Bible translators cloak women in semantic burqas

Gender biased in Bible translation

In my Bible commentary, I always note instances where most translators semantically render women invisible, where the Hebrew and Greeks text do not.

It is important to note these instances because they number in the thousands, informing opinion and influencing in the wrong direction. In my on-track Bible reading, today, I came across one verse where women are rendered invisible four times in a single verse, via gender-biased-Bible-translation. This gives only a glimpse of the sheer scope of this harmful practice.

It is important to note and discuss these things because semantics matter. Words inform. Words inform opinions and core beliefs. Opinions and core beliefs directly influence how people are viewed and treated. This is culturally and legally recognized in reference to race and other issues, with social taboos against using certain words and even legal and corporate ramifications against those who deliberately misgender.

Yet biological women are constantly misgendered and rendered invisible in Christian speech and writing literally thousands of times on a daily basis. This is evident in our speech and contemporary writing where all humans are lumped together as only one sex by using male phraseology to describe mixed crowds or populations containing both women and men.

Tradition is no excuse. Habit is no excuse. This must stop. Biological women are constantly misgendered without consequence to anyone. In fact, fear of being labeled as the dreaded “feminist,” (despite the fact that the first feminists were devout Christians) prevents most Christian women from ever objecting or admitting to being offended.

Well, I do admit to being offended, and I do object.

I am a biological woman, and I want to be referred to as such. I am a her. I am a she. I am not a man, he, his, or him. And I am royally sick of being referred to as such.

We cannot change the historical deluge of oral and written misogyny, nor do I wish to. But going forward we can and should change how we refer to mixed crowds or populations, both in our speech and writing.

Bible versions, in all languages, referring to all mortals as men has likely been one of the primary reasons that generations upon generations have been raised to believe that beyond giving birth, raising children, and acting as general assistants to men, women are insignificant and subordinate and should always stay in their “place.”

Oh, the language may be flowered up a bit, but this is still being widely taught within virtually every Christian denomination.

Bible translators should stop catering to ugly bias. When the words man or men are used, in our mind’s eyes are women pictured? Honest souls will agree that it is only men they see. When the words he, his, and him are used, do we see women?

Semantics are deliberately used by many Christian leaders, writers, and Bible translators to give preeminence to men and render women inconsequential and invisible. Christian women are continually cloaked in semantic burqas.

In ancient **Bible translations this is understandable but still wrong.

** No translation is perfect. That’s why we must study the Hebrew and Greek texts. There are numerous resources easily available for Christians today, so we are without excuse.

There is no hermeneutical reason for gender bias to find its way into modern Bible translations, yet it continues to do so. The only reason for this can be a strong and enduring prejudice against women by the translators themselves, who are almost all men. This is a fulfillment of the foretold consequence—not a curse—that because of sin men would desire to dominate women (Genesis 3:16).

The complementarian gender-based authority submission structure is taught in the majority of seminaries and Bible colleges today. And because of this, patriarchy is promoted in the majority of Christian denominations today, where it is touted as God’s created design for men and women and continues to find its way into modern Bible translations where women continue to be rendered invisible, cloaked in semantic burqas.

Jocelyn Andersen writes and speaks about a variety of topics with an emphasis on the subjects of domestic violence awareness and God and Women. She is working on her first novel and is the author of several non-fiction books including, "Woman Submit! Christians & Domestic Violence" and "Woman this is WAR! Gender, Slavery, and the Evangelical Caste System." Her work has been featured in magazines, newspapers, radio, and television. She is open to requests for writing assignments, anthology contributions, and conference speaker.

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