Jesus – pioneer of women’s education

These days more women than men enrol in higher education, but it wasn’t always this way. Women did not begin studying at university in Britain until 1869. In the US, the first college to admit women was Oberlin College, in 1837. The University of Bologna in Italy was reputedly the first in the world to teach women. It began conferring degrees upon women in the 13th century. In the history of women’s education, these are significant milestones. Yet Jesus beat them all by a thousand years. Jesus was the first man of influence to empower and elevate women. One of the ways he did that was by accepting them as his disciples. He welcomed them into his circle and he trained them. This would’ve been unthinkable to the rabbis and sages. Teaching women was a waste of time, they said. “It would be better to burn the words of the law than teach them to women,” said Rabbi Eliezer. At the time of Jesus, women were regarded as inferior. Thanks to the Greeks, every educated man knew that women were mentally deficient. They could cook and spin wool, but that was the limit of their abilities. Women belonged in the [...]