I see religion itself contributing to a massive extent to the male oppression of women in general and the JWs have certainly bought the master franchise in this area.
Personally I believe the bible itself to contribute to the growing attempt by a patriachal society to minimise women and to treat them in a subordinate manner. One might argue that the bible doesnt make such attempt but merely assigns distinctive roles to gender but this is illusory in my opinion. In assigning gender specific roles it clearly discounts and deminishes womens ability to contribute in matters of leadership and organisation and places them in subordinate positions. Where biblical women have taken the lead, the fact that the bible has to mention this as something unusual or distinct sends a clear message that whilst women have and are able to take the lead this is not the norm and isnt encouraged.
Any such attempt in the bible to hold women in high esteem therefore could be considered to be lip service and just an attempt to patronise the women mentioned; the question needs to be asked as to why the biblical author feels the need to make such comments; would the author have praised a man who carried out or demonstrated similar virtues? It would appear not.
Even where the bible properly attempts to praise certain women, the bible cannot avoid being stereotypical in it's praise and even where such praise is not stereotypical, it has to be considered against the backdrop of various other scriptures which does deminish the role of women in christianity and in society.
Admittedly there are numerous scriptures which refer to women 'prophesying' but in reading closer it seems to mean only bearing witness as opposed to foretelling future events. This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that no woman has authored any prophetic book contained within the bible itself.
The bible however whilst contributing to a patriachal society should not be blamed; we live in a society where we are more intelligent and educated, we simply know better and I maintain that the bibles failings in this regard are merely indicative of it being written from a male perspective and at a time where women had less equal rights.
Going back to my point, we now simply know better and any religious organisation that fails to move with the times in this regard is conveniently using such biblical passages to bolster its attempt to control women and to place them in subordinate positions.
DB74