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From Islam to the Bible, organized feminism began to enter the religion in the 1960s, with the second wave of feminists. These women began to use sacred texts as a basis for claims, based on reinterpretation. In Christianity, feminist theologians struggled, often against the church itself, to tell the presence of women in the story of Jesus.

Studies on religion and gender are recent in the social sciences. Discussion of the topic began in academia in the 1990s, but the term feminist theology emerged in the 1960s. Sociologist Jonas Santos, who in 2017 championed the thesis “Breaking Gaps in the Church: Controversies and Consensus on Feminist Reading of the Bible,” explains.

The struggle of women for recognition of the Catholic Church goes back much earlier. The Mexican nun Juana Inês da Cruz dates back to the 17th century. She became a reference in feminist studies in Latin America because at that time she had already fought for the right to study. At the end of the 19th century, with the suffrage movement in the first wave of the women’s movement, there were many evangelical women who questioned the state of submission and how religion was used to justify the position.

The result of this movement was the Women’s Bible. Santos asserts: “Several women from different churches came together to translate the Bible from a woman’s perspective. At that time, feminism itself was not present in these practices.” Feminist theologian Maria José Rosado states in her article “The Impact of Feminism on the Study of Religions” that the Woman’s Bible is considered the starting point of a long and fragmented process that, in the late 1960s, would lead to the formation of feminist theology, coinciding with the emergence of liberation theology.

“The idea of ​​God as a human being has always bothered me.”

For 20 years, Teresina Casemiro, 78, has been coordinating a feminist Bible reading group. “Based on the deconstruction of patriarchal scriptural texts, biblical scholars and feminist theologians reconstruct the texts and reveal women whose role has been hidden or weakened, including that of hero,” explains the retired sociologist. She says she was raised in the Catholic Christian tradition and taught her whole life at a nunnery. “I’ve always been bothered by the idea of ​​God as a human being. In places, whether in the family or at school, I haven’t had the courage to express that concern,” he explains.

After her retirement, she took a course in religious sciences, but did not get answers to her questions. In 1998, he began participating in the Ecumenical Center for Biblical Studies (Cebi – CE). He adds: “From the oppressive, conditional, limiting, and patriarchal texts, to the libertarian texts, in light of the popular and libertarian reading of the Bible.”

Despite this, Theresienha does not see religious institutions support her claims as a woman. “There are areas, sectors and leaders who support the struggle of women to assert themselves as people with dignity and rights, but institutionally they leave much to be desired, not only in Christian traditions, but in other religious lines,” she laments.

Catholics for Women’s Reproductive and Sexual Rights

“If God is remembrance, then the remembrance is God.” This phrase is taken from the work of feminist theologian Mary Daly called Beyond God the Father, published in 1973. The masculine image of the divinity and the submissive and virginal figure of Mary remains a much debated topic among Christian feminists as well. Like Terezinha.

Feminist theologian Andrea Lima has been a member of the Catholic NGO for Right to Decide for five years. Andrea has always been devout, and by questioning religious practices, she came to feminism. “Women have always had a lot to offer for religion and other fields. Within religion, unfortunately, due to the conservative and patriarchal aspect, we notice that our practice sometimes is not recognized or received the way it should be. The practice realized that we need to express ourselves in the way we have heard ‘ says Andrea.

Founded in 1993 in Brazil, the NGO raised the issue of women’s reproductive and sexual rights. In addition, Andrea highlights the struggle of NGOs for a secular state. “Because we are religious and we have faith above all, we want a secular state, so that all women and all religions have a chance, because if a state is based on only one religion, surely the others will not enjoy the truth.”

In October 2020, a São Paulo court ruled that the NGO could not use the name “Catholic”, claiming that the purpose of the association “reveals incompatibility with the values ​​espoused by the Catholic Church”. The decision was made at the request of the Association Centro Dom Bosco de Fé e Cultura, a Catholic and conservative organization based in Rio de Janeiro. The organization says the NGO “intends to implement a progressive and anti-Catholic agenda among Catholics”. CDD has filed appeals and is awaiting rulings in the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) and Federal Supreme Court (STF). The parties are awaiting the withdrawal of a minister or minister who will be responsible for reporting the proceedings in the two higher courts. There are no expectations when the process will progress.

