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Is there a separate spirituality for women? Since I often blog on issues of women's spirituality, I occasionally receive comments or emails from people who object to the idea that there is anything separate to say about spirituality for women. They often write something along the lines of 'spirituality is about moving past distinctions like race and gender, to a universal understanding that transcends these categorizations.'
In theory, I agree. But to the extent that spiritual growth takes place within our daily lives, in the moment to moment experiences that we have, we need to take into account the realities of our lives, and the way they often differ from men's. And to the extent that spiritual growth requires self-awareness, we need to address the distinct gender conditioning that we often receive, especially related to religion and spirituality.
This is what women's spirituality is for me, but I have come to realize this is quite different from how many people view it. If you google ‘women's spirituality', a lot of the listings you will get back are related to goddess worship, or feminine systems of divinity, often pagan or wiccan in orientation. The popularity of these traditions has exploded in recent decades, partly as a reaction against the patriarchal leadership of the world's major religions, and the role these religions have often historically played in the suppression and persecution of women.
I like female symbols of divinity, but to me, discarding the world's major religions wholesale on sexist grounds, and/or redefining God as female, is missing the point. Spiritual knowledge and experience DO transcend gender. Light is not male or female, and neither is power. And mystics within every major religion have described very similar experiences of divine light and power. Personally, I am more interested in addressing how women can grow within whatever religious tradition they have adopted, and how they can help to change the role of women within those.
So in that context, what are the components of a contemporary women's spirituality? I think it has to address those aspects of women's lives that are still different from men's, because these aspects determine what parts of our spiritual paths might be different too. For example:
- How can we juggle work, family, our health, and a spiritual practice? Studies show that we still do the majority of child-rearing and housework, regardless of whether or not we work outside the home, in addition to parent and other caretaking, so juggling is a particularly challenging aspect of our lives. Many women put their spirituality entirely on hold until late in life. For me, finding ways that we can integrate spiritual practice into our days, and begin to see our daily lives as an instrument for spiritual growth, are key.
- How do our bodies and our image of them impact our spiritual journey? Many people tend to think of spirituality as anti-physical, but if you study the mystics in any tradition, you quickly learn nothing could be further from the truth. Our bodies are the instrument through which we experience sacred moments. And we women tend to have a difficult relationship to our bodies, always wanting to be thinner, curvier, taller, shorter or younger. How does that block our ability to embrace our body as an instrument of our practice? How does it impact our mental and even physical health? And how does having a female brain and body impact how we experience spiritual moments?
- Related to this is, how is our energy different, and how does that impact us spiritually? Many mystic traditions teach that we each have a non-physical energy body or energy centers through which we connect to the world in addition to our physical bodies. How are women's energy bodies different? How does that impact how we experience both the world and spirituality? How does our energy change in relation to our body as we go through the different phases of our reproductive life cycle? I realize this might be too new-agey for some, but I have found that most women find this information extremely valuable.
- How does gender conditioning impact our path? Specifically, what messages have we received about what it means to be spiritual women, and are they empowering or disempowering? Many religions restrict women's access to leadership positions, and emphasize nurturing and service as women's primary religious roles. While these can be important parts of our path, an overemphasis on them can also keep us from pursuing contemplative practices and our full spiritual power. If you believe in enlightenment
