Women's Transformations of Public Judaism: Religiosity, Egalitarianism, and the Symbolic Power of Changing Gender Roles


 

Publication Date: January 2001

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Author(s): Sylvia Barack Fishman

Research Area: Culture and religion; Social conditions

Keywords: American Jews; Gender; Religion

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

This essay explores women's transformations of public Judaism, concentrating in communal rituals and life-cycle ceremonies, synagogue life, and diverse educational settings, which are arguably the loci most meaningful to westernized, religious affiliation Jews. Resistance to those changes is evidence of the symbolic power of gender role transformations.