In light of this context, Andrea notes that the work of feminist theologians is becoming increasingly costly. Since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, the Church has only retreated from women’s rights and gender issues, she noted. To the extent of persecution suffered by members of the Catholic Church. This was the case of the theological nun Ivone Gebara, one of the founders of the CDD.

“Ivone Gebara is a great example in Brazil, but at no time has she turned away from this church that silenced and persecuted her. We are not interested in opposing the church we belong to. We are against the actions of patriarchy, ‘what limits us, who wants to control our body and mind,'” Andrea continues For the motive to continue the fight against the structures of religion itself.

Evangelical feminists in contradiction?

This is a frequently asked question by Eliana Coelho. The 37-year-old evangelical feminist says that, unlike other friends who prefer to say they are Christian feminists, she describes herself as an evangelical feminist to oppose this profile of traditional evangelicals. An area whose political activism gained notoriety in the election of President Jair Bolsonaro. She was converted at the age of 14, but since she was young, her mother took her to church, although her father did not change and did not attend.

“If you think about the way television and religious fundamentalism preach, there is a contradiction, but if you know the Bible and the controversy within it, you will see that it is not. The dominant version is the fundamentalist version, it is the one that supports Bolsonaro.”

To explain this, Ileana separated religion and spirituality. “I could have a fundamentalist spirituality and never set foot in a church. I understand that this is a reflection of contemporary. This bricolage and this crossing that I am doing is something of contemporary,” the teacher comments on the practice of reinterpreting principles in my book.

Eliane remembers the things that bothered her since her teens, when she attended services. “At the Ministry of Arts, we had a divorced girlfriend, and I saw how she had so many talents and wasn’t covered in anything, and it annoyed me,” she explains. In 2013, in the series of demonstrations, she began to get more involved in social movements and social media. I discovered the “Christian Feminists” group on Facebook. It was there that he found other women who also dared question the patriarchal practices within the congregations. By that time, she had already stopped going to churches, and despite this, she doesn’t feel anything less evangelical.

A survey by Datafolha, published in January 2020, found that 50% of Brazilians are Catholics and 31% evangelical. Women represent 51% among Catholics and 58% among Evangelicals. A study by demographer Jose Eustacu Alves, retired professor at the IBGE National School of Statistical Sciences, which was also conducted in 2020, projected the growth of the evangelical population, according to which the number of Catholics in the country should exceed the average from 2032, the average Growth is 0.8% annually since 2010.

The social transformation of feminism in the theological field

It is important to differentiate between the work of feminist theology and feminist studies of religion. According to feminist theologian Linda Woodhead, when approaching the study of religion and gender from a simple problematic perspective: religion is “good” (liberating) or “bad” for women, feminist studies of religion end up reinforcing the patriarchal discourse of religions.

Jonas explains that in the case of the Christian-Catholic tradition, feminism has influenced the internal structure. “Until the beginning of the twentieth century, the idea of ​​women’s subordination prevailed. There is this change in this council (Vatican II). They attribute this change to the demands of the feminist movement in the 1950s and 1960s,” she explains. . The purpose of the Second Vatican Council, convened by Pope John XXIII in 1961, was “to promote the growth of the Catholic faith and the renewal of the customs of the Christian people, and to adapt ecclesiastical discipline to the conditions of our time.” , as authority in the papal bullhuman health“.

In the 1980s, Pope John Paul II wrote a document that resumed the council’s ideas, but in a general context the document does not contain a discussion of other roles for women. Jonas explains, “It seems that a woman’s only role is to be a mother or a nun. The discussion of virginity is back again, and it’s a discussion that feminist theologians often question.”

According to the sociologist, this was the church’s response to social pressures. He explains that in contrast to the discourse that religion is completely different from social spheres, it is influenced by issues of class, race, and gender. In 2020, Pope Francis appointed Italy’s Francesca Di Giovanni undersecretary for the Department of State Relations at the State Secretariat, the body that handles administrative affairs and diplomacy for the Vatican. She was the first woman to occupy such a high position in this body.

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