There’s something about women. If they’re obnoxious, they seem more obnoxious than men. If they’re hardened in their character, they seem more conniving than men. If they cuss and swear, it’s more of an assault to the ears and souls than when a man uses the same words. Why is that?
I realize some of you probably don’t feel this way. However, I can remember feeling this way since I was in high school and worked at summer jobs with various women. I once worked in a credit department with all women of various ages. Our boss was a man with a hierarchy of women beneath him. Mostly what I did was file, record transactions on the microfiche (there’s an ancient beast for ya), and okay credit transactions anonymously via telephone by giving a number after checking the credit history of the user. As you might discern: BORING.
So I decided to lighten things up a bit. The cardinal rule in that office was to be sure that no staples remained in the paperwork that had to be filmed in the microfiche. Well . . . of course staples were a pain to remove and a lot of them showed up holding together pieces of paper that had to be filmed individually. I thought I’d make a little light-hearted reminder noting the lax practices of taking out those bothersome staples. I wrote it with one or two co-conspirators, signed it “The Mad Filmer” and managed to get several copies placed on multiple desks. All I remember about what I wrote was that it was brief and an attempt at reasonable humor.
Um. One of the top women couldn’t find any “funny” in it. Instead she interpreted it as funny business which irritated her no end. Hey, it wasn’t my rule. My conspirators and I never owned up to who wrote and distributed the notes, and we never attempted to bring humor into that pit of a business office ever again. Needless to say, there were few smiles and not much fun, and it wasn’t a favorite summer job—especially because of the women. Catty, unhappy, and basically unpleasant. Not to mention the unspoken rivalry between the credit office women and the executive secretaries just so many feet away on that same floor.
Women can be vicious, malevolent, manipulative, and coarse. But then others can be genuine, good leaders, fair-minded, and kind. I’ve worked for both kinds of women.
Honestly, I think it’s a spiritual matter that goes all the way back to the garden. That desire to “rule” over a man innate in the transformed sin-nature.
Anyone else feel like I do about the female gender?
Oh, God. Help me to be who you want me to be. To push back at the sin nature through the power of your Spirit. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Into the Fire 
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