1st Reading: Gen 2:18-25
Gospel: Mk 7:24-30

Jesus went to the border of the Tyrian country. There he entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not remain hidden. A woman, whose small daughter had an evil spirit, heard of him and came and fell at his feet. Now this woman was a pagan, a Syrophoenician at birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. Jesus told her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." But she replied, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the crumbs from the children's bread." Then Jesus said to her, "You may go your way; because of such a reply the demon has gone out of your daugher." And when the woman went home, she found her child lying in bed and the demon gone.

For the last two thousand years or so, Eve has represented the fundamental character and identity of all women. Whoever she might be and whatever her accomplishments, no woman can escape being identified with Eve. This perception of Eve has endured with remarkable tenacity, and persists today as a major stumbling-block in attempts by women to correct gender-based inequalities between the sexes. But, it has also been argued successfully that Genesis is not inherently partriarchal.
The argument is that, far from being a secondary or dependent being, Eve was in fact the culmination of creation. The order of creation, in which Adam was created first and Eve second, indicated hierarchy; and, therefore Adam's superiority ignores the fact that the animals were created before him. If Adam is superior to the animals, then the hierachy of creation should be reversed and Eve should be seen as God's ultimate creation. At the time of creation, inequality between Adam and Even entered only as a consequence of disobedience. In other words, inequality between the sexes was not originally part of the divine plan. It, therefore, follows that attempts by woman today to restore equality are in keeping with God's original plan.