2 - Women in the Early Days of the Poor of Lyons

Summary

Everything that is known about the presence of a female element in the deity of any religion, or the introduction at some stage in its history of a female element into its divine system, or the playing of a positive role by such an element in the history of salvation or in its future, tells us that these have not necessarily been accompanied by gender equality in the religious life. In most polytheistic religions whose pantheons included both male and female deities, though women played some part in the religious rituals, the religious establishment was still headed by men and the rights of women in it were not equal to theirs. The position of the Virgin Mary as the mother of God and the mediator between the faithful and her Son, which was determined as early as the Church councils in the fifth century (in Ephesus in 431 and Chalcedon in 451), and was further developed and given various expressions and rituals from the twelfth century on, did not expand the rights of women in the Catholic Church. In most of the Kabbalistic systems developed from the twelfth century onwards the tree of Sefirot, wherein the divine powers are manifested, included a female Sefirah (called a daughter, a matron,Shekhinah, or a bride). This Sefirah was thought of as representing the expansion of the divine power through the world, directing and representing the Godhead, while in the divine world itself it was God's consort. Yet this introduction of a female element produced no change in the status of women in the Kabbalists’ religious life. Indeed, some Kabbalist circles even laid stress on the demonic powers and uncleanness of woman. According to Rabbi David Ibn Zimra (1479–1575), a Kabbalist of Safed, the reincarnation of a man in a woman's body was a grave punishment, while for a woman to be found worthy of being reincarnated in a man's body was an elevation. Though the presence or introduction of a feminine element at some stage in the history of a religion no doubt helped shape its theological structures (and in the Kabbalah, also gave additional significance to certain ritual obligations), they did not produce a change in the actual position and rights of women in the religious life.