Response: Safety in Numbers

In response to Lily O'Neill's post "Traveling in Twos" (March 1, 2012):
I think the fact that female disciples traveled only in the company of male disciples had less to do with inequality and more to do with safety.  Jesus' time and society were, in fact, patriarchal; so any movement towards equality had to take place within a patriarchal context.  As in the main part of society women did not have access to weapons or any sort of self-defense training, they were simply less able to defend themselves from those who might attack a traveling disciple than were the male disciples.  Furthermore, again because of the state of most of the society, bandits or other groups of possibly dangerous people on the road would have been more inclined to attack a woman traveling alone than a man.  Traveling in twos was among only the first steps on a very long road to gaining equality for women in a society such as Jesus'.