In Focus - Ezer Kenegdo ( April 2026 )

n Focus

Title: As at the Beginning

Intro

Aleena Joy explains the woman's role as the ezer kenegdo to man. 

Article

Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner’ (Genesis 2:18). This in Hebrew reads - ‘Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hîm way·yō·mer lō- ṭō·wḇ hā·’ā·ḏām hĕ·yō·wṯ lə·ḇad·dōw ’e·‘ĕ·śeh- lōw kə·neḡ·dōw ‘ê·zer’.

A woman’s dignity, vocation and purpose is derived from this very moment of creation. The Creator designed her with a unique purpose in mind. To be the Ezer Kenegdo. Unfortunately, words do not justly describe this Hebrew phrase. Ezer means ‘helper’ – it describes God as Israel’s helper in the Old Testament, indicating strength and support. It appears 21 times in the OT, often describing God as a rescuer/protector. Even though the word is not explicitly used in the NT, the theological idea of this ‘helper’ is found when referring to the Holy Spirit. Kenegdo is a combination of ‘ke’ (like, as) and ‘neged’ (front, opposite). It suggests a counterpart who corresponds to man, highlighting equality and mutuality. Together, ezer kenegdo can be understood as a helper corresponding to him or a strong ally as his front. The term does not imply subordination or inferiority, but rather a complementary role, emphasising the woman’s importance and strength.

From the beginning, woman is created unique to man, with a vocation that complements a man’s. She is not inferior to him, unlike the dictates of today’s culture. With her unique feminine qualities, a woman’s innate calling is to nurture. Today, blinded by the fake promises of feminism, women have forgotten who they are and fight to ‘become’ what they are not – a man. 

Proverbs 31:10-31 is a beautiful passage that portrays ezer kenegdo. This chapter is advice that King Lemuel’s mother gives to him. She speaks about the virtues of an ideal wife, one who is diligent, fears the Lord, and is of noble character. Accordingly, a virtuous woman is trustworthy, productive, generous, prepared, elegant, wise in speech and God-fearing. It foreshadows the description of Ruth in the OT. The woman (wife) is the queen of the household.

Until the fall of man in Genesis 3, woman enjoyed equal dignity to man in the Garden of Eden, which is what the Lord willed for us. After the fall, what was in the beginning got distorted, and humanity now pays the price. Man inclines to ‘master’ the woman, while she is punished in what, according to the original plan, brings her glory – motherhood. But St Paul reminds us, Yet she shall be saved through childbearing; if she continue in faith, and love, and sanctification, with sobriety. (1 Timothy 2:15).  

Before the Industrial Revolution, humans flourished through agriculture, trade, family businesses, etc. The household was the centre of production, and women’s work was largely confined to the domestic sphere. There existed a good balance between her primary duties as a wife and mother and her role in the ‘cottage industry’. This societal system helped gender roles flourish, aligning with the original design of the creator – man as the protector and provider and woman as the nurturer. The Industrial Revolution pulled everyone out of their usual spheres. With everything being industrialised, small businesses suffered, men and women were forced to work in mines, factories and other industries, and the children were deprived of quality childhood. Women, too, had to work in dangerous environments, risking their health. The rise of feminism, which has its roots in communism, around this time worsened the situation. The tendency of men to ‘master’ women amplified the voices of feminists, giving the feminist ideology a greater reception among women. 

Fast-forward to present day, women are led to believe that their worth depends on their work beyond the home and the monetary income they bring. Desperate women largely bought into the lies of communism masquerading as feminism, and struggled to do justice to their innate calling towards motherhood. While the first wave of feminism considered mothering a powerful work, the second wave planted the seeds of resentment towards motherhood, separating the mother from her child by promoting the culture of placing babies into day care. Betty Friedan, one of the pioneers of second-wave feminism, in her book compared women staying at home with their children as ‘a concentration camp with comforts’. Today, even if not a necessity, women tend to choose to work outside their homes, largely compromising their nurturing roles, knowingly or unknowingly. St John Paul II, through Familiaris Consortio, reminds us that ‘the mentality which honours women more for their work outside the home than for their work within the family must be overcome. This requires that men should truly esteem and love women with total respect for their personal dignity, and that society should create and develop conditions favouring work in the home.’ (FC 23). 

