A woman’s place? Rethinking work, home, and biblical calling

I remember the first pay packet I received; it was actual cash in a small brown envelope and was the result of my eight hours in a local coffee shop. I loved that job—the freedom it gave me, the finance it provided, and (retrospectively) the experience it gave me of the working world.

Since I was 15, I have spent most of my life in some kind of employment. I’ve been employed full-time, self-employed, and on maternity or adoption leave. However, for the last 15 months, for the first time in my life, I’ve not been in paid employment as I cared for one of our children who was not in full-time education. Although in many ways I feel like I’ve worked harder in this last year than ever before, not bringing in income has given me cause and opportunity to reflect on this thing called ‘work’.

Is a woman’s place in the home?

Maybe you’ve come across the rise of ‘trad wife’ content on social media? If it hasn’t shown up on your feed, it’s a trend where some married women are choosing to embrace traditional gender roles, staying home to focus on homemaking, cooking, and raising children while their husbands work outside the home. Often, this overlaps with couples who identify as Christians—a particular cultural expression that’s too easily mistaken for a universal blueprint of how Christian women ‘ought’ to live.

It is absolutely true that the Bible calls us to honour our spouses and children, commands humility and submission in marriage, and to embrace our God-given calling. For some parents, this may be primarily in the home, and across the world today, where this is the case, it is still primarily women who choose and/or take on this role.

But is a woman who does this godlier? In perhaps the most often quoted chapter of the Bible that speaks about women, Proverbs 31, there is a picture of a woman who is industrious, engaged in trade, works hard, and provides for her family. There are Old Testament examples in Ruth, the midwives in Exodus 1, and the Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4), alongside those in the early church—Lydia (Acts 16), Priscilla (Acts 18), and Phoebe (Romans 16)—who were active in ministry and business alongside hospitality and family.