I really need help with this one. Apart from what appears to me as blatant misogyny there also appears to be praise for wealth, attractiveness,fertility and good family connections.
sn37.25 “Mendicants, there are these five powers of a lady. What five? Attractiveness, wealth, relatives, children, and ethical behavior. These are the five powers of a lady. A lady living at home with these five qualities is self-assured.”
Repeatedly we are urged to be Equanimous in our approach to attractive/ugly. That caste is irrelevant. That wealth is spiritual. The whole of SN37 seems to reek of wrong view. If it is merely a reflection of contemporary societal mores and values surely it is not the word of an Enlightened being?
How do you resolve this apparent contradiction?
I ask this in full awareness of my ignorance and delusion and with respect for the teachings of Lord Buddha.
May you be free 
I don’t think this contradicts the teaching at all, nor misogyny in any way. It’s common sense and it’s true. When I read this sutta, I think of Lady Visākhā, one of the Buddha’s lay female disciples who reached Sotapanna at the age of 7.
Notice one of “her powers” is her ethics. So I infer that her sila is the main emphasis here.
If you continue with a few sutta down the chapter, you will come to these Sutta: SN37.29 and SN 37.30 which are more elaborate. And the conclusion is that all other powers are not beneficial unless she has mastery over her ethics.
There are verses of thanks giving listing the benefits of giving, the benefits of habitually respecting elders.
Long life, beauty, happiness, strength, and wit are amongst the benefits.
Other chants lists good fortune, glory, wealth, gain, good reputation.
Being the effects of good kamma is part of the teachings.
So too, being reborn as attractive is a result of past good kamma. And indeed, society at large do have this beauty privilege for attractive ladies.
When there’s lots of children, the children being filial help with the parents. When there’s lots of relatives, they can help if there’s any domestic, financial issues.
When there’s wealth, there’s power to do donation, hire people to do things etc.
When there’s virtue, there’s the causes for having good effects of these in the future, and a foundation for enlightenment.
Having equanimity to attractiveness is indeed good for abandoning lust, it doesn’t mean one cannot choose to practise metta which results in attractiveness.
The true wealth indeed is spiritual, doesn’t mean that lay people shouldn’t practise generosity which results in richness.
The Buddha taught people who were at various levels of spiritual development and various levels of openness to Dhamma. If you’re at a certain level of spiritual development, worldly goals are all you’re really interested in. The Buddha wanted to help bring these beings to Dhamma, too. So he would give a graduated discourse that starts with worldly goals and lead up to higher Dhamma. AN 8.54 is an example of this, where he talks about how to gain and maintain wealth for one’s welfare in this life and follows it with how to gain welfare in future lives. He tailored his teaching to the beings he was speaking to. Suttas like SN 37.25 and similarly short “snippet” suttas can be misleading because they don’t provide any context. They should be read carefully.
We’ve all been interested only in worldly goals in the past, so we shouldn’t look down on those who are in that state that we were in not long ago. Not saying you’re doing this here, but this is a defilement we all need to be heedful of.
When I read SN37 from start to finish, I understand it to cover various aspects of how women conduct themselves and how that conduct affects their lives and rebirth. Pretty much a very basic lesson on kamma.
A woman who is irritable, jealous, stingy, adulterous, unethical, unlearned, lazy, unmindful and doesn’t keep precepts, is unattractive to a man and when the body breaks up after death, is born in a place of loss. A woman who is loving, free from jealousy, free of stinginess, not adulterous, ethical, very leanrned, energetic, mindful, keeps precepts and is assured, is attractive to a man and when the body breaks up after death, is born in a good place.
This is so true! And who would want to associate with people who are irritable, jealous, stingy, adulterous, unethical, unlearned, lazy and unmindful? Our tendency is to reject such people outright.. to have nothing more to do with them. And in today’s world its so easy! Just “block” them! 
If we could just get rid of all those people, Samsara would be perfect! 
Yet as the OP says…
which also is so true!
So, coming to…
So what if people are irritable, jealous, stingy, adulterous, unethical, unlearned, lazy and unmindful?
They are still people! And fully deserving of our compassion. We can recognize their faults, seeing them as they are, warts and all… and yet be tolerant of them. If we can just be equanimous, perhaps we can meet them on some common ground where we can awaken their Dhamma eye.
Yes they are still people. Great explanation. Thanks.
I disagree completely. There are many golds on those linked discourses, and most (if not all) can be easily applied to gentlemen too
SN 37.30:
If a lady has the powers of attractiveness, wealth, relatives, and children, but not that of ethical behavior, the family will send her away, they won’t accommodate her.
If a lady has the power of ethical behavior but not that of attractiveness, … not that of wealth, … not that of relatives, … not that of children, the family will accommodate her, they won’t send her away.
SN 37.31:
It is not because of the powers of attractiveness, wealth, relatives, or children that ladies, when their body breaks up, after death, are reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm. It is because of the power of ethical behavior that ladies, when their body breaks up, after death, are reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm.
SN 37.33:
“Mendicants, a lady living at home with five qualities is self-assured. What five? She doesn’t kill living creatures, steal, commit sexual misconduct, lie, or consume intoxicants of beer, wine, and liquor. A lady living at home with these five qualities is self-assured.”
SN 37.34:
“Mendicants, a female noble disciple who grows in five ways grows nobly, taking on what is essential and excellent in this life. What five? She grows in faith, ethics, learning, generosity, and wisdom. A female noble disciple who grows in these five ways grows nobly, taking on what is essential and excellent in this life.