Historically masculine institutions such as law, governance, police, military, etc., now have a higher proportion of women. Places where the feminine charm is essential, especially the homes, are deprived of it. St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, famously known as Edith Stein, speaks about the ‘feminine genius’ – the ability of a woman to make a sincere gift of herself to others, which is rooted in spousal and maternal nature. Many Church documents (Rerum Novarum, Casti Connubii, Quadragesimo Anno, Divini Redemptoris, Natalis Trecentesimi, Familiaris Consortio, etc.) and papal addresses discourage married women from taking up work outside the home – not because the Church wants to oppress women, rather Mother Church knows who a woman is and what she is capable of if she embraces her true vocation. Quadragesimo Anno referred to mothers working outside the home as ‘intolerable abuse’.

St Joan of Arc stands as a real example of ezer kenegdo. It may surprise us that Joan of Arc never fought a war. A peasant girl from the village of Domremy, God chose Joan to crown Charles VII as the rightful king and to guide the French army towards their victory in the Hundred Years’ War with the English. After receiving visions from St Michael, St Catherine and St Margaret for around four years, Joan convinced the king of her divine mission to defeat the English and to assist at his overdue coronation. It is interesting to note that while being the commander of the French army, Joan didn’t participate in active combat. Joan, who is remembered as a fearless warrior and a heroine of the Hundred Years’ War between England and France, never actually fought in battle or killed an opponent. The life of St Joan remains as a great example of how woman is ‘the helper – ezer kenegdo’ for man. Judith is a similar example from the OT. The women at the foot of the Cross, too, show their inner strength. 

The reality of the ‘fallen’ world cannot be neglected, but that is not an excuse for us to ignore the truth and original plan of the Creator. After the fall came redemption through Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. In Matthew (19:1-11), the scribes question Jesus about the Mosaic law that allowed man to divorce his wife for any cause. Jesus refers to the ‘beginning,’ pointing to the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God Himself, the reality of creation, and confirms His opposition to the tradition (of divorce) which discriminated against women. Jesus Himself calls out grave discriminations against women that existed back then, and even now. Jesus’ response to the ‘woman caught in adultery’; calling the woman with a stoop ‘daughter of Abraham’; defending the widow who put two copper coins, etc. are instances where women’s dignity is upheld (restored from that of the fallen world). Venerable Fulton J Sheen says, ‘To a great extent, the level of any civilisation is the level of its womanhood. When a man loves a woman, he has to become worthy of her. The higher her virtue, the more noble her character, the more devoted she is to truth, justice, goodness, the more a man has to aspire to be worthy of her. The history of civilisation could actually be written in terms of the level of its women.’ Mary, the woman in the protoevangelium (Genesis 3:15), the one through whom the Saviour entered this world, is the epitome of womanhood – both motherhood and virginity, the two dimensions of women's vocation, are meticulously present in her.

It is the duty of the men of faith to help restore the dignity of women and rediscover their vocation – to be the ezer kenegdo. In Pope Paul VI’s address to women at the close of the Second Vatican Council, we read, ‘the hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of woman is being achieved in its fullness, the hour in which woman acquires in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved. That is why, at this moment when the human race is undergoing so deep a transformation, women impregnated with the spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid mankind in not falling.’

Author Profile

Aleena Joy, wife of Kevin Jerome and mother of two (one on earth and one in Heaven), was formerly a civil engineer. A member of the Syro-Malabar theology forum and active in Catholic apologetics and pro-life circles, she works with her ABBA FATHER.