Aquinas Tentative Response

4. What is Aquinas' view of gender differences?

It is apparent that Aquinas has a complicated understanding of gender differences; he recognizes the necessity of women and defends their existence, but he does so in a way that robs them of a lot of the good attributes that he gives to men.  He states that women are “a helper in generation,” referring to the fact that both men and women are needed for procreation. This is in response to a Bible passage regarding that men need a helper, and Aquinas finds that men are a better helper for other men except in the case of childbearing in which only a female helper can be suitable.

He also defends women by mentioning how they are a part of “nature’s intention for generation” and as a result are a part of the design of God. Their existence therefore is as a direct result of God and thus not “misbegotten” in a natural sense. Despite claims that the “individual nature of women are “misbegotten,” Aquinas is able to find redeeming characteristics of women. Although by modern standards this kind of thinking would be considered very sexist, when viewed in the context of the thirteenth century it is less jarring.