swearing-in ceremony on March 30, 2006. - File
While feminist theologians are making progress, they still face the challenge of deconstructing the cultural values that disenfranchise women and reconstructing a more equitable relationship between men and women in the wider society. Perhaps, the greatest manifestation of this challenge, particularly as it relates to the Caribbean, can be seen in the story of Portia Simpson Miller and Jamaica's recent general election.
The outcome of the political election in Jamaica not merely rejected Portia Simpson Miller, but rejected her with her class background and gender being part of what her political opponents used against her. There are those who contend that the composition of the membership of the current Jamaica Labour Party-led government executive (28-3 male to female), the lowest ratio of women to men in recent history, is a not unintended consequence. It may well be that there is nothing coincidental about the outcome of the Jamaican election. It is conceivable that it reflects the outstanding matters arising in order for liberation of the oppressed underclass to be fully realised and to set the community on its way to gender equity.
the story of Hagar
This discussion will proceed with an excursus on the story of Hagar. It will depend heavily upon an essay written by Moumita Biswas 'Various identities of Hagar in Gender Unity and Empowerment, Ecumenical Review': Gen 16:1-16.
Stories in the Bible need to be read from the end. The denouement is the key to the understanding of a biblical story. The response of the angel of the Lord to the position of Hagar is, therefore, the prism through which the text should be examined. Biswas indicates that there are various identities for Hagar. She discusses Hagar as the following: the Egyptian slave woman, the maid of Sarai, one of the women in the life of Abram, surrogate mother, a refugee, foreigner, the woman who heard God's messenger ordering her to go back and be a slave, a single parent and Ishmael's mother and the liberated woman.
The story is quintessentially about the social unravelling and the unsustainableness of patriarchy. Patriarchy does not onl the relationship between men and women into rivalry between the dominant and the dominated, i the relationship between and among women. Bitchiness, backstabbing and turf protection, as well as woman-on-woman verbal violence, are the up-crops of patriarchy. The Hagar story gives an insider's point of view in the household of polygamy. It also repudiates surrogacy as a form of exploitation. The continued location of women within the role of motherhood and childbearers needs to be a part of the gender deconstruction project.
It is clear from the Hagar story that neither Abraham nor Sarah escapes with his/her dignity from this unholy arrangement. The story shows patriarchy, the dominant culture, in full flow. Sarai the wife of Abram is defined by her role in motherhood. Without a child, her place can be taken by another; a logic that Sarai also accepts. Sarai then makes an arrangement for her husband's use of Hagar, the Egyptian slave woman to bear a child as a surrogate for her mistress.
no rights and no option
Importantly, Hagar is not even consulted; she has no rights and no option. It is clear that Hagar in Sarai's household was uprooted and without economic options. It is conceivable also that, as a foreigner, she would have been discriminated against because of her ethnicity. Even though she bore a child for Abram, she was not thought to be the social equal of Sarai, and, therefore, the best explanation for this was probably because of social prejudices directed towards foreigners in general or Egyptians in particular.
resentment
Hagar clearly resented her situation. Obviously, she did not go along with the idea of surrogacy, but insisted on raising her child herself. This made the relationship in the household untenable. Abram acquiesced to Sarai's wishes and Hagar had to flee the emotional, if not also, physical abuse that became part of her reality in Sarai's household.
However, once again, we assert that Bible stories need to be read to their denouement. Hagar ran away a second time, by this time, her son was perhaps 15 years old. As in the first instance, she found herself in the desert at the mercy of the elements. Once again, the Angel of the Lord found her. The advice of the angel in those circumstances was not that she should return to her mistress, but was a word of re-assurance hope and blessing. The difference lies in the fact that Hagar and her son were in a better situation with a 15 year old boy in tow than she was when she was pregnant and in the desert. The following two observations are, therefore, inescapable. The first is that the Bible locates God on the side and in the company of the oppressed, powerless runaway. It is Hagar not Sarai that receives the beatific vision. It is amidst the adversity of desert condition not in the comfort and safety of Sarai's household that the angel is encountered. The second is that the variation in the advice of the angel lies in the physical and material circumstances of Hagar. Polygamy and surrogacy, if not patriarchy itself is unsustainable: simply to run away from it and perish is no appropriate response; it proves nothing. In time, a more gradual and thoughtful response will produce a more sustainable reality. It is not enough to be against patriarchy, a viabl must be constructed.
PULL QUOTE: [It is this story that shows how the Bible's messages are distorted by the cultural lens through which it is often read. Hagar's story eventually tells us how God makes a way for women who are oppressed by patriarchy and not how he is complicit in their societal oppression.] But Hagar's story is not the only story about the liberation of women we find in the Bible.
In Ruether's book "Women and Redemption", the author traces the relationship between the Jesus Movement and women. Jesus' message deconstructed and broke down the class and gender barriers instituted by the organisation of the temple. Women, the working-class and other marginalised people were deemed impure and separated both in worship and in daily practice from the 'pure'. Jesus message was that these separations had already been overcome through God's graciousness and that a new family, a new community of Israel was being brought together by God's forgiving goodness. His message was that of the liberation of all marginalised people and particularly women. The results of political elections are complex and the result of the 2007 General Elections in Jamaican has proven difficult to determine, let alone analyse. No one can dispute that few Jamaican elections in the past have had social class as a more divergent factor than the recently concluded elections. The obvious, uninhibited and self-evident support by the middle class (including those sometimes referred to as the browning coalition) for the JLP against the PNP is undeniable. The so-called Portia factor was obviated and vitiated by a sustained media campaign that sought to ridicule and demonise her. This was the deliberate tactic used by her political opponent. There were digitally enhanced images of her which distorted both her voice and her appearance. In fact there were instances in the political campaign that were not very far away from and tantamount to 'woman beating'. What was remarkable in the end was not that she lost, but that even the gender movement appeared to be unclear where a line should be drawn. The contempt for the gender and social class has passed without sustained protest. In fact there are those who believe it is deserved because it is true. Women are meant to be mothers. Is Portia Simpson Miller, Hagar redivivus (metaphorically reborn) ?
If we understand the historical figure of the black maid working in the master's house, it reveals that the involvement of the black working-class in government threatens the social, racial and class hierarchy in Jamaican society. Hence the construction of Portia Simpson Miller as a maid, or as a virago calls upon the underlying social prejudices of our society that inform the voters' decision and ultimately maintain patriarchal and elitist power in Jamaica.
Even those of us who support women like Hagar and Portia Simpson Miller and their liberation, we would probably still find it difficult to place her as our leader. Whatever our beliefs are, the recent elections revealed the double standards applied to both men and women in power. The common criticism of Mrs Simpson Miller's 'inarticulacy' was also surfaced in the campaign and used against her. Even though it is common knowledge that Alexander Bustamante was inarticulate, the public forgave that and made him a national hero but repudiates the same thing in Mrs. Simpson Miller. We believe that the reason lies in her class and gender. Why would a quality possessed by both a brown upper class male and a black working class female render such different outcomes? While Jamaica's education system is renowned for the dominance of women and marginalisation of men, it is obvious that it hasn't changed the mindset that informs gender roles in the wider society.
In presenting the story of Portia Simpson we begin to challenge and to undermine the patriarchal values that have invaded the teachings of the scriptures. As we rethink and analyse the portrayal of Portia Simpson Miller and ideologies that informed many of our voters' decisions in our recent elections, we now begin the process of creating and setting the foundations for an equitable society.
Danielle Roper is a recent graduate of Hamilton College NY and Watson Fellow who is a committed to gender equality. Garnet Roper is pastor of the Portmore Missionary Church.
