“And Women Rule Over Them”

Who would have guessed that a YouTube video titled “Do Schools Discriminate Against Boys?” would go viral, garnering over 3.2 million views? It is not likely that Tomorrow’s World Canadian Regional Editor Stuart Wachowicz would have known how successful his six-minute Viewpoint video would be—nor would any of us have guessed that the overwhelming number of responses to it would come from young men and boys, many still in high school, who felt discrimination in their own educational experiences.

Some responses could be chalked up to excuses and bitterness from personal failures, but is there more to it than sour grapes? Blaming others for one’s shortcomings is easy, but it is just as easy and just as foolish to assume that all complaints fall into this category. While the war on men and boys has been around for decades, it has never been so flagrant as it is today—and young men in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere in the Western world recognize when they are being shortchanged.

Dishonest Reporting Supporting a Feminist Agenda

Some still remember the 1992 report released by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) titled “How Schools Shortchange Girls.” It purported to show that boys were favored in the classroom while girls were discounted and ignored. However, the report later proved to be biased and dishonest.

The most widely disseminated finding was that teachers permit boys to speak or participate eight times more often than they do girls, but as with the rest of the conclusions, this turned out to be pure nonsense. Their data was based on an old 1981 study that actually said boys are reprimanded eight times more often than girls, and that three-fourths of both girls and boys said they thought teachers compliment girls more often, think they are smarter, and would rather be around female students. That level of distortion was evident throughout the AAUW report (James Dobson, Bringing Up Boys, 2001, p. 172).

The report garnered a great amount of attention in academia and the media and brought about dramatic changes in how schools approached the two sexes. “Although the report has been widely discredited now in the professional community for what it was—a blatant attempt to skew educational resources away from boys and to characterize girls as victims—the damage had been done. It resulted in an unfair distribution of available resources that continues to this day” (p. 172). Most damaging was when the United States’ Congress, responding to lobbying by various women’s organizations, passed the “Gender Equity in Education Act, which allocated hundreds of millions of dollars per year to programs designed to redress the [so-called] bias against girls.” Money was included in the act to “‘reprogram’ teachers who were ‘unconsciously sexist’” (p. 173).

Forty Years Later—A “Lost” Generation of Men

So where are we today? This bias in favor of girls in education, starting at the earliest levels, has had its effect. On September 6, 2021, The Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece by Douglas Belkin titled “A Generation of American Men Give Up on College: ‘I Just Feel Lost.’” The numbers are troubling. Roughly 60 percent of college admissions are women, and schools of higher learning struggle to keep the male population at the 40 percent level. Political science professor Samuel Goldman, in another opinion piece, points out that the ratio between men and women would be even worse were it not for a bit of fudging on entrance requirements.

The burgeoning gender gap is an open secret in higher education. With none of the fanfare that accompanies their pursuit of racial diversity, many institutions give an admissions advantage to men. One reason is that administrators fear women are also less likely to enroll when the male student population drops below 40 percent (“The American elite will be female,” The Week, September 8, 2021).

That is only part of the disturbing picture. Going to university is one thing—graduating is another. “Among University of Vermont undergraduates, about 55% of male students graduate in four years compared with 70% of women” (The Wall Street Journal). To illustrate how significant this is, if the University of Vermont has a typical enrollment split of 60/40, then out of every 100 students, 42 women will graduate in four years, but just 22 men! That should be a wake-up call—but is it?

So what?, some say, as they argue that men still earn more money and hold the power positions in this world. But Goldman points out that this is “largely a generation effect.” He explains that leaders in all fields today, whether in industry, commerce, communications, or government, “began their careers decades ago, when college student bodies were more equally divided (and in some cases, exclusively male). It would be surprising if the gender ratio in upper management remained the same in another 20 years.” Goldman further explains what should be obvious to all. “Because elite institutions hire almost exclusively college graduates, campuses are the point of departure for female dominance of publishing, the culture industry, and areas of the corporate world—particularly the massive human resources industry.”

