To deny that God made woman uniquely different from man is like denying the Sun is different from the Moon. Denying the special gifts that God gave only to woman is to rob her and the rest of humanity of the true joy that God intended for his creation. In this post, we will explore how God made woman in all her wondrous ways, and how her physical and psychological attributes perfectly equip her for the role for which God created her.
The Bible says:
9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
– I Corinthians 11:9 (KJV)
When we look at man, we can see how a woman in almost every way is man’s opposite. Men are tough, women are soft. Men are project-oriented, women are people-oriented. Men love to compete, women are more cooperative. As I have previously discussed, man and woman were both made for the glory of God. However, how God accomplishes his glory is different in man from how it is in woman.
God made man to have a creature who would come closest to his nature. Man represents God’s love exemplified through his leadership, provision and protection. Man, also, is able to symbolize God’s wrath and judgment through his aggression.
God made woman to be a help meet for man. Woman brings glory to God by modeling God the Son’s submission to God the Father by submitting to her husband and helping him in every way she can.
3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
– I Corinthians 11:3 (KJV)
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
– Ephesians 5:23-24 (KJV)
Literally the phrase “help meet” is a helper that is suitable for man. God knew that he wanted man and woman to reproduce and have children. He gave women the responsibility, as well as the capability, of bearing the sons and daughters of men. Women were not only designed to bear children, but they were also designed to raise children. However, a woman’s body was not only designed for reproduction, but it was also designed to give pleasure and comfort to men.
Whenever we have a discussion of differences in gender, people run from the words like “superior” or “better” and we are only allowed to use the word “different”. Some things between men and women are not really a matter of being better or superior, but they truly are just differences.
But when one gender simply excels at something over the other gender’s ability, I don’t think it is wrong to use the words “better” or “superior”. I believe we should honor God’s creation and the beautiful differences, as well as superiorities between genders.
With all that said as an introduction, I will begin our discussion of how God made woman superior to man with this verse:
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
– Psalm 139:14 (NIV)
Women are superior to men in language and facial recognition abilities
…researchers found that areas of the brain involved in language and fine motor skills (such as handwriting) mature about six years earlier in girls than in boys.
http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/how-male-female-brains-differ
A new brain connectivity study from Penn Medicine published today in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences found striking differences in the neural wiring of men and women that’s lending credence to some commonly-held beliefs about their behavior.
…in females, the wiring goes between the left and right hemispheres, suggesting that they facilitate communication between the analytical and intuition.
…Females outperformed males on attention, word and face memory, and social cognition tests.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131202161935.htm
There are few men that have been married for any length of time that would argue that their wife is not better at reading people and their emotions than they are. Most men would also agree that their wife often times has a better memory than they do, especially when it comes to relational facts and things that are going on in various family members’ lives.
Women can see more colors than men
Men trail women in discerning shades of blue, yellow, and green, a new study says.
Females are better at discriminating among colors, researchers say, while males excel at tracking fast-moving objects and discerning detail from a distance–evolutionary adaptations possibly linked to our hunter-gatherer past.
So ladies, when you are showing your husband those 4 shades of green for the bedroom, he really probably only sees one color. Even if he can distinguish, the colors just don’t pop out to him the way they do to you.
Maybe the next time you see your hubby putting on the wrong color shirt with his pants, you will just laugh and chuckle instead of wondering how he could do that. I have always considered my wife to be my fashion advisor. I am more colorblind than most men; I just can’t tell what goes with what.
Women can hear more than men
At one week of age, girls can distinguish their mother’s voice from sounds made by another baby. Boys can’t. Scientists who do this work have found that young girls can hear much softer sounds than those audible to young boys. Girls have a sense of hearing that is two to four times better than boys.
– Dr. Walt Larimore, MD (pg. 52 “His Brain, Her Brain”)
Women have a better sense of smell
…women have more taste buds and are significantly superior in tasting bitter and complex flavors.
– Dr. Walt Larimore, MD (pg. 54 “His Brain, Her Brain”)
So, when a mom goes in her teenage boy’s room and can smell the dirty clothes in his room, she needs to understand he probably does not smell a thing. It is her super-smelling ability that allows her to smell all these wonderful things!
Women are better at multi-tasking
…women have superior memory and social cognition skills, making them more equipped for multitasking and creating solutions that work for a group.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131202161935.htm
Because women have almost 10 times more white matter (processing matter) than men as well as more connections between the right and left hemispheres of the brain, they are better equipped to multi-task than a man. Feminists hate it when people bring up that women are better multi-taskers because this multi-tasking ability is automatically associated with women being better able to manage children than men.
