Thanks. Yes, there are nuances in both Christian conservatism and feminism; they are hardly monolithic groups, and have many sub-groups. It can be difficult for all of us to keep this in perspective sometimes when discussing these ideas.
At any rate, in all my reading, the firmest role placements on women are done by certain circles of the Reformed, the Anabaptist groups (no surprise there as they are the most resistant to change in
all spheres of life of
any Christians), and the IFB. Some of these groups even overtly define themselves as 'patriarchal' (I was once online friends with one former Vision Forum adherent who, when Doug Phillips came to disgrace, said that patriarchy in and of itself must still nonetheless be defended among the Biblically faithful!).
Confessional Lutherans don't follow that ideology (I believe patriarchy has come up twice in the adult Bible classes I've attended, and both the senior and associate pastors at the LCMS church I attend don't subscribe to it), nor do they endlessly debate and try to categorize spheres of what women should or shouldn't do, as I find in Reformed discussions of "Biblical womanhood" all the time. Confessional Lutherans only believe in role restrictions for the pastoral position (LCMS) and some church office positions (WELS). Anything beyond that would seem magisterial use of reason.
There's also a thing in Lutheranism called the doctrine of vocation where both men and women can live out Christian lives in the day-to-day, whether at job, school, home, etc. This thinking isn't found in the other groups I mentioned, and some of those other groups think women working outside the home
at all is a violation of certain Pauline NT passages. Such thinking is foreign to WELS or LCMS Lutherans.
Lastly, regarding feminism, you are correct in there have definitely been different waves. I've read a bit about these. The latest wave is patently absurd with unrealistic expectations of so-called 'equality' that don't take equality of opportunity into context, and which constantly denigrates men. But that's a far cry from earlier waves where women just wanted to vote, have property, and such. There are some who will argue that allowing the earlier waves inevitably led to more demands from later waves, but that's a cavernous discussion beyond what can be exegeted from Scripture, so I'll leave that one alone for now.