The double standard goes beyond education. For decades, women have sought to invade practically every area that was once reserved for men. Female reporters demanded equal access to men’s locker rooms to interview players, and young women aspired to play on boys’ baseball teams. Anything that was singularly male became a target—but could you ever imagine males being allowed into women’s locker rooms or competing in women’s sports?

Well, now we can. What goes around does, indeed, come around; by a bizarre and circuitous route, men and boys are today invading everything female—simply by claiming that they are females trapped in male bodies. Girls and women are being pushed aside as these opportunistic or confused men break record after record in female track-and-field and weightlifting events. Scholarships that rightly should go to girls are funneled to biological boys who can never become biological girls. I can only imagine the anger parents must feel when they see their daughters robbed in this way.

Yet there is another twist to the saga of girls wanting to invade everything male. In October 2017, the Boy Scouts of America decided to let girls join their organization. This was implemented in all of the organization’s programs in 2019. Not surprisingly, the ones most disturbed by this turn of events were the Girl Scouts!

The problem is not that special programs have encouraged girls in academics, sports, and leadership, but that such resources are predominantly going in one direction. Just as girls have special needs, so do boys—too many of whom, without proper support and motivation, are left adrift, feeling lost. This is evident in so many boys who graduate from high school and don’t know what to do next. Boys desperately need guidance and focus. The Wall Street Journal reports, “Social science researchers cite distractions and obstacles to education that weigh more on boys and young men, including videogames, pornography, increased fatherlessness and cases of overdiagnosis of boyhood restlessness and related medication.” As civil engineering student Luke Weiss puts it, “I see a lot of guys that are here for four years to drink beer, smoke weed, hang out and get a degree.”

What we see is a world turned upside down. Instead of men becoming leaders, we see many floating aimlessly as more and more leadership positions go to women. Some women no doubt rejoice in this turnaround, but thoughtful women like college enrollment consultant Jennifer Delahunty understand that this state of affairs is not good for society as a whole. The Wall Street Journal shared this profound insight from Delahunty: “The stakes are too high to ignore, she said. ‘If you care about our society, one, and, two, if you care about women, you have to care about the boys, too. If you have equally educated numbers of men and women that just makes a better society, and it makes it better for women.’”

The Root Cause

None of this should surprise us as the world turns further away from its Creator and His instruction book for mankind. After all, if we are indeed a product of creation and design, the Creator and Designer must know what is best for those whom He created and designed. And, indeed, He does!

The prophet Isaiah gave us God’s warning that a reversal of traditional gender roles would take place at the end of this age: “As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths” (Isaiah 3:12). The immediate prophecy was for the “house of Judah” in the eighth century BC, but Isaiah’s prophecies were dual. They also apply to the end of the age, as we see when Isaiah 2:2–4 defines the prophecy as being for “the latter days.” Isaiah’s prophecies also applied to Judah’s brothers in the “house of Jacob” (vv. 5–6), also known as the “house of Israel,” as Jacob’s name was changed to Israel (Genesis 32:28). The ten-tribe house of Israel and the house of Judah were two separate nations who even fought wars against each other. To learn more about this amazing truth, request our free booklet The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy, or read it online at TomorrowsWorld.org.

Professor Goldman’s prediction that “the American elite will be female” is correct—and Isaiah “scooped him” by more than 2,700 years! Of course, it was not Isaiah, but our Creator who inspired him, who understood this in advance. In a later passage, Isaiah quotes God as saying, “Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure’” (Isaiah 46:9–10).

God Knows Best: Male and Female He Created Them

Male and female relations have never been in perfect balance. Far from it. Even today, women are horribly abused in some countries around the world. In some cultures, girls are not allowed to go to school and wives may be beaten mercilessly without any consequences dealt to their husbands. Yet in the Western world, a different extreme has been promoted and embraced, in which men are treated as bumbling fools incapable of fulfilling the leadership role that they were given by their Creator.