Even non-Christian scientists acknowledge that women evolved this multi-tasking ability to help them care for children. Believers who accept God’s Biblical design for women don’t believe they evolved their multi-tasking ability, but that God purposefully made it as part of a woman’s design from day one to help women in their mothering duties.
A woman’s multi-tasking abilities not only help her in her mothering and home-care duties, but they also assist her in certain occupations outside the home.
According to an article from CNN Money, these were the most common jobs for women in the 1950s as well as today:
About 4 million workers in the United States fell under the category of “secretaries and administrative assistants” between 2006 and 2010, and 96% of them were women, according to the U.S. Census.
– Annalyn Kurtz (CNN Money)
“The good news is over the past 40 years, there are very few jobs in which women have not broken through,” Cameron said. “The glass ceiling is cracking in all different directions, but the bad news is, there is still a sticky floor. Most women still work in traditionally female jobs, like administrative support.”
– Cindia Cameron (9to5, National Association of Working Women)
http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/31/news/economy/secretary-women-jobs/index.html
Both of the female contributors to the article above lament that while some women have broken into more traditionally male-dominated fields, the vast majority of women have not. This is a great mystery to them and something that needs to be overcome.
But if we understand and accept how God has created and designed women, the fact that the majority of women who work outside the home work in these fields makes perfect sense.
All of these fields require abilities that women typically surpass men in. Secretaries, cashiers and clerical workers are all fields that require excellent multi-tasking abilities. Elementary school teachers require multi-tasking ability to manage a classroom full of young children.
Nurses and nursing aides require multi-tasking as well.
To deny that women excel in multi-tasking would be the same as denying that tigers are faster than elephants. While it is true that the fastest running elephants run at around 30 mph and the slowest running tigers may run around 25 to 30 mph, we never take the exceptions to negate the norm.
So yes, there may be some men that are better than some women at multi-tasking, but these are exceptions, and not the norm.
This brings us to perhaps the greatest gift God has given women.
Women are empathizers
The sex differences in nurturing appear…well before girls and boys are capable of reliably discriminating between the genders or knowing which behaviors are more characteristic of one than the other. Even among children ages twelve months to twenty months, exposure to the distress of other people causes girls to respond with more empathy and less indifference than boys…. Multiple studies have concluded that women are “more empathetic, tender-minded and nurturing than men.”
– Dr. Walt Larimore, MD (pg. 120 “His Brain, Her Brain”)
A woman’s greatest gift is her ability to feel the emotions of others. She truly feels them, in a way most men never can. A woman’s gentleness, her sensitiveness and her empathy are the defining characteristics of the psyche for the vast majority of women. In fact, in most cultures around the world a woman who is not gentle, sensitive and empathetic is not only considered to be strange, but un-feminine.
I am not saying that there are not women who struggle with these qualities, but God has called women to cultivate these attributes in themselves even if they do not come as naturally to some women as to others.
It then comes as no surprise that we find the vast majority of nurses as well as daycare workers to be women. Women are well-gifted at anticipating the needs of others, both emotional and physical. This makes women well-suited to the most important task requiring their empathy – the nurturing and caring of their children.
One of the greatest joys of a woman’s life is the carrying of a child in her womb, and then one day the holding of that child in her arms. Most women can tell you every detail of their pregnancies, births and the weaning of their children.
In the Bible, bareness was considered a curse, because a woman knew this was one of the main purposes for which her mind and body were designed. I am not saying women who have not been able to bear children are under a curse, because sometimes God simply does not allow it. My second wife (after divorcing my first wife), was not able to bear children. But she has had the joy and privilege of being a great step-mother to my children from my first marriage. She still grieves at times when her friends or relatives get pregnant, and it is very difficult for her. This is the natural reaction of a woman when she cannot have children of her own.
A woman’s body compliments the nature of her mind
Just as a woman’s mind is soft and gentle, so too her body is soft and gentle. A man’s body is not designed for beauty or appearance, but for work and combat. A woman’s body is the opposite: her body is designed to be beautiful. A woman is God’s most beautiful creation. A woman’s body is designed to serve the needs of men and their children. I realize this statement will be highly offensive to the modern feminist woman, but sometimes the truth is offensive.
This does not mean that men have a right to mistreat women as some have from the beginning of creation. A woman is to be treated as a precious and delicate treasure, not as someone to be beaten or physically or emotionally abused.
In fact, God warns men that if they mistreat their wives, God will not hear their prayers.
