Frymer-Kensky says there is evidence of "gender blindness" in the Hebrew Bible. [2] :166–167 Unlike other ancient literature, the Hebrew Bible does not explain or justify cultural subordination by portraying women as deserving of less because of their "naturally evil" natures. The Biblical depiction of early Bronze Age culture up through the Axial Age, depicts the "essence" of women, (that is the Bible's metaphysical view of being and nature), of both male and female as "created in the image of God" with neither one inherently inferior in nature. [11] :41,42 Discussions of the nature of women are conspicuously absent from the Hebrew Bible. [35] Biblical narratives do not show women as having different goals, desires, or strategies or as using methods that vary from those used by men not in authority. [35] :xv Judaic studies scholar David R. Blumenthal explains these strategies made use of "informal power" which was different from that of men with authority. [11] :41,42 There are no personality traits described as being unique to women in the Hebrew Bible. [35] :166–167 Most theologians agree the Hebrew Bible does not depict the slave, the poor, or women, as different metaphysically in the manner other societies of the same eras did. [35] :166–167 [11] :41,42 [10] :15–20 [8] :18 a b Meyers, Carol (1988). Discovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195049343. OCLC 242712170. While women are not generally in the forefront of public life in the Bible, those women who are named are usually prominent for reasons outside the ordinary. For example, they are often involved in the overturning of human power structures in a common biblical literary device called "reversal". Abigail, David's wife, Esther the Queen, and Jael who drove a tent peg into the enemy commander's temple while he slept, are a few examples of women who turned the tables on men with power. The founding matriarchs are mentioned by name, as are some prophetesses, judges, heroines, and queens, while the common woman is largely, though not completely, unseen. The slave Hagar's story is told, and the prostitute Rahab's story is also told, among a few others. Susanna, book of – Oxford Biblical Studies Online". www.oxfordbiblicalstudies.com . Retrieved 17 January 2020.

Main article: Jesus' interactions with women The Samaritan woman, meeting Jesus by the well. Orthodox icon The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) ( X) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Until the codes introduced in the Hebrew Bible, most codes of law allowed prostitution. Classics scholars Allison Glazebrook and Madeleine M. Henry say attitudes concerning prostitution "cut to the core of societal attitude towards gender and to social constructions of sexuality." [25] :3 Many women in a variety of ancient cultures were forced into prostitution. [21] :413 Many were children and adolescents. According to the 5th century BCE historian Herodotus, the sacred prostitution of the Babylonians was "a shameful custom" requiring every woman in the country to go to the precinct of Venus, and consort with a stranger. [26] :211 Some waited years for release while being used without say or pay. The initiation rituals of devdasi of pre-pubescent girls included a deflowering ceremony which gave Priests the right to have intercourse with every girl in the temple. In Greece, slaves were required to work as prostitutes and had no right to decline. [25] :3 The Hebrew Bible code is the only one of these codes that condemns prostitution. [21] :399–418 Jesus' mother appears again in John (19:25–27) at the crucifixion, where Jesus makes provision for the care of his mother in her senior years (John 19:25–27). [129] :48,49 Mary speaks not a word and the narrator does not describe her. [129] :49 Jesus' sisters [ edit ]

What is a Woman's Role in the Bible?      

Ruth is the title character of the Book of Ruth. In the narrative, she is not an Israelite but rather is from Moab; she marries an Israelite. Both her husband and her father-in-law die, and she helps her mother-in-law, Naomi, find protection. The two of them travel to Bethlehem together, where Ruth wins the love of Boaz through her kindness. [83] Daniel, chapter 13". www.usccb.org. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops . Retrieved 17 January 2020.

Christian sexual ideology is inextricably interwoven with its larger concept of freewill. "In its original form, Christian freewill was a cosmological claim—an argument about the relationship between God's justice and the individual... [but] as Christianity became intermeshed with society, the discussion shifted in revealing ways to the actual psychology of volition and the material constraints on sexual action". [96] The Greeks and Romans said a human being's deepest moralities depended upon their social position, which is given by fate and must, therefore, be simply accepted. Christianity preached freedom, and the power and responsibility that goes with it, no matter what a person's status or position in society. [95] a b c d Okin, Susan Moller (1979). Women in Western Political Thought. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-02191-1.Adultery was defined differently for men than for women: a woman was an adulteress if she had sexual relations outside her marriage, but if a man had sexual relations outside his marriage with an unmarried woman, a concubine or a prostitute, it was not considered adultery on his part. [45] :3 A woman was considered "owned by a master". [11] :20,21 A woman was always under the authority of a man: her father, her brothers, her husband, and since she did not inherit, eventually her eldest son. [47] :1,2 She was subject to strict purity laws, both ritual and moral, and non-conforming sex—homosexuality, bestiality, cross-dressing and masturbation—was punished. Stringent protection of the marital bond and loyalty to kin was very strong. [47] :20 See also: Women in Judaism The Construction of Noah's Ark depicts the eight people said to be on the ark, including the four wives, who are all unnamed in the Book of Genesis. Jacopo Bassano, 16th century. a b Swidler, Leonard (1976). Women in Judaism. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0810809048.