Women and Religion
Exhibit curated by Katherine Smith, ’07
Published Fall 2007
The incorporation of women into various religious groups in the United States has gained speed in the past quarter century. As this exhibit demonstrates, for example, a feminist voice has gained influence within various denominations of Christianity and Judaism. Women’s activism in their religious lives has developed into the movement for women’s ordination, an expansion and reevaluation of women’s roles in Orthodox, Conservative and Reformed Judaism, and the incorporation of feminist ideals and analytic interpretations of religious texts into church institutions. The documents included here—organizational newsletters, pamphlets, informational studies, journals, and resolutions—reveal diverse approaches to women’s involvement in these religious communities, as well as the influence of religion and spirituality in asserting women’s rights throughout the U.S. and abroad.