7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
– I Peter 3:7 (KJV)
So, the fact that a woman’s body was created to serve the needs of men and their children in no way diminishes her importance and does not give anyone the right to treat her with disrespect. Men who do dishonor and mistreat their wives do so to their own peril.
With that being said let us explore God’s wonderful work of art – a woman’s body.
A woman’s breasts are a visible symbol to the world of her womanhood
Breasts are considered to be the defining physical symbol of womanhood.
8 We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?
– Song of Solomon 8:8 (KJV)
While a woman may start her menstrual cycles long before she has breasts, her breasts are an unmistakable symbol to the world that she is transitioning from being a girl to being a woman. This is one of the reasons that most insurance companies cover artificial breast replacements for women who lose their breasts due to cancer. It is because a woman’s breasts are key to her feeling like a woman.
A woman’s breasts are the perfect feeding instruments for infants
A woman’s breasts serve the needs of her children by feeding them the perfect nutrients as they grow and develop. Science today has proven that no formula can perfectly match the health benefits of a mother’s breast milk. Her breast milk changes to match the changing needs of her child as they grow and mature. Her breasts also serve the needs of her child by being a place of comfort for a young child.
9 But thou are he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts.
– Psalm 22:9 (KJV)
A woman’s breasts are a blessing from God to man
But breasts are not only for feeding children. Female humans are the only mammals in God’s creation that keep constantly protruding breasts. A woman’s constantly protruding breasts serve the second function for which God made them: the pleasure and comfort of men.
25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
– Genesis 49:25 (KJV)
18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
– Proverbs 5:18-19 (KJV)
10 I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.
– Song of Solomon 8:10 (KJV)
I will cover this in more detail when I write on human sexuality from a Christian perspective, but for now I will say this. A woman’s breasts serve two purposes: the feeding of infants, and the pleasure of and comfort of man. To say a woman’s breasts are only meant for feeding children would fly in the face of biology, psychology and most importantly the Bible.
Fat helps a woman look more attractive than a man
Contrary to modern preconceptions, fat, in and of itself, is not a bad thing for a woman. It can become a bad thing when there are excessive amounts of fat, but when fat is in the correct proportions it is one of the key things that makes a woman beautiful. In the same way that a man’s body naturally produces more muscle than a woman’s, a woman’s body naturally produces more fat than a man’s body.
Men should have an average of 9 to 15% of their body weight come from fat. Women, however, should have a range of 14 to 21% of their body weight from fat. So as you can see, a normal woman with a low percentage of body fat would be at the high end of where a man should be. On average, women typically have 50% more body fat than men and that is a good thing for several reasons.
http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/normal-ranges-of-body-weight-and-body-fat
Girls begin to add more fat just prior to and during puberty. This fat is distributed to their cheeks, lips, breasts, hips, pelvis and buttocks. It is only after they take in too much fat that it will be distributed to their stomach or elsewhere.
In fact, a woman produces and stores special fat in her hips, buttocks and legs called DHA. Her body uses this fat to help with infant brain development when she is pregnant. This fat (along a woman’s hips, buttocks and legs) is some of the more difficult for her to lose because her body is programmed to keep it for having children. That is why the ladies in the gym have to work so much harder on their legs, buttocks and hips to lose weight in those regions.
So ladies, fat is not always the enemy. In fact, contrary to the skinny, bony models we are shown on television or in ads, most men actually prefer curvy women.
An article in the 2012 issue of Psychology Today explains that men “know” something significant about women’s bodies that women don’t. And it all has to do with nature’s mandate to produce children with great survival skills. In fact, women are usually more like men’s ideals than they realize, and losing weight to meet the standard set by the fashion modeling industries may not make them any more attractive to men.
Men rate women as most attractive when they have a waste (sic) size that is 60-70% of this hip size. To put things in perspective: The typical US undergrad has a waist that is 75% of her hip size. The average Playboy playmate is 53%, and the average fashion model is 46%…
The total amount of fat a human female carries is seven times that of other animals, and much more than men. And the fat stored in women’s hips, butt, and legs is “protected” from weight fluctuations…
Babies have an organ that is seven times larger than in other animals – the brain. And it grows fastest in the first two years of life, and it only does so with ample supplies of the omega-3 fatty acid DHA. Guess where women’s bodies tend to stash DHA? In the hips and legs…
Women are much less satisfied with their bodies after viewing images of super-skinny models. However, men consistently prefer a curvier, fuller look that is nothing like the “ideal” presented by the fashion industry!
