Feminism
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Cultural and Structural Barriers to Women’s Leadership in African Pentecostalism
IntroductionPentecostalism has emerged as one of the most vibrant and transformative religious trends in Africa, especially in Nigeria, where it has experienced explosive growth, redefining religious practices, social norms, and political participation.[1] As Pentecostal churches focus on spiritual empowerment, personal revelation, and charismatic authority, women are still faced with systemic limitations to leadership. Both cultural factors, involving patriarchal tradition, gendered expectations, and biblical literalism, and structural factors, including institutional structures, doctrinal limitations, and church hierarchies, are barriers to these.[2] The irony is that women are the largest group of Pentecostal followers and contribute significantly to expanding the church, yet they are not allowed to lead due to cultural views of…
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The Awakening of the Invisibles: A Glimpse into the Practice of Laywomen in the Naḷakapānasutta
Despite significant progress in recent decades, gender inequality remains a pervasive global phenomenon. According to the United Nations (2024), at the present rate of change, it will take more than 137 years to achieve gender parity. This disparity manifests in distinct ways across social, economic, and cultural contexts, yet in much of the world, gender roles continue to be rigidly defined. Women are still predominantly responsible for household labor, childcare, and other domestic tasks—roles that are frequently naturalized and undervalued. The inequalities inherent in these socially assigned roles, combined with wage disparities, lead many women to prioritize domestic responsibilities over professional aspirations. For others, this prioritization is not a matter…
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Rape Culture in Pastoral Discourses: An Analysis of Women in the Evangelical Religious Context
Sexual violence against women, often legitimized by cultural and pastoral discourses, remains an alarming problem in Brazil. The concept of “rape culture” encompasses a set of beliefs, behaviors, and discourses that normalize and excuse sexual violence, often shifting blame onto those who experience it and protecting the aggressor, according to Judith Herman (1992). In the evangelical context, religious leaders play a unique role in shaping values and beliefs, influencing both individual behaviors and social structures. However, in certain cases, the language adopted by pastors not only reflects unequal gender norms, but also reinforces them, contributing to the perpetuation of a culture of female submission and violence. To understand this problem,…
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Reflections on Body Theology
Bodies matter. They shape how we experience life—through our senses, movements, and our interactions with the world. Yet, our bodies are frequently sites of inequality and violence. In 2025, state-sanctioned war and genocide (in Palestine and Ukraine to name just two places) targets and seeks to erase the bodies of entire communities, both physically and culturally. The COVID-19 pandemic has left lasting physical, mental, and societal scars, with millions facing health challenges like long COVID, deepening inequalities, and strained healthcare systems. Physical and sexual violence, especially gender-based violence, remains a global public health crisis. The bodies of Black people, ethnic minorities, immigrants, and refugees are still treated as though they…
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“We’re people, not parts of people”: Severance, trauma, and the stories our bodies tell
*Spoilers for Severance Series 2 ahead* I’ve just finished watching the second series of Severance, Apple TV’s psychological work-place thriller. It centres on the lives of employees at Lumon Industries, a biotechnology company where some workers have undergone a medical procedure, the titular “severance.” Once a chip has been implanted in their brains, a strict division is created between their professional and personal lives. Employees have no memory of their personal life while at work, and no awareness of their work life outside of the office. As a result, each individual essentially splits into two separate personas: the “innie,” confined to the workplace, and the “outie,” who experiences life beyond…
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Yet still they speak
Content warning: sexual violence But she said to him, “No, my brother; for this wrong in sending me away is greater than the other that you did to me.” But he would not listen to her. He called the young man who served him and said, “Put this woman out of my presence, and bolt the door after her.” (Now she was wearing a long robe with sleeves; for this is how the virgin daughters of the king were clothed in earlier times.) So his servant put her out, and bolted the door after her. But Tamar put ashes on her head, and tore the long robe that she was…
