Would religions be better if they were led by women? Here at the J4MB headquarters we have no opinions on the matter, obviously, but we were interested in a discussion on the BBC TV programme Sunday Morning Live earlier today:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKhX1c3ow6BrzdzP3ydpeZQ/videos
It’s always good to see the writer and broadcaster Angela Epstein on TV, because she articulates non-feminist (and sometimes anti-feminist) perspectives, many of them nuanced, in discussions about gender-related issues. She’s an Orthodox Jew, and makes the good point in this programme that the quest for women to hold leadership positions in religions is nothing more than the politicisation of religion, driven by feminist ideology. Another insightful contributor to the piece was Susie Leafe, a director of Reform http://reform.org.uk which aims to reform the Church of England.