TheoloJeep

At the very heart of God’s design for humanity is the family. From the beginning, God created marriage as the union of one man and one woman, blessed them with children, and called them to fill the earth and subdue it (Genesis 1:28). The family is not a social construct that changes with the times—it is God’s foundational building block for human society. Wherever the family is honored, societies flourish. Wherever the family is destroyed, societies collapse. And it is precisely here, at the center of God’s design, that feminism has directed its most destructive fire: the family.

The second wave of feminism in the 1960s and 70s explicitly targeted the home as a place of oppression. Betty Friedan, in The Feminine Mystique, described the life of a homemaker as a “comfortable concentration camp,” where women were stripped of purpose and imprisoned in the home. Feminists like Gloria Steinem claimed that marriage was a patriarchal trap designed to enslave women. Simone de Beauvoir declared, “No woman should be authorized to stay at home to raise her children. Women should not have that choice, precisely because if there is such a choice, too many women will make it.” Notice the language—feminism wasn’t simply about offering women more opportunities; it was about destroying the choice to embrace God’s design. Homemakers were despised, mothers were mocked, and submission to a husband was vilified.

The fruit of this worldview has been catastrophic. Consider the widespread acceptance of no-fault divorce, first introduced in California in 1969. Within decades, divorce rates skyrocketed, leaving behind broken homes and fatherless children. Feminists called this freedom for women; in reality, it was devastation for children. Studies consistently show that children raised without fathers are far more likely to experience poverty, commit crimes, abuse drugs, drop out of school, and repeat cycles of dysfunction. Yet feminism demanded liberation from “patriarchal marriage,” no matter the cost.

Even more destructive has been feminism’s embrace of abortion as the “ultimate freedom.” The ability to kill one’s unborn child was framed as essential to female liberation. But what does this tell us? It reveals that feminism is not pro-woman—it is anti-mother. It is not pro-choice—it is pro-death. Since Roe v. Wade in 1973, over 60 million unborn children have been killed in the United States alone. Feminists celebrate this as victory, but Scripture declares it as bloodguilt. Psalm 127 calls children a heritage and reward from the Lord, but feminism calls them a burden and obstacle.

Feminism also redefined womanhood itself. Instead of honoring the glory of motherhood, nurturing, and home-building, feminism told women that true value lies in career, money, and independence. Young women were taught to despise the role of wife and mother, and to measure themselves by worldly ambition. Ironically, this did not liberate women—it enslaved them to the demands of corporations, governments, and the empty promises of self-fulfillment. Where God’s design brought life and flourishing, feminism brought exhaustion, loneliness, and regret.

Scripture paints a very different picture. In Ephesians 5:22–33, marriage is described not as bondage but as a profound mystery pointing to Christ and the church. A husband’s loving headship and a wife’s joyful submission together display the gospel. In Titus 2:3–5, older women are instructed to teach younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive. Feminists sneer at this passage, but in reality, it describes the path to joy, stability, and flourishing.

The feminist war on the family has borne bitter fruit: fractured homes, fatherlessness, declining birth rates, and generations of children raised in chaos. But the deeper issue is this—feminism has sought to overthrow God Himself by tearing down the very institution He established to display His covenant love.

Christians must see through the lies. A woman who embraces her God-given role as wife and mother is not wasting her life—she is fulfilling her calling. A man who lovingly leads his family is not oppressive—he is reflecting Christ. A home ordered according to God’s Word is not bondage—it is the foundation of a stable, life-giving society.

Psalm 11:3 asks, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Feminism has attacked the foundation of family, but the answer is not despair—it is faithfulness. The church must rebuild the ruins by holding fast to God’s Word, honoring marriage, defending life, and raising children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Feminism’s war on the family is real, but God’s design is indestructible. When men and women walk in obedience to His Word, no ideology can prevail against His truth.