It is interesting that I’ve never been asked the question regarding women wearing trousers by pastors in China. That is probably because most Chinese women have been wearing trousers for a long time. I’ve only been asked the question regarding women and trousers by pastors in countries where most women don’t wear trousers. This shows their personal cultural bias.
It is also interesting to me that I’ve never been asked a similar question by female ministers in Myanmar, where men traditionally wear what we might call a skirt, but what they call a longgi. Again, what constitutes women’s and men’s clothing varies from culture to culture, so we must be careful not to force our cultural understanding on the Bible.
Finally, I wonder why so many men who expect women to not wear trousers based on Deuteronomy 22:5 feel no obligation to apply Leviticus 19:27 to themselves, which says,
You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads, nor harm the edges of your beard (Lev. 19:27).
How can men, in defiance of Leviticus 19:27, completely shave their own God-given beards, beards that clearly distinguish them from women, and then accuse women who wear trousers of trying to look like men? That would seem to be a little bit hypocritical!
Incidentally, a little historical information helps us understand God’s intention in Leviticus 19:27. Rounding off the side-growth of beards was part of an idolatrous pagan ritual. God didn’t want His people to appear to be devoted to pagan idols.
