Gendered Service in the Church

 

What men refuse to do in the Church makes me more angry than what they don't allow me to do as a woman. Especially because the biggest example is cooking and feeding people.

Cooking for families in need is something everyone can do. You don't need a uterus to do it. These are the moments when I realize my eternal progression is being frustrated by men whose learned helplessness means they can't even handle making dinner.

The list of callings I can't have does bother me. But every moment where I have to confront how truly incapable some of these men are, how they can't even feed themselves but they alone get to make so many decisions that shape my church experience, that's what pisses me off. 

My husband, who has always been a better cook than I will ever be, doesn't get the chance to use those skills and talents. The only service opportunities he gets is to help people move because he's a man. They call me because I'm the woman in our household, and the assumption is I'm the one who cooks.

Make it make sense. Oh, wait. You can't. Because the whole thing is nonsensical.