When you think of a worthy woman, do you think of
Betty Friedan?
Her mother was a button hawker who later owned a jewellery shop. Her mother quit a job as a
women's page editor for a newspaper when she became pregnant with Betty in order to
become a housewife. Betty realized how frustrated her mother had been as a housewife
when her mother took over the family shop after Betty's father fell ill. Her mother's new life
outside the home seemed much more gratifying. (Wiki)
When Betty was young, she was active in Marxist circles & later wrote for leftist & union
publications. (Wiki)
Divorced in May 1969. Betty claimed in her memoir, Life So Far (2000), that Carl had beaten her
during their marriage; Carl Friedan denied abusing Betty describing the claim as a "complete
fabrication". Betty later said on Good Morning America, "I almost wish I hadn't even written
about it, because it's been sensationalized out of context. My husband was no wife-beater,
and I was no passive victim of a wife-beater. We fought a lot, and he was bigger than me."
Wrote The Feminine Mystique in 1963. It depicts the roles of women who are full-time
homemakers as stifling. (Wiki)
Co-founded NOW, the first national organization to endorse the legalization of abortion. she
always remained a staunch advocate of legal abortion Also founded NARAL, another proabortion organization (Wiki & www.now.org)
The New York Times obituary described her as "famously abrasive“, "thin-skinned and imperious,
subject to screaming fits of temperament." February 2006, feminist writer Germaine Greer
wrote: “…she would become breathless with outrage if she didn't get the deference she
thought she deserved.” (Wiki)
When you think of a worthy woman, do you think of
Betty Friedan?
Carl has been quoted as saying "She changed the course of history almost single-handedly. It
took a driven, superaggressive, egocentric, almost lunatic dynamo to rock the world the way
she did. Unfortunately, she was that same person at home, where that kind of conduct
doesn't work. She simply never understood this.“ (Wiki)
QUOTES:
• "The problem lay buried, unspoken for many years in the minds of American women. It was a
strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffered in the middle of
the twentieth century in the United States. Each suburban housewife struggled with it alone.
As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter
sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband
at night, she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question: Is this all?"[8]
• "The only way for a woman, as for a man, to find herself, to know herself as a person, is by
creative work of her own. There is no other way."[9]
• "The only kind of work which permits an able woman to realize her abilities fully, to achieve
identity in society in a life plan that can encompass marriage and motherhood, is the kind that
was forbidden by the feminine mystique, the lifelong commitment to an art or science, to
politics or profession."[10]
• "If divorce has increased by one thousand percent, don't blame the women's movement.
Blame the obsolete sex roles on which our marriages were based.[11]
Titus 2:4
A VIRTUOUS WIFE
Prov. 31:10-31
I. A WIFE OF VIRTUE (31:10)
A. Virtue – excellence in all its forms, worthy,
powerful.
B. Invaluable - more precious than rubies.
C. Hard to find! Why?
1. Many frown on it as “old fashioned”.
2. Many are distracted with other things…
3. It takes real purpose, work & dedication!
A VIRTUOUS WIFE
Prov. 31:10-31
II. TRUSTWORTHY (31:11-12)
A. Faithful to her spouse (Mt. 19:5-6).
1. A faithful friend (Gen. 2:18).
2. Affectionate wife (Titus 2:4; 1 Cor. 7:2-5).
3. In subjection (Col. 3:18-19; 1 Pet. 3:1-7).
B. Consistently good (31:11b-12).
1. Constancy of character (Pr. 20:6).
2. Considerate in attitude & action.
A VIRTUOUS WIFE
Prov. 31:10-31
III. INDUSTRIOUS (31:13-25)
A. Works willingly with her hands (31:13).
B. Diligent & capable in managing the home
(31:14-15).
C. Perceptive & strong (31:16-18, 21, 25).
IV. A THOUGHTFUL WOMAN (31:26-28)
A.
B.
C.
D.
Thinks of others (31:20, 26b; Eph. 4:28).
Thinks before she speaks (31:26a; Pr. 17:27).
Thinks of her household (31:27).
Thinks of her family (31:28; Ti. 2:4; Mt. 23:11).
A VIRTUOUS WIFE
Prov. 31:10-31
V. A GODLY WOMAN (31:28-31)
A. Admired by her family (31:28-29; Pr. 29:15).
B. One who does not trust in vanity
(31:30; 1 Pet. 3:1-6).
C. One whose works praise her (31:31;
Rev. 14:13).
CONCLUSION: A virtuous woman…
A. Is a woman of excellent character.
B. Is reliable, industrious, thoughtful & godly.
C. Is pleasing to God.