Creation of Human Kind in the Image of God as Basis for Gender Equality.
ISSUE: Vol.5 No.1 February 2019 Article 12 pp.136 – 151
AUTHOR: Christian F. W. Gbekor
DOI : 10.32051/02211912
ABSTRACT
Societies define gender according to characteristics prescribed by their culture. While sex is classified based on whether a person has male or female genitalia; gender is determined by beliefs, norms and practices of the society. Gender issues are imbedded in religio-cultural systems that ensure that the characteristics and roles of a gender are learned by people classified into that group. The problem however is that the female gender is usually discriminated against in many ways using cultural prejudices. Agents of socialisation, especially religion, are used to entrench gender inequality and discrimination against women in many cultures. The various programmes being pursued to promote gender equality have made some inroads but fail to achieve the ultimate result. This paper looks at some manifestations of gender inequality in Ghana and argues that suppression of one section of society is suppression of the entire society. Using the biblical creation story, the author argues that God created both male and female in his image, making them equal in status but with different roles. He further calls on the church to purposefully rise to the task of transformation of the culture in general and the fight for gender equality and women empowerment in particular since that will benefit all, including men.
Keywords: Gender, gender equality, religio-cultural, image of God, partnership, complementation, subordination.
© 2020 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Publishers. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).