Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister: Religions Dominated by Women

by Susan Starr Sered

Religion is often denounced as one of the tools used by patriarchal societies to maintain the status quo, and especially to persuade women to accept subordinate roles. This does not explain, however, the existence of many religious groups in which women are both leaders and the majority of participants. How are these women's religions different from those dominated by men? What can we learn from them about the special ways in which women experience their unique reality? In this fascinating and pathbreaking work--the first comparative study of women's religions--Susan Starr Sered seeks answers to these compelling questions.
Looking for common threads linking groups as diverse as the ancestral cults of the Black Caribs of Belize, Korean shamanism, Christian Science, and the Feminist Spirituality movement, Sered finds that motherhood and motherly concerns play a vital role in these female-dominated groups. Nurturing and concern for others are at the center, as are healing arts and ways of dealing with illness and the death of children. Religion not only enables women to find sacred meaning in their daily lives, from the preparation of food to caring for their families, but an offer intense and personal relationships with deities and spirits--often through ecstatic possession trance--as well as opportunities to celebrate and mourn with other women.
By examining the shared experiences of women across great cultural divides, Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister offers a new understanding of the role gender plays in determining how individuals grapple with the ultimate questions of existence. In the process, it not only highlights the profound differences between men and women, but the equally important ways in which we are all alike.

Genres: Nonfiction, Religion, Spirituality, Feminism

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Susan Starr Sered (born 1955) is Professor of Sociology at Suffolk University and Senior Researcher at Suffolk University's Center for Women's Health and Human Rights, having previously been the director of the "Religion, Health and Healing Initiative" at the Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions, and a Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. Her interests include both research and advocacy / activism. Professor Sered is the author of seven books, nearly one hundred scholarly articles, and numerous op-eds and shorter articles focusing on women's health, mass incarceration, and a variety of religious issues, including:

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Adrian Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book about female-dominated religions around the world, concentrating on the reasons why women are drawn to these belief systems. It is a book by an anthropologist who teaches at a college in Israel, and, as such, is full of both scientific and psychological theories that may make the typical reader feel a little overwhelmed. However, the entire book may be summed up and understood just by reading the conclusion at the end, which kind of makes the reader wonder why they bothered with the body of the thing at all. The entire book is written more like a large, and somewhat complicated, research paper, which is actually not surprising when one takes into account what the writer does for a living. The book also comes to a conclusion that is somewhat problematic, in that it asserts that the main reason why women join and enjoy female-dominated religions is because they meet their needs as mothers. We find this conclusion somewhat insufficient, in that it makes clear the fact that the author is writing from a biased point of view of being a mother herself.
First of all, we would bring to the attention of any reader the fact that the writer herself admits that she accomplished most of her research by reading the results of others’ research. She did not actually go out and experience the religions that she talks about for herself (with the exception of the Kurdish women in her own country with whom she is familiar). Therefore, she is not drawing from her own observations, but is at the mercy of second-hand information. The fact that she did not take part in the various religions that she sets up as examples may or may not make a difference, but it seems to us that no one can speak definitively about a culture, much less a belief system, that they have not seen at first hand.
Secondly, we find her conclusions that the reasons women join female-dominated religions to be that of motherhood, dealing with the death of children, and coping with the resultant suffering somewhat questionable. While many women have the experiences that the author is describing, especially in the areas of the world where they live (at least half of the examples that she puts forth are in poor areas of the world where medical aid is all but unknown, and two are set during a time in history when women were universally considered inferior to men in Western cultures), it is for certain that not all women who are involved in female-dominated religions have had these experiences. There are a large number of women in this day and age, especially in modernized countries, that are participants in female-dominated religions who, through conscious decision or sexual preference, have not and have never wanted to have children. And yet, they are drawn to these religions by factors such as common beliefs and goals that they share with other devotees, many of which have absolutely nothing to do with giving birth to or raising children. We believe this is a serious blow to the author’s premise.
The book does present an interesting study, in that it tells a little of what the various religions believe and something about their numerous rituals, as long as the reader is willing to plow through the highly specialized terminology that is indicative of a college professor who has spent too much time in her classrooms and with her colleagues, forgetting how to talk to people from the real world. This book is not one we would recommend for the casual reader. It is, however, an interesting read for any serious student of religious studies.

[Jessica Zu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful read. I have enjoyed every word of it. It is both eye-opening and empowering. In her book Sered analyzed a dozen of well-documented religions dominated by women, meaning with women leadership and dominant women participants. Based on previous anthropologists and ethnographers' research, Sered successfully analyzed, compared and revealed many characteristics of women's relgions, e.g. the intimate relation of child death and women's spirituality, the complex hierarchy yet lack of central power within the religion, the embrace of diversity and the conscious avoidance of sacred texts :)

At the same time, Sered also pointed out a few weaknesses in existing anthropological research methods. E.g., the assumption that complicated theology and philosophy are only articulated through language (especially written language). In fact, in her research, she found out that many women's religions are using elaborate sign languages, ritual dances and food rituals to express sophisticated metaphysical beliefs and theologies.

However, I find that many of the characteristics of women's religions in her book could not be separated from characteristics of anti-cultures and/or many eastern indigenous religions. Though Sered emphasize that those characteristics are not unique and that women's relgions simply possess more of these traits, I feel that the commonality of women's religions as anti-cultures and the different social construction of genders (especially East vs West) credit more attention and further research.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is dry and slow-going at first, but then becomes deeply interesting, particularly as Sered examines the central role of motherhood in women's religions--the social/relational experience having a defining and central role rather than the biological experience (as outside theorists might originally assume).

[Sophon · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far this has been a great book. It is an interesting look at several matrifocal societies and the women dominated religions.

[Araminta Matthews · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a great feminist, anthropological-study into female-based or female-dominated religions. I learned some hitherto unknown details about the Sande initiation, Spiritualism, and Shakers. I was intrigued by the respectful treatment of religions that others have discredited as "made-up" (such as the Fox sisters' exposure as apparent "frauds" in the establishment of Spiritualism). It was a pleasure to see the academic approach here as no apparent judgment was cast on these evolved, newer religions.

[Court]

Didnt finish. Used more for reference.