The ethos of segregation of boys and girls had pretty much died away by the time I was in school.  The Secondary school I attended still had the "Boys" entrance and the "Girl's" entrance. Although by then we did all go into school by the same entrance and we all sat together in the same classrooms but that's where togetherness ended.   During my childhood and even teenage years, there was considerable stereotyping of boys and girls.  The boys did their PE separately from the girls, and the boys had classes in woodwork or metalwork while the girls had to learn sewing and cooking.  However not all of this stereotyping was imposed upon us from out with.

Some of it was part of teenage culture too.  Boys and girls together had to learn Scottish country dancing, which the boys hated because it was regarded as "sissy".  One of my friends decided to take an “O” level in cooking and we all thought he was strange for wanting to do girls stuff!  There was a culture of "big boys don't cry," and little girls were expected to be dainty, ladylike and pretty. 

Perhaps some of that ethos stemmed from the years of the Second war, which only served to strengthen the macho culture of men going off to fight for their country.   And that was necessary.  But the assumption that life would return to the way it was before the war, with a strict division between men's jobs and women's jobs, was doomed to failure. 

During the war, of course, women had taken on men's jobs and had proved very adept at them.  It was pretty unrealistic to suppose that women would be willing to return solely to housework as their raison d'etre, and so the emancipation of women so valiantly fought for by Emily Pankhurst and others continued to spread through all aspects of life.

But society was still unwilling to give up the concept that "big boys don't cry" and that girls should be "mother's little helper".  Hence we produced a generation of men who found it extremely difficult to admit that they had any feelings at all, and a generation of women who wanted some life outside the home but who found it quite difficult to handle.

Whenever an established way of life is threatened or challenged, people tend to look to the Bible and to the Church to support their views.  So in the 50's and 60's there was an awful lot of "the woman's place is in the home" and that their place was ordered by God and must therefore remain as it ever was. 

Perhaps the residue of this attitude is that there are still quite a lot of people, both male and female, who are unable to accept women as being equal.  Even 30 years ago they were unable to accept women as doctors or solicitors or accountants and some of this attitude still exists in society today.

But actually, Jesus challenged the traditions of his day, which kept women in a subservient role.  When he met the woman at the well, he spoke to her and treated her as a human being.  She was a Samaritan, and it was unheard of for Jews to speak to Samaritans, let alone speak to Samaritan women. 

More than that, she would have been considered to be little better than a woman of the streets, for she'd already had five husbands and was now living with somebody to whom she wasn't married.  None of that bothered Jesus.  He was only interested in her as a person, as a human being.  And he immediately recognised her potential, for that woman became the very first missionary, going back to call her family and her friends and to bring them to Jesus.

When a woman was brought to Jesus from the very act of adultery, he refused to condemn her.  The crowd were baying for blood and might actually have stoned her, as the law permitted.  But Jesus again treated her as a human being, and offered her his own protection.

When a Syro-Phonecian woman begged Jesus to heal her daughter, even Jesus had to think twice about that, for the Syro-Phonecians weren't Jews but Gentiles.  But he listened to the woman and he respected her and he allowed her to change his mind and his attitude.  And he healed her daughter.

When a prostitute wept over Jesus' feet and dried them with her hair the Pharisees were outraged.  But Jesus not only defended her action, but also commended it as a sign of her great love.  Love, he said, was more important than all the rules and regulations in the world.

And when a couple of sisters were bickering over who should do the housework, Jesus said that sitting at his feet like a student - a male student - listening and learning from him was more important than housework.

In today's reading of the healing of Jairus' daughter, Jairus a leader of the synagogue is distraught over his daughter's illness.  That in itself was quite something, for girls and women were regarded as of no more importance or value than cattle.  But Jairus clearly loved his little girl, for he kept on and on at Jesus begging him to save her.

Jesus heard the urgency and despair in Jairus' voice, and went with him to his home.  "Don't weep," Jesus said to the crowds gathered round.  "This isn't the end of everything.  This isn't a hopeless case.  It looks like everything is over, but truthfully it isn't."

Then he went into the little girl's room, and said to her, "Little girl, get up." And the little girl not only got up, but was instantly full of life, walking about the room and asking for food.

Sometimes it feels good to be a little child again.  It feels good to be protected and treated as a child and fussed over and looked after.  It feels good to slip back into that stereotype of what we ought to be, sweet and gentle, submissive and obedient, acting exactly as society expects us to act. 

But the downside of that is that as you submerge your own personality under the wishes and expectations of society it becomes difficult to do anything outside those boundaries, for fear of upsetting the status quo. 

In many ways, life is much easier for those who conform to the role which society expects them to play.  Society approves of "nice girls" and "good boys".  But that sort of life isn't the eternal life promised to Christians.  Jesus promises a life full of excitement and joy and delight and happiness, but that can only be experienced by those who are willing to face crucifixion.

For some, crucifixion might be stepping outside the role laid down for them by society.  But that means standing up and taking responsibility for yourself, and understanding that the real you, might not be quite what society likes to see or even acknowledge.

Life is much easier not taking any responsibility, for if you don't do anything, then you can't get it wrong.  But that won't lead to eternal life.  Eternal life will be experienced by those who play a full part in life, realising their own God-given potential, taking the risks of growing up and becoming people in their own right.