Women play a prominent role in religious societies but are left out of these said societies when discussing their religion or religious experiences. Religious experiences are promoted through the male gaze by the way of male prophets, gurus, or scholars ignoring women who either influenced said men or contributed to the “way.” If women are discussed, they are discussed with attributes of submission and/or other “weaker” attributes, creating a second-class citizen that often contradicts religious teachings. Women are the sustainers and creators of culture, influencing religions. Religion is one of the areas in which women have contributed enormously to. Even though there are contributions by women in both the spiritual aspects of religion and the hard aspects, the contributions are ignored or represented as “lesser.” The Abrahamic faiths are seen as highly masculine, restricting women from religious participation as much as possible, making religious spaces uncomfortable for the female. In modern times women have taken back their spirituality and religious spaces.

Women have participated in all forms of spiritual revivals and are remembered in popular folklore but dismissed by scholars and not taught. The memory of women’s influences is erased, creating a visage of masculinity in popular religions like Islam or Christianity. Neo-Nazis have grasped the ancient religion of the Nordic pantheon twisting ancient peoples’ beliefs to formulate a problematic religion that targets minorities and reeks of toxic masculinity. Feminists are just as guilty of telling women what to believe and behave in the larger society. Telling women their spirituality is only accepted if they cast aside their brown-bodied fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons. These women tell other women that they know what their religion is, so they are better because they are freed from the shackles of religion.

Yet, despite the attacks on all sides by toxic masculinity and feminism. Women are more likely to identify with religion than men; the Pew Institute (2019) shows that 83.4% of women in the world belong to a religious group, and only 79.9% of men feel the same. There is not one country in the world where men feel more religiously affiliated than women.  However, men are more likely in the Orthodox Jewish and Islamic faiths to attend religious services weekly. This is due to many Muslim countries not providing religious spaces for women or discouraging women’s participation in the religious sphere, not because women aren’t religious. In the Orthodox Jewish faith, communal worship cannot take place unless 10 men are present. In Islam, men are required to attend Friday prayers, while women can choose to stay home.  Christian women attend church more than Christian men, which may be because Christian women are seen as the religious pillar in the home. The Christian woman is meant to pass on her Christian faith to her children and keep her husband in spiritual perfection. This belief was prevalent in the 1800s and helped inspired Western feminist views onto other spiritualities. Women pray more than men or an equal amount to their male counterparts. Religion is also seen as more important for women than for men. Pew Research (2019) shows that Muslims have less gender gap regarding one’s religiousness, while Christian women outrank the men. Muslim women pray around 2% more than Muslim men, while Christian women pray 10% more than men worldwide. So, if women are more likely to be religious than men, why is there a lack of study on how women interrupt their religion. There are plenty of studies on Muslim women and how they relate themselves to the veil, but none ask women how they interrupt their own spiritual beliefs. Women outside of the Ibrahimic faiths are relatively ignored. Religion and women are synonymous in the academic field to men and objects rather than looking at women’s feelings and spiritual beliefs in religion. Women are seen as nothing more than objects incapable of logical religious feelings that may go against a “norm.”

Spirituality is defined according to Google (Lexico Dictionaries, n.d.) as the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul instead of material or physical things.  This piece ignores definitions of religion as the term religion is a controversial topic that fails to have a set definition. Spirituality is, of course, not precise enough language; however, for dealing with the soul of an individual and one’s owns beliefs, it is a good enough definition for this research and one used while conducting oral interviews. Religious academia ignores esoteric religions, which scholars consider obscure such as Wicca, Norse tradition, Native American religions, etc. Some scholars require that religion must have set rules, books, and a more Christian Puritanical approach. The three subjects that follow a faith, path, or spirituality are fine by saying “religion” because they interpret it as a word that means their entire faith. This piece only ignores defining religion or spirituality, as each woman defines her own path.

The term religion is a modern puritanical concept that is not found in most traditions and cultures. Essences of religion are assumed to be masculine, with masculine themes ignoring what some may call the “divine” feminine. Placing modern concepts of gender identity upon ancient beliefs can obscure how people thought throughout time and place. There still lacks study and research on women in various beliefs and practices through the eyes of women. The Bible recognized both male (navi) prophets and female (navi’ah) prophets (Gafney, 2008), but the navi receives more recognition in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Quran describes the soul using the feminine word nafs and its mate with the masculine word zawj, but people have interpreted nafs to mean Adam and mate as Eve. Even though the Quranic text doesn’t describe the Adam and Eve story, translators and scholars have interpreted the feminine soul as Adam. Covering up the feminine and masculine fluidity that the Quran holds.

In the Norse tradition, archeologists assumed that the Vikings and the Nordic peoples who stayed home had a very masculine culture. Women were seen as victims of their m, and it wasn’t until recently that researchers discovered that women had much control in their homes and religious practices. European women and women who descend from the Nordic peoples have been turning back to the Norse practices and taking up the völva mantel. Pagan beliefs were male-dominated as much as the divine feminine dominated them, but modern practitioners have taken the religions’ basics to incorporate a more feminine religion. The interest in Wicca or paganism today might be the cause of counterculture to mainstream religions. Religions people associated with the plundering of their divine spirit or soul.

Religious or Spiritual practices have been dominated by women who have interpreted their own ideas upon the religion. Islam has women like Rabia of Basra, Shams of Marchena, and Fatimah of Cordova; of course, Khadija, Aisha, and Fatima the wives and daughters of the Prophet Muhammad. Christianity had Mary mother of Jesus both in Apocrypha, and in tradition, the Prophetess Anna mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, St. Teressa of Avila, and Julian of Norwich.  Germanic paganism and mythology beliefs have the völva, a woman who closely resembles a shaman, seeress, and/or a witch. Older traditions can be found covered under folkloric beliefs, hidden under the guises of “demons” and “witches.” Women, in most beliefs, are capable of blurring the lines between the veils of the world and exploring the avenues men could not. Women were not silent in religion; they often wrote on women’s rights and the soul’s connection with a supreme being. There is not one tradition without women being involved, even if the women are perceived as passive, at least for Western audiences, in their beliefs.