Women in Religion: Patriarchy, Prophetesses and Spiritual Leaders

Women have led religious life since the earliest written records — as priestesses, prophets, judges, saints, teachers and founders of whole faiths. Yet in most of the world’s large religions the highest offices — the altar, the pulpit, the religious court — were for centuries reserved for men. This guide shows both sides: where and how women were kept from religious power, and where they held it anyway. Each section leads to a detailed article, and the last one asks the question that matters most to us: does the soul have a gender at all? For the wider picture of what the world’s faiths teach about rebirth, see Reincarnation Beliefs Across World Religions and Cultures.

Women in religion: who can lead today?

It depends on the tradition — and often on the branch within it. Here is the short answer for the largest faiths:

Tradition	Can women be clergy or leaders?
Catholic Church	No priests or bishops; women lead as abbesses, and four women are Doctors of the Church
Orthodox Churches	No priests; women lead convents as abbesses
Anglican Communion	Yes: priests and bishops; since 2026 Sarah Mullally is the first woman Archbishop of Canterbury
Many Protestant churches	Yes in Lutheran, Methodist and many others; no in some conservative churches
Judaism	Yes in Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative Judaism; Orthodox Judaism generally does not ordain women as rabbis
Islam	Women teach, issue opinions and may lead other women in prayer; mainstream law does not allow a woman to lead a mixed congregation
Buddhism	Fully ordained nuns (bhikkhunis) exist; full ordination is being revived where the line was broken
Sikhism	Yes: women may lead congregations, recite scripture and serve as granthis
Bahá’í Faith	All elected and appointed roles are open to women except membership of the Universal House of Justice
Shinto	Yes: women serve as priests, and the Supreme Priestess of the Ise Grand Shrine is a woman

Why are the answers so different? Read Can Women Be Priests? →

Patriarchy in religion: how men came to hold religious power

Religious power was concentrated in men’s hands through three things: control of the central rites, rules of ritual purity, and the rewriting of women’s roles in the historical record.

• The central rites. In the Catholic and Orthodox Churches only a man can celebrate the Eucharist. In mainstream Islam the Friday sermon and the leading of a mixed congregation belong to men. In Orthodox Judaism women are not counted in the minyan — the quorum of ten for public prayer — and do not sit as judges in a religious court.
• Purity rules. Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Orthodox Christian practice have all kept rules that, on certain days, distanced women from holy objects or places. Not every tradition did: Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, openly rejected the idea that women are impure.
• Rewritten roles. In Romans 16:7 the apostle Paul greets Junia as “outstanding among the apostles”; John Chrysostom in the 4th century praised her as a woman apostle, yet later copyists and translators turned her into a man, “Junias”. Mary Magdalene, the first witness of the Resurrection, was merged with the “sinful woman” of Luke 7 in a sermon of Pope Gregory I in 591 — and remembered for centuries as a repentant prostitute, with no basis in the Bible.

Was there ever a woman on the papal throne? Read Pope Joan: Was There Ever a Female Pope? →

Where women always held spiritual authority

Even inside patriarchal systems, women’s spiritual authority never disappeared. A few examples across four thousand years:

• Enheduanna (23rd century BC), daughter of King Sargon of Akkad and high priestess of the Moon god in Ur — the first author in history known by name, and she wrote hymns.
• The Pythia, high priestess of Apollo at Delphi, was consulted by kings and cities for more than a thousand years, until the temple was destroyed under Emperor Theodosius I.
• The Vestal Virgins — a college of six priestesses in Rome who served for at least thirty years and kept the sacred fire of the state.
• The Supreme Priestess of Ise, Japan’s holiest Shinto shrine. Since 19 June 2017 the office has been held by Sayako Kuroda, daughter of Emperor Akihito.
• Four Doctors of the Church — the highest title for a teacher of faith in the Catholic Church: Teresa of Ávila and Catherine of Siena (1970), Thérèse of Lisieux (1997) and Hildegard of Bingen (2012).
• Mahapajapati Gotami, the Buddha’s aunt and foster mother, the first Buddhist nun; Rabia al-Adawiya of Basra, the Sufi saint of divine love; Sun Bu’er, the only woman among the Seven Perfected of Quanzhen Daoism.

