There are a lot of talk about gender these days. Mr. Pence, vice president of the US has been hauled into a bit of a mess, discussion on his wife, and their relationship.
Let us see if we can disentangle ourselves from this mess that moderne gender roles have become.
On one side, there is the, often religious claim, that women are evil. So they have to be restricted and put down. This is prevalent in especially judaism, theoretically and islam.
At the other side, there is the moderne feminism that holds the same claim about men, that they are inherently evil.
Both claims are definitely wrong. Man is not inherently evil, but has a choice in life. Maybe some women are more prone to follow their feelings, and maybe some men are more prone to fight physically. However, both parties have a choice. We are born with a free choice to follow either a good or a bad course.
Family, or the unification of man and woman will not work, if we do not affect. The compromise in the daily live of the family is usually ethical. You give something of yourself to the family. Sacrifice yourself for the wellbeing of your children, or your spouse.
All communities only work if you sacrifice yourself to some degree for the common good.
This sacrifice however, should be ethical. That is, we need to think about the principles of the family. What is important. Is equality important? Is respect important? Is trust important?
Family life is ethical life, we strive for something better, together.
Take my own family. It is a mix of different backgrounds, my wife is a devout Christian, I am a devout Jew. She is a socialist. I am a conservative.
But we both agree on the principles of our family. And we have had a lot of problems due to my political life. But we still hold on to our little community, and we sacrifice ourselves.
Right now I sleep only six hours each night, my wife even less. But we see our little children flourish and get stronger. They are happy, so we are happy.
The sacrifice we make, we get it back a thousandfold, because of the happiness our family brings.
This attitude to the family as something above ourselves is where true happiness and equality are possible to realise.
It is also the answer to the crisis of too few children in the West, because when you have a family, then you wish to have more children. That is good.
We need to look at what is good, not what is bad.
G-d bless the happiness of family.