By: Annie Choi
It was like being in an exam, the discomfort of nervous energy and the noises surrounding me muffled to a hum. It never bothered me before and I don’t know how to help so I should just keep it to myself. I could hear my heart beating and my throat went dry as my fingers trembled to write:
Hey, I know it’s out of your control and it’s complicated, but it’d be nice to see more women during service and not just in “soft” roles. I don’t know why it hasn’t bugged me much before, but it felt particularly male-dominant today to me.
Around this time, BLM was gaining momentum prompting some food media allies to offer their mentorship to BIPOC creatives. It was their way of opening doors to an exclusive industry by assisting with pitches, providing advice on branding and social media strategy, even handing out industry contacts…all the secret handshakes you never knew you needed. As things continued to unravel, it became a line of defense, a provision of armour against being taken advantage of by an industry now scrambling to diversify.
Against this backdrop, conversations and deep reflections ensued around sexism that led to other questions. What is my role in our community? “What are you passionate about?” they asked.
Of course a man would assume that I am welcome, that I have a place simply on the basis of this notion of passion.
There is a long history of patriarchy in the Chinese Church. Not to over-generalize but women have been explicitly taught or implicitly conditioned to be quiet and seek approval. Culturally, it’s the model minority, but the female edition is on steroids. I grew up at a church with a female English pastor not knowing how progressive this was at the time. The exclusively male deacons and senior pastor used 1 Timothy 2 to prevent her from being ordained and ultimately fired her for preaching on topics they deemed to be beyond the scope of women. Even at ET we serve, with a few exceptions, in “soft” ministries like children and youth, worship, and hospitality; often in subservient administrative roles.
I hesitate to find direction from scripture, a text written and translated by men. There are some Biblical scholars who point to Jesus as a feminist since he appeared first to Mary Magdalene post-Crucifixion (in Mark and John) and healed the child of the Syrophonecian woman after she called him out. But the women who travelled with him were not counted among the 12 disciples. There are women of great faith mentioned in the Bible from Rahab to Esther to Ruth; but Eve is the culprit of humanity’s downfall. Women weren’t written out of the Bible but I don’t know that it speaks to more than our mere inclusion in the Kingdom. Perhaps the account of the prophet, Deborah, who led Israel in the time of judges, provides evidence that God doesn’t conform to gender norms.
I don’t know if ET is necessarily sexist. A lot contributes to the lack of women in leadership including personal obligations, self selection bias (women may have a tendency to avoid leadership roles), or where one’s strengths and passions lie. That said, leadership is by invitation only and bias, sexism or otherwise, exists in that realm. Drawing on the parallels of the cultural and political moment we’re in, these BLM allies are responding to a need that I and all marginalized groups are after: for someone to open the door that has long been closed.