In recent decades the balance has been shifting. Mary Magdalene’s memorial was raised to a feast in 2016 and the Catholic liturgy now calls her the “apostle of the apostles”. In 2022 around 140 Buddhist nuns received full ordination in Bhutan. In 2026 a woman became spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion.

Female prophets and women leaders in the Bible

The Bible names several women prophets — Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, Anna among them — and Deborah also judged all Israel. In the New Testament Phoebe is a deacon and Priscilla teaches the scholar Apollos. Who were they, and how many were there? Read Female Prophets in the Bible →

Can women be priests? And was there a female pope?

Churches answer differently: Catholic and Orthodox Churches say no, the Anglican Communion and many Protestant churches say yes. The full story — from Phoebe and Junia to the first women bishops — is in Can Women Be Priests?. The medieval legend of a woman who became pope is told in Pope Joan.

Women in Buddhism: nuns and female lamas

Buddhism has had fully ordained nuns since the time of the Buddha, and Tibet has female lines of reincarnated teachers, such as the Samding Dorje Phagmo. Tara, a female Buddha, is among the most loved figures of Tibetan devotion. Read Women in Buddhism: Bhikkhunis, Female Lamas and Tara →

Women in Islam: scholars, Sufis and women’s mosques

Islam has a long tradition of women scholars who taught men as well as women, and in China there are women’s mosques led by women imams. Read Female Imams and Women Scholars in Islam and the life of the great Sufi mystic in Rabia al-Adawiya (Rabia Basri) →

Female rabbis

Asenath Barzani headed a yeshiva in Mosul in the 17th century; Regina Jonas was ordained in Berlin in 1935; Sally Priesand became the first woman rabbi ordained by a rabbinical seminary in 1972. Read Female Rabbis →

Women who founded religions

In the 19th and 20th centuries women founded movements with millions of followers: Mary Baker Eddy (Christian Science), Ellen G. White (co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventists), Nakayama Miki (Tenrikyo), Aimee Semple McPherson (the Foursquare Church). Helena Blavatsky co-founded the Theosophical Society and did more than anyone to bring the ideas of karma and reincarnation to the West — see Helena Blavatsky, Theosophy and Reincarnation. In India, Anandamayi Ma was revered by millions as a living saint. The full overview: Women Who Founded Religions →

The mother goddess and matriarchy

Was there once a peaceful age of goddess worship, ended by warrior patriarchy? The archaeologist Marija Gimbutas argued so; most archaeologists today disagree. The real matrilineal societies, such as the Mosuo of China, look different from the myth. Read The Mother Goddess and Matriarchy →

Does the soul have a gender? Reincarnation and women

In most teachings about rebirth, the soul itself is neither male nor female. In Tibetan Buddhism this is visible in practice: there are recognised female reincarnation lines, and in 2007 the 14th Dalai Lama said: “If a woman reveals herself as more useful the lama could very well be reincarnated in this form.” The idea is older than that interview: his office has said it goes back to 1992, when the Paris editor of Vogue asked him whether a future Dalai Lama could be a woman and he replied, “Certainly, if that would be more helpful.” Yet all fourteen Dalai Lamas so far have been men.

Research points the same way. Ian Stevenson recorded cases in which children remembered a previous life as the opposite sex, and how often this happened depended on the culture. Not every rebirth teaching is gender-neutral, though: in Jainism the Digambara tradition holds that a woman can reach liberation only after being reborn as a man, while the Śvetāmbara tradition reveres Malli, the nineteenth of its twenty-four tīrthaṅkaras, as a woman. Michael Newton’s clients, describing the life between lives, spoke of souls that choose male and female bodies at different times. More: The Reincarnation Research of Dr Ian Stevenson and Michael Newton: Life Between Lives.

If the soul has no gender, the rule that only men may hold the highest religious offices is a human rule, not a law of the soul.

What Maris Dreshmanis says

The founder of Reincarnatiopedia, Maