Culture, not a Cult of Domesticity: Where Barbara Welter got it wrong and why we need these virtues even more
Cult of True Womanhood
Her essay, the ‘Cult of True Womanhood’ written by notable historian Barbara Welter in the 1850s, destroys the true intention of Biblical womanhood. It’s been used to invalidate gender roles in the Bible and make it appear that patriarchy is oppressive.
Popularized during America’s second “great awakening,” labeling the “Culture of Domesticity” as a “cult” denigrates Christian values.
What is the Culture of Domesticity?
Welter’s essay was first published in 1966. The “Cult of Domesticity” was coined to emphasize the rigid religious adherence to these ideals.
However, it also sheds a bad light on what the “Culture of Domesticity” is all about.
Scripture says a wise woman builds her house. It implies doing chores and nurturing. But then, the Bible also commands husbands to love and support their wives as the “light of the home.”
In a nutshell, domesticity helps build a happy home. In contrast, Welter suggests that the religious piety of women is inherently destructive.
Proverbs 14:1
The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands, the foolish one tears hers down.
1 Peter 3:7
You husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman, and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life so that your prayers will not be hindered.
The cardinal virtues of a true woman of domesticity
The virtues of a proper woman were piety, purity, and submission to a “loving husband.” Religious piety, the core of a woman’s virtue, is the source of her strength. Young men looking for a wife were cautioned to look for piety. “If that were there, all else would follow.”
1. Culture of Domesticity does not hostage women
Welter refers to religious virtues as “peculiar susceptibility.” Because of religious devotion, “It did not take a woman away from her proper sphere,” her home (Pages 152-3). Thus referring to domesticated women as “Hostages at home.”
Mothers have taken care of the home and their offspring for thousands of years while the husband is in the field working. While the roles can be reversed, it makes sense for strong men to do hard labor.
True to Welter’s claim, women were stereotyped in magazines and Christian literature. It alienated women who wanted to excel and do more. However, it doesn’t invalidate the virtues of domesticity.
In 2019, a Gallup poll indicated that 56% of American women prefer to work rather than be homemakers. Technology has enabled them to do more but has compromised proper nurturing.
A growing number of women in the U.S. opt not to have children, an increasing trend in the recent decade.
women were stereotyped.
2. Feminists disavowing domesticity are pushing decadence
Christianity views women, especially mothers, as the “light of the home.” But for radical feminists, domesticated women who cook, clean the house, and take care of kids, are an insult to women instead of a virtue.
Labeling domesticity as a cult and associating it with whites and protestants is the perfect springboard for returning to Biblical feminism. Neo-feminists don’t hide their view of religion as sadistic and immoral. Moreso Domesticity.
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-97) is considered the earliest feminist who was also an atheist. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who published a women’s Bible (1895, 1898), viewed religious orthodoxy and masculine theology as obstructing self-sovereignty.
A woman’s dignity
What used to be a virtue, such as virginity, is shamed and scorned. The opposite is celebrated, and sexual immorality is justified.
In Biblical times, purity is indeed essential before marriage. But you don’t need Christianity to say that chastity is reverent.
As in many other conservative cultures, the lack of virginity can only mean impropriety—and there lies the problem with liberal feminists like Welter.
Purity was as essential as piety to a young woman, its absence as unnatural and unfeminine. Without it, she was, in fact, no woman at all but a member of some lower order… (Pages 154, 155)
Today, teenage sex isn’t only the nightmare of conservative parents but gender dysphoria, the transgender craze, a sudden increase of mastectomies, and a slew of unheard societal dilemmas.
The cult of neo-feminism
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RGB) is the “great equalizer.” A hero to women with a cult following of her own, says writer David Kinder. After all, RG is a neo-feminist icon who fought for women’s place in modern society.
RGB was a crucial vote in allowing same-sex marriages. Also, she would rather have abortion legalized than allow all unborn persons to live.
Left-Liberals alike call these moral equalities and laws. In the Bible, these are the mark of disobedience that ushers in a decadent and godless society.
No wonder liberal radical feminists and militant gay activists are atheists or less religious or lean [Pew]
Domesticity is not about gender inequality
Renowned psychologist Jordan Peterson referred to the biological differences between men and women as critical to their chosen skills or careers. He also debunked the women’s pay gap that neofeminists blame on gender inequality.
God created males and females for particular roles that were never intended to abuse one another, as the cult of domesticity presupposes.
There are things women can do better than men—which does not disable their ability to be wives or mothers. Admittedly, patriarchy was abused. But it doesn’t mean God approved of it.
In the Bible, submission to the husband also meant loving the wife—more precious than a jewel—not shackled. (Proverbs 31:10)
3. Women of domesticity are not an oppression
In 1890, women high school graduates began to outnumber men. They began to fill new jobs in offices, stores, and classrooms. Likewise, women without formal education began to have jobs, and roughly 70% of the employed servants were women in 1870.
The point is that women of domesticity were never prevented from doing what they liked outside their homes or family.
Women’s empowerment is vital
Today, we have nations led by women. When Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022, millions worldwide remembered her fondly. She is known for her filial piety and openly declared her faith in Jesus.
The Bible, too, is filled with women like Queen Esther, Hanna, and Mary Magdalene, who helped forge societies and made a difference in their sphere of influence.
Domesticated women who were achievers at the same time
- Catherine Booth co-founded the Salvation Army with her husband, William, in 1865. The couple raised eight children while evangelizing and working among Britain’s poor.
- Margaret Thatcher was a devoted mother and wife. The “Iron Lady” was a homemaker yet was able to manage a country with her husband by her side.
- Ruth Graham gave up her missionary dream for her husband, Billy. She shouldered, often by herself, running the home and rearing five children. Still, she managed to be a crucial part of the success of her husband’s evangelical mission.
- Kara Kennedy, daughter of Senator Ted Kennedy, chose to be a full-time homemaker. Still, she managed to get involved with civic organizations.
- Before Corazon Aquino became the 11th President of the Philippines, she was a housewife who cared for the kids, cooked, and ensured their house was in order.
The bottom line, the Culture of domesticity is not a cult that hostage women
Domesticity is not for everyone. However, to blame coercion because of religious (Christian) piety is ridiculous. Many other cultures practice it out of love and devotion.
Studies show that children raised in intact families, i.e., two continuously married parents, tend to fare better on several cognitive, emotional, and behavioral outcomes than children living in other family forms. [Heritage]
Their accomplishments cannot be measured in wealth or career but by how their children have turned out and their marriage intact.
A Scottish Blessing
If there is harmony in the home, the nation will have order. If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.
