[blockquote]I was part of a Latino Church and was speaking with a woman friend about gender roles. She said something quite interesting… the evangelical sub-culture with the wife at home and the hsuband as wage earner was a very white middle class construct. Most Latino women she knew needed to work outside the home in order to make it in the US as a family. She saw it as sort of an Americanized “Biblical” expectation not as a mandate for all time.[/blockquote]

I might add that this is a “white middle-class [b]American[/b] construct.” I lived in Britain for several years, and the culture is definitely more egalitarian over there. People take it for granted that women will work outside of the home, even after they’re married. Wives are seen as partners who are supposed to contribute equally. It was quite sad for me to get back to the States last year and find that American women were still getting the tiresome “you’re neglecting your kids if you’re working” guilt trip laid on them.

I think this has something to do with WWII. Since the British people suffered tremendously during and after the war, they didn’t have the luxury of fantasizing about an “ideal” role for women. Yes, lots of women were still housewives, but they were expected to be tough and suck it up. Food rationing did not end in Britain until well into the 50′s, so British wives had a much tougher time than their American counterparts. Since America never really suffered during the War, then when it ended and the economic boom came, we were able to create the fantasy of the happy wife in her spotless dress and pearls, waiting for her husband who went out and did the “real” work.

Without skipping a beat I said, “Everyday life is brain washing.”

My fellow student’s jaw dropped and she said, “That’s profound.”

I didn’t think so. I thought it was obvious. We are so molded by our culture. Perhaps “brain washing” is too strong of a term since in our usage, it involves more of a transition from one way of thinking to another with negative results. But we are all very conditioned by our culture. Some of us are just more aware of it than others.

Both of the post above state the idea very well, but as an anthropologist at a Christian college, I would just want to point out that this is at the very heart of what I and other Christian anthropologists do every day. We all need to understand that our entire lives are wrapped in historically and culturally particular worlds. All these need to be held up to the critique of scripture, but none are purely “Christian” or uniformly superior.

I was part of a Latino Church and was speaking with a woman friend about gender roles. She said something quite interesting… the evangelical sub-culture with the wife at home and the hsuband as wage earner was a very white middle class construct. Most Latino women she knew needed to work outside the home in order to make it in the US as a family. She saw it as sort of an Americanized “Biblical” expectation not as a mandate for all time.

For example, I’ve had to curb my tongue probably more than I would if I were married to an American. Asian culture is oriented enough around respect, hierarchy, and consideration for the community that if I went with my independent American nature of say-what-i-want-when-i-want, I’d offend a lot of people unnecessarily.

I’ve written a bit more about this in an article on my blog, The Link Between (http://thelinkbetween.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/intercultural-marriage-a-model-of-reconciliation-for-the-church/) if you’re interested.