The Invisible Woman Analysis

Stacy Davis, self-proclaimed activist for feminism and womanism, is a “scholar trained in feminist theory and African American biblical hermeneutics” (Davis 23). In her article, The Invisible Woman: Numbers 30 and the Policies of Singleness in Africana Communities, Davis argues for a prominent place for single woman (specifically those who have never married) in biblical scholarship, and as leaders in the church, with questions of their sexuality left alone. Davis argues this viewpoint from the perspective as an unmarried black woman. Davis establishes the foundation for her argument in Numbers 30, a text that altogether omits reference to single woman, rather each group of women mentioned in the text about vows refers to them in relation to men (21). Thus, Davis establishes the omission of single women in the Hebrew Bible as the invisible women. Moreover, she suggests that the Numbers 30 view of women has long been outdated, for “women no longer transition strictly and inevitably from virgin daughters to chaste wives” (Davis 22). For this reason, Davis adamantly argues that “Virginity as a concept was invented as an attempt to control (female) sexuality” (30); a concept used still today to control single women within the Church. Ultimately, Davis concludes that women, specifically single black women, should not be identified in relation to marriage, or lack of marriage, as well as their sexual activity, or lack of sexual activity. Rather, single women should be embraced