Radical feminists, many of whom are man-hating lesbians—perhaps due to abuse or other traumas in their own lives—deny the God-given roles of men and women. And too many men are not being trained to be the loving providers and protective leaders that they were created to be. The Bible lays out these simple facts: “For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man…. Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God” (1 Corinthians 11:8–12).

To anyone with an unbiased mind, it is obvious that men and women are different physically and psychologically, but these differences are often minimized. Today’s media often shows us the woman coming to the rescue of the man. Need a tire changed? Woman to the rescue. Have a problem in business? Woman is there. Being attacked by city thugs? There she is again—a marvel at martial arts who is stronger and quicker than any man. But is this reality? I think we know the answer.

Men and women were made to complement one another, not compete against one another. Men are physically designed to be protectors and providers. It is not that a woman cannot provide—in fact, she may need to in particular situations, such as when her husband suffers sickness or injury. It may be necessary to reverse roles temporarily—or even permanently—and there is no stigma to this. A man can still be the effective head of his household in such situations, but when men do not prepare for their proper place of being the breadwinner and leave it up to the wife to go out into the workforce, problems readily arise. A woman especially needs to be loved and a man especially needs to be respected—and these needs are more likely to go unmet when the roles are reversed or blurred.

God instructs wives to “submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord,” instead of fighting over the position of leadership in the family. “For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” (Ephesians 5:22–25).

Why Did God Create Male and Female?

Radical feminists have long scorned such passages as “sexist”—not understanding that God’s plan values both men and women to a degree far greater than they could ever imagine. Referring to the marriage covenant, Paul went on to say, “‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband” (Ephesians 5:31–33).

The unity of male and female in marriage is essential to a well-ordered society. History shows that as the family goes, so goes the nation. Marriage between one biological male and one biological female can bring children into a balanced, nurturing, and loving environment where both male and female contribute unique qualities. Family is a perfect training ground for learning good manners, care for others, self-discipline, and self-sacrifice. We know that families may not perfectly live up to this ideal, but this does not change the fact that marriage as God intended is the best way to perpetuate the human race.

But is simply perpetuating the human race the purpose for life? Not at all. The Bible reveals that God is building His own family into which human beings may be born. The Apostle Paul quoted King David’s question: “What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You take care of him?” (Hebrews 2:6). In other words, what is the purpose of life? Why are we here? Are we merely evolved animals with no purpose and no hope beyond our short span of life on this remote planet?

Paul continues, quoting from Psalm 8: “You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet” (Hebrews 2:7–8). Then he adds, “For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him” (v. 8). Why such authority and responsibility?

Paul then explains why Jesus came and the outcome He intended to bring to pass:

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren (vv. 9–11).

Nowhere is this truth clearer than in Romans 8:14–17:

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption [sonship]. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him (New Revised Standard Version).

Read that slowly and consider its full meaning!

The distinctions between male and female are no accident. God created us with a great purpose in mind. Human marriage pictures the marriage between Jesus and His Church, with His saints collectively becoming the “bride of Christ” as a helper to their Husband. “This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:32; cf. Revelation 19:6–9). Those who hope to be resurrected into God’s very Family as sons and daughters (2 Corinthians 6:16–18) need to understand God’s purpose for male and female in this life.

Men and women are to build each other up, not tear each other down. Each has a role to play in God’s great purpose for humanity. But there is a spirit being who is doing everything he can to disrupt and turn upside down the family structure God designed (Ephesians 2:2; 2 Corinthians 4:3–4). When boys are left without proper guidance and direction, too many become confused about their expected role in life—the role of a loving leader. This does not only hurt men; it also hurts women. In fact, it hurts the whole of society.

To learn more about this subject, contact your nearest Regional Office or go to our website at TomorrowsWorld.org and read or request our free booklets What Is the Meaning of Life? and God’s Plan for Happy Marriage.