How many of us have realised the holy books are always male-centric?

Reading Genesis 2 & 3 now.

I'm surprised, again, that the bible isn't all about frightening you with rules & regulations. This bit here is actually quite sweet:

Genesis 2:24
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

I recall a Muslim friend telling me the Q'uran explicitly spells out that man & woman are equal.

How is it then, that half of the Muslim & Christian world hold the view that a man has the right to lord it over his wife? Just because god "made a woman from the rib taken out of the man" ? Or is it because of this one culprit sentence:

Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you. -Genesis 3:16

And because of this, women have suffered. And suffered, and suffered. Throughout the ages.

Why? Because everyone believed these words came from GOD.

A more plausible explanation would be some mysoginist scribe who didn't quite like his mother or sister, decided to add that bit in. Just to spite women. Forever & ever Amen!!

But if you really must believe these are god's words because of your unshakeable 'faith', then why condemn the woman? By right, we should all damn the serpent. No one thought of that? Why?

image © Julie Bell

Because it's more convenient for a man to blame all of life's failures on a woman.

Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life -Genesis 3:17

So much for men working the earth to feed the family. In places like Indonesia & the (very catholic) Philippines, it's common that the women do all the work (toiling in the fields, factories etc) & take care of the entire family. The men don't do much, other than procreating & then abandoning wife & children. Often the women work in neighbouring (more developed) countries as domestic helpers. The children are looked after usually by their grandmothers.

The point of this is, men have often been the ones to (mis)interpret words of the holy books to their convenience.

There's a reason why women have been denied education for centuries. The moment women learn how to read & write, they start to realise what a farce the 'holy books' have been. They start to question - is this truly what god would have said/wanted?

If god is love and god is fair, why is it the 'rules' in the holy books usually favour/ benefit the men?

Think about it.