For the last day of Women’s History Month, it seems appropriate to talk about what it means to be a woman.

In the 2022 confirmation hearings for the first female black Supreme Court nominee, we overheard this conversation:

Senator: “Can you provide a definition for the word woman?”

Judge: “I can’t. I’m not a biologist.”

The judge could have quoted Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary:

woman noun

1 a: an adult female person

Or, Dictionary.com:

woman noun

1 a: an adult female person

Or, Cambridge Dictionary:

woman noun

1 a: an adult female human being

Or, she could have drawn on the detailed description of a woman from Wikipedia, which says we have two X chromosomes; are capable of pregnancy and childbirth; have ovaries, fallopian tubes, and a uterus; and typically have broader hips, larger breasts, less facial and body hair, higher body fat, and are usually shorter and less muscular than men.

Or, I can imagine the conversation going like this:

Senator: “Can you provide a definition for the word woman?”

Judge: “You’re looking at one, Senator, and we’ve come a long way!”

Or….

Senator: “Can you provide a definition for the word woman?” 

Judge: A woman is a warrior. Women protect and uplift their families, communities, and nation. At one time, women were considered second-class citizens; today they serve in every public and private sphere. Women can be wives and mothers; businesswomen and bosses; up front and behind the scenes; and we come in all colors, shapes, and sizes. Women are an answer to a problem; an aide to humanity; a breath of fresh air. 

We have a long history of abuse and over-sexualization, which we are still rising up to protest. We have made long and heavy strides, but we can still do better. There are still women around the world and in our own nation who are not free from oppression. And as the first potential Supreme Court justice who also happens to be a black female, I promise to protect the dignity and value of women as long as I hold this office.

Instead, her answer was that she “didn’t know” what a woman is.

When another senator asked her, “When does life begin?”

Her answer: “I don’t know.”

Has she not heard a baby’s first cry?

Has she not seen a heartbeat on a sonogram?

Can she not quote the Constitution that says all people are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life …?”

Has this self-proclaimed Protestant not read the verses:

Before the womb I knew you…. (Je 1:5)

Naked I came from my mother’s womb …. (Job 1:21)

Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb …. (Dt 28:11)

When does life begin? Before the womb, in the mind of God; and we call ourselves “One nation under God.”

Yet here we are, on the heels of #internationalwomensday and #womenshistorymonth and #feminism—and we don’t even know who we are or the value of human life anymore.

This is a low point for feminists and Christians alike—Muslims and Arabs too—who have long been fighting for women to be treated equal.

The day of her confirmation should be a proud day for ALL women. But her answers stained it for most of us. It feels odd to say, “This is a great day for women!”, since she can’t even define what a woman is.

I want to call her bluff. I want to say: we have ovaries, lady. We are female. We nurse babies. We manage homes and businesses. We ARE mothers, wives, nurses, doctors, ministers, teachers, lawyers—must I go on? Our name means Life. 

We bring life into the world, as much as a chicken hatches chicks (and roosters go cockadoodle-doo). In the world of animals, there IS such a thing as a difference between bucks and does; one is male, one is female – and together they make fawn.

I wish I could meet her face-to-face. But that’s not my calling; she answers to a power much greater than me. I’m just a woman trying to help girls, trying to help women, one day at a time—to find their voice and their value and live it out.

So, I’ll pray for her eyes to see, her lips to speak truth, her judgements to come from the throne room of God — for our ways are not His ways; but His judgements are flawless.

I challenge every one of us to model for the younger generation both dignity and respect for all women and children—and men too. We must continue to elevate our worth and rise to the true meaning of our name:

woman noun

1: an adult female person 

2: Hebrew origin: equal counterpart to man; mother of all living; breath of fire; breath of life; help, aide, guide; opposing voice to sin; spiritual protector, guardian.

3: also: daughter, wife, mother, sister, aunt

I am a woman. My name means Life.

-Jen

p.s. to celebrate a woman in your life and remind her of her worth, purchase the “I am a Woman” poem so she can display it in her home.