Hattie’s Hangout: Worldly “Women Empowerment” Does Not Provide LAsting Worth

Cardi B doesn’t want to be seen as just an object, but her self-objectifying performance on the Grammy stage says otherwise.

March is the month to celebrate women, and the loudest praise we hear comes from the female rap artist’s explicitly sexual song “WAP” broadcasted across the nation, promoting the secular world’s idea of female empowerment.

This pornographic performance is just one example of the skewed ways women desperately look to find security and dignity, sexually objectifying themselves in the process. 

Nothing about the secular female empowerment movement provides real strength and dignity. However, understanding biblical womanhood and where our true power comes from dethrones the idolized worship of female-driven empowerment. 

“Empowered women empower women” is a common phrase thrown out in an attempt to muster a sense of confidence and charisma behind the movement, but women will never be the source of my power or strength – only Christ.

In my weakness, in my inabilities and through my undeserving soul, I rejoice in “being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy” as Paul reminds us in Colossians 1:11.

Cute pink posters with the bubbly letters saying “We can do it” and “the future is female” just won’t cut it. These are not everlasting. They are man-made and superficial.

Scriptures like Isaiah 40:29 declare the Lord “gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.” Likewise, Philippians 3:10 reads that believers “know him and the power of his resurrection.” These are the life-giving, emboldened truths I cling to. 

No woman can spark the strength, courage or empowerment that the Gospel of Jesus Christ provides.

Questioning the secular female empowerment movement is not casting a doubt on the capabilities and uniqueness of women, for God created women in His image with care and thoughtfulness. Instead, I question where women seek their identities and defining of womanhood–the world or the Word. 

I am a Christian woman created by God. As Elisabeth Elliot said, “the fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian makes me a different kind of woman.” The Bible holds the necessary food to sustain all Christians. Likewise, it is the source of how to “put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness,” according to Ephesians 4:24.  

Christian women must reject the secular culture’s definition of empowerment and refuse to let this hopeless entity corrupt the minds of all young women, for we know the real source of our strength and identity only rests in Christ. 

I find it ironic that many women look to find empowerment from a culture that doesn’t even know how to define womanhood, mudding the lines of sexuality and science. 

Rather than cede ground to unbiblical definitions of womanhood, we need biblically rooted encouragement coming from the mouths of Christ-centered women to look to the Author of life for true contentment, joy and peace. Obediently choosing to die to myself and live in the richness of knowing Christ, empowers all of my steps every day.

The most impactful women in my life didn’t try to convince me that their power came from themselves, rather they boldly proclaimed the power and strength of the Lord as their anchor. Women encouraging other women to look upon Christ as the source of their fortitude and efficiency will change the trajectory of the female role in culture. 

Living an emboldened life through the Holy Spirit is what makes me strong, so that I may glorify the Lord even more throughout the life he has planned for me. 

Encouraging women to live in biblical womanhood is beautiful and powerful, and it is something the female empowerment movement will never provide. 

Hattie Troutman is the Editor-in-Chief. Follow her on Twitter at @hattrout.