“Jesus Christ was a feminist.”
Some might not believe that this statement comes from a nun whose Catholic religion often comes under fire from feminists for its stance on issues such as contraception, abortion, and female ordination. Yet Sister Florence Deacon, President of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, offers this observation based on her belief that men and women were created equally in the image of God.
Sister Florence points to the miracles that Jesus performed on both men and women, his parables that appealed equally to men and women’s lives, and the women he interacted with, against social norms. “He appeared to women after the resurrection and permitted them to tell of his resurrection. Women play a very prominent role [in Jesus’ life],” she says.
In examining the role of women in tradition-steeped religions, however, Linda Woodhead, Professor of the Sociology of Religion at Lancaster University in England, finds what she calls “a great paradox:” “Women are the main workforce and army that keeps all religions going. They are the ones that put in the energy, transmit the faith, and are considered to be more deeply committed, but the main dissatisfaction women have with the church is with the leadership not taking them seriously and not treating them as equal,” Woodhead told the Harvard Political Review.
Data from the 2008 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life’s survey on the “U.S. Religious Landscape,” appears to support Professor Woodhead’s assertions that women are more religious than men on a variety of measures: 86% of women vs. 79% of men are affiliated with a religion; 77% of women vs. 65% of men have absolutely certain belief in God or a universal spirit; 66% of women vs. 49% of men pray at least daily; and 63% of women vs. 49% of men say religion is very important in their lives. This apparent dedication to faith and religious principles—juxtaposed to the lack of female priests, deacons, rabbis, and imams—should spark meaningful debate. Is gender equality fundamentally at odds with the patriarchal nature of most religion?
Kerry Robinson, Executive Director of the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management, says that focusing on female ordination in the Catholic Church (women cannot currently be Catholic priests) is misguided, noting the “volume of conversation that could happen around elevating women to positions of meaningful leadership in the church that is doctrinally permissible right now.” Robinson points to the ways Catholic women can serve as canon lawyers, judges, and chancellors. “Right now, the church has a doctrinal matter that women cannot be priests. When we talk about the role of women in the church, to focus only on the ordination of women is to miss a very important opportunity.”
Daisy Khan, Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, echoes Robinson’s sentiment. “I don’t think women need to be imams,” said Kahn, “I think they need to be jurists. …Islam is a religion of law. And if you can argue your point using Islamic theology and using jurisprudence as a way of proving your point, it is very hard for Muslims to argue. An imam is a prayer leader, but jurists are the people who interpret texts and give opinions. And that is where we know our power lies.”
If Sister Florence believes Jesus was a feminist, Khan could say the same about the Prophet Muhammad based on her belief that the sacred texts of the Quran and history of the Prophet Muhammad suggest that the foundational teachings of Islam also promote the equality and dignity of women. The belief that the Islamic God is neither male nor female may lay a stronger foundation for gender equity than other western religions.
“The Quran has inspired women, has given rights to women that even western women didn’t have (at one time): the right to inheritance, the right to own property, the right to marriage partner, the right to divorce. These were considered to be very novel, progressive rights. And that was 1400 years ago,” said Kahn. “These rights were guaranteed to women, and just as with anything else: God gives rights, and man takes them away. This is the struggle that people are fighting all over the Muslim world. This is why I’ve focused my time and energy on lifting the truth of Islam.”
Still, religious women are forced to confront what many consider discriminatory or misogynist textual interpretation. On the Quran being used to justify child marriages, female genital mutilations and honor killings, Khan says: “Women are facing the brunt of distorted scriptures and this is why Muslim women have decided to work using Islamic legal framework as justification for their equality and for their seeking social justice.”
Khan founded the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE), a global social network and grassroots social justice movement led by Muslim women. She is also involved with the Global Muslim Women’s Shura Council, which strives to further the belief that gender equality is an intrinsic part of the Islamic faith. “I don’t know if there would be change in women’s leadership in the Islamic religion because you would need to have thousands and thousands of imams from all over the world agreeing to the change, but one woman jurist can create change,” said Khan.
As the Catholic Church moves forward under the leadership of a new pope, women inside and outside the church wait to see how the papacy of Pope Francis will affect issues at the intersection of church doctrine and characteristically “feminist” issues such as the ability of women to rise to visible leadership positions. Sister Joan Chittister, a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pennsylvania, founder and executive director of BenetVision, has been outspoken on women’s issues in the Catholic Church. She believes that the church’s history and theology supports the restoration of the diaconate for women. “We’ve had women deacons and we had them for centuries. So why don’t we have them now? The only reason they have given is that if you ordain a woman a deacon, she’ll think she can be ordained a priest. But though we have an unmarried and celibate priesthood, they have male married deacons,” she told the HPR.
While Pope Francis made clear in his 2011 book, On Heaven and Earth, that he is not in favor of the ordination of women as priests based on theological reasons, Catholic women have already observed actions by Pope Francis that could indicate his openness to modernizing gender roles.
On the heels of having two women lay ministers participate in his ordination, Pope Francis shocked traditionalist Catholics when he washed the feet of a Serbian Muslim girl and an Italian Catholic girl during a Holy Thursday ritual in which popes traditionally have washed the feet of 12 priests.
“We have a new pope who is no doubt absolutely committed to the poor and to justice,” said Sister Joan. “Two-thirds of the poorest of the poor are women, two-thirds of the illiterate of the world are women, two-thirds of the underfed and undernourished and starving are women. So, if you stand for the poor, you must do something about the equality and position of women.”
It remains be seen whether Pope Francis might some day join the ranks of feminists, which some women would say include Jesus and Muhammad.
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