– Jonathan Ross (Discovery Health)
(Just FYI Discovery removed this article from their blog since I posted this – maybe because it was politically incorrect? I don’t know.)
So ladies – stop looking at all those skinny fashion models that have no curves and have bodies that look more like teenage boys than women. God made you the way you are for a reason.
Conclusion and Application
Whether you are a Christian reading this or a non-Christian, I invite you to examine the evidence both from biology as well as your own general observations of human behavior. Will there be exceptions? Yes. There are some women who have behaviors and abilities that more mimic the typical man, and there are some men who have behaviors and abilities that more mirror the typical woman. But these are rare.
As believers, we have a source of truth that not only confirms the differences we see in biology and typical gender behaviors, but it also gives a reason for the differences. It gives us a purpose, if we will only believe and accept it.
To the women I say, will you accept how God has made you? Will you accept the purpose for your differences and use them in accordance with his plan? Will you accept that God created you not to give the majority of your time and talents to strangers, but that he specially gifted you for bearing and raising children and supporting your husband? As a woman the greatest thing you can ever build in God’s sight is your home, not a career. Even if your abilities are not as strong as other women in various areas – will you pray to God to strengthen your weaknesses?
Moms – will you raise your daughters to be independent of men? Or, will you raise them to honor their God-given role of wife and mother and teach them to find a man and pour themselves 100% into being the best wife and mother a man could ever want? If you have a son, are you raising your daughters to be like the kind of wife you would want your son to have?
Husbands – will you accept your wife’s God-given need to have children, and to feel protected and secure? Will you accept that God has made women like a delicate vases and you need to treat them as the treasure God has given you? Will you show your daughters the special love that they need? Do you treat your wife the way you would want your daughter’s husband to treat her?
We must all accept that God has built women to be help meets to men and mothers to their children. Women are gifted with a special ability to empathize and nurture; they have multi-tasking and care-taking abilities. Women are built for beauty and comfort, to bring pleasure to both the eyes and bodies of men.
I have briefly mentioned God’s sexual design of woman, but I have not gone into great detail. I have opted to cover that in a completely separate paper because I really don’t believe I can do it justice in just a few paragraphs. Look for a separate post on human sexuality coming soon.
Other sources:
http://drjamesdobson.org/Solid-Answers/Answers?a=ff773023-2693-410d-b9e1-662f6985be4e
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201207/the-battle-the-sexes
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/08/opinion/08baron-cohen.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Biblical Gender Roles 
Well the problem with that is which unfortunately God never made good women today like the old days.
You are correct in that God made each gender different, but to say that one is superior to the other based on the strengths that you personally value more than others is prejudicial. Men have many strengths that we do not have. Take for one the willingness to protect us and the bravery in any terrible situation. When nearly any tragedy happens, looks who instantly jumps to into action. It’s the men, ladies, and I for one, am thankful for that difference. They are wired to think more mechanically and without them we would not have many of the modern conveniences we have today. Some might say that was more important than being nurturing and having a better sense of smell. Please be care how you say things.
Kirsten,
You missed the point of the two articles (that I wrote together by the way). There are ways in which God made man superior to woman and ways in which he made woman superior to man. Woman was made to be a superior caregiver and nurturer to man. She has superior skills in sensing emotion and connecting with people – something that is critical for mothers or people who care for the sick. But there are ways in which God made man superior to woman, he gave man far more natural muscle mass, tracking capabilities and the ability to shut off his emotions for hunting and battle. His skin is thicker than woman’s to make him less easy to hurt. While woman is built to be an emphathizer, man is built to be a systemizer. He figures out how things work and he makes things better – he is a builder, a conquer and an explorer. My point is that we should rejoice in these differences and stop being afraid of the word “superior”, this is just one of those many PC things we have today in our culture. Men are superior to women in some ways, and women are superior to men in other ways. That is a fact of God’s design.
OIC, perhaps rewording the title some would help.
Kirsten,
I often give things a title that will draw people in. And one of the things I am trying to do on this site is attack our PC culture. That title does just that. It was intentional. In fact it was part of an experiment. When I wrote those two posts together I entitled one which said “How God Made Man Superior to Woman” and the other “How God made Woman Superior to Man” – very few people were bothered by the second one but a lot of people did not like the first.
In 1984 Mario Cuumo stated the following at the Democratic National convention:
While God wants us to treat people justly and fairly, this does not translate to the egalitarianism of American culture. God made men and women different and made them for different roles. There is no such command in the Bible about sinning against equality because God made and unequal world and he made unequal roles between men and women.
The title of this article was meant to be a full on assault on American egalitarianism.