Holy Gender Stereotypes, Batman!

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is offering college study in homemaking. With titles like "Biblical Model for the Home and Family," this new program of study concentration is open only to women. The throwback offering is profiled in a recent LA Times article by Stephanie Simon:

Seminary President Paige Patterson and his wife,
Dorothy -- who goes by Mrs. Paige Patterson –
view the homemaking curriculum as a way to
spread the Christian faith.

In their vision, graduates will create such gracious
homes that strangers will take note. Their
marriages will be so harmonious, other women will
ask how they manage. By modeling traditional
values, they will inspire friends and neighbors to
read the Bible and then, perhaps, to follow the
Lord.

"I'm personally going to teach the course in table
manners," Paige Patterson said, moments after
sneaking scraps of poached chicken off his lunch
plate for his black Labrador, Noche.

His wife shook her head affectionately.

"Oh my," she said, in her gentle Southern lilt. "We'll
have to pray for some help with that."

So far, just eight of the 300 students in the
undergraduate program are enrolled in the
homemaking concentration, which is similar to a
major and counts toward a bachelor of arts in
humanities. Many more women, including graduate
students and wives of seminarians, study
traditional gender roles in courses such as "Wife of
the Equipping Minister." On a recent evening, more
than 50 women -- some in sloppy sweats, others in
prim sweater sets -- pulled out notebooks as class
opened with student presentations.

One woman talked about her hobby of cross-
stitching. Another showed how she uses the
Internet to track grocery coupons.

Laney Homan, 30, drew excited murmurs with her
talk on meal planning, complete with a recipe for a
surefire "freezer pleaser" -- a triple batch of
meatloaf (secret ingredient: oatmeal). Thanks to a
computerized system for generating grocery lists,
Homan said, "I've actually trained my husband to
shop for me."

Laughing, she threw her palms toward the
heavens and added: "Praise Jesus!"

For the rest of the nearly three-hour class, guest
lecturer Ashley Smith, the wife of a theology
professor, laid out the biblical basis for what she
calls "the glorious inequalities of life."

Smith, 30, confided that she sometimes resents
her husband for advancing his career "while I'm
changing diapers and getting poop all over me."

h/t Steve Benen