In reading through the thread, I think part of the issue with how women are treated and what's expected of men is because we are looking at the social structure presented in the Bible without considering the social context at the time, and through our own social structure now.
One of the hallmarks of Jesus ministry was his kind,loving and considerate treatment of women as equals. That was in fact a break from the social habits and tradition of the time. In fact, it was quite a big deal that Jesus' resurrection was revealed to women first, and not to men ~ and it may have been one of the reasons that the report was not believed at first.
Carefull examination of the early congregation shows that as congregations were formed, women played an important part there too. They took part in ministry, teaching and even hosting congregations in their homes. Of course, at that time, each congregation had more autonomy as well.
There are layers of issues with interpreting the Bible. Questions we might need to ask are:
1) "What did these events mean to the people who experienced them? What was happening to them socially, politically, economically, at the time?"
2) "What did these event mean to the people who wrote down or documented the experience?What was happening to them socially, politically, economically, at the time?"
3) "What do these events mean to the people who are reading about them?What was happening to them socially, politically, economically, at the time?"
Answering these questions leads us to look at language (both the original languages and the one we are using now) to see where meanings of words and understanding them in mondern language line up or need to be adjusted, and to consider what these events, words, stories meant to the people in the document, not using what it would mean to us if it happened to us now, but what it meant in context for them at the time.
One piece of information that really changed the way I read the Bible is that Jews during the time of Christ were under Roman law, and viewed as slaves. Next time you read the NT, notice how much slave language there is ~ it's not an accident.
As far as our social structure now, White Straight Men without any perceived disability or weakness, are at the top followed by white women, black men, [I could have this off in the order] but there is a social order that is followed in the world in general, and when you shrink that down to the microcosm of a congregation it gets worse. Add on top of that lack of education and any social awareness, and it becomes what we experience as a JW today.
They give lip service to being socially aware, but the truth is that they are not and they do nothing to encourage the congregants to become so since everything "out there" is dangerous.
my .02 cents
~ bafh
