I believe in equal opportunity for men and women.  I wouldn't call myself a feminist.  I don't think men and woman have "the same minds".  They do think differently.  But it is very true that our culture has made us think that some things are manly and some are girly while in other cultures it could be just the opposite. 

R~D~, what if a woman doesn't want to get married and have kids?  So what about families with the dad as primary care giver for the kids and the mom is working?  What's the difference, honestly? 

You said that the belief of feminists is that "very weak, petite, small women can be firefighters."  Now, I don't think that has to do with the primary aim of feminism.  A very weak, petite and small woman could be a firefighter with training but until recently women didn't have the opportunity to be a firefighter.

Also, why can't you be a Christian and a feminist at the same time?  Can you give the reason why in your next post?  I'm not exactly knowledgeable about the Bible, and it sounds like you may be, so maybe you can tell me what exactly prevents Christians from being feminists.

I was going to ask everyone to vote on a topic, but I didn't need to!  I'm glad the debate got started.

Not all feminists believe that men and women have the same mind, but as ZNZ said, as Madeleine L'engle said, like and equal are not the same thing at all.

Of course God made us differently for a reason. If we had only one gender, we couldn't reproduce. Well, some species reproduce by cloning themselves, but that might prevent the developement of civilization. If all people were the same, then if one brain couldn't think of a crucial invention, no-one else could. Thus, it would not make sense for an intelligent species to reproduce that way.

I As someone pointed out, do you think it's wrong for a woman to have a job and her husband to care for the children? There are animals who do it that way; I just read about a species of duck that did that. It's not common, but it happens. Do you consider that wrong?

I'd like to add that we have an overpopulation problem right now, so I don't think bearing more children is the wisest thing to do. When God said to 'Be fruitful and multiply,' that was at the beginning of the world when it was necessary for the survival of our race. It isn't anymore. But people and animals are suffering. Personally, my priority is to help the beings who already exist rather than bringing new ones into the world. Please don't take this the wrong way; I have nothing against having children! I don't want us to go extinct! It's perfectly fine if you want a family, and one with a more traditional lifestyle. I just would personally prefer not to have any. We all need to help others, and if a woman feels that she wants to do that as a firefighter, that's perfectly fine. If she feels she wants to do it by raising a family well, that's fine, too. People have the right to choose what they want to do with their life, don't they?

I do not think that a weak woman should be in a job involving too much lifting and hauling. I don't know much about how much strength is required to be a firefighter, but if it's a lot, then no, a weak woman should not be one. But I believe the same about a weak man. The majority of men are physically stronger than the majority of women, yes (and I'm not ashamed to admit it, especially as the majority of women are more physically flexible than the majority of men, so it's about even), but there are many exceptions. Anyway, petite/small doesn't necessarily mean weak.

I do believe that most men and most women have different sets of strengths and weaknesses, but I don't agree with you on which those are. If women need families so much, why do the majority of women do better on tests of how much isolation they can bear for how long than the majority of men? That doesn't really make sense to me.

I actually am feminine in matters other than voting and salary, and I don't really see what's wrong with that, personally. I can almost understand your viewpoint, but only almost.

Elizabeth, you do make an interesting point about the heart versus the head of the family. A family needs to have both. But why can't the 2 roles be reversed or shared if that's what suits their individual personalities better? Not all men and women are the same. It was unfair that the women weren't allowed to make any actual decisions.

Please note that this was written past 1 in the morning, so I'm sorry if I sound crotchety or used any logical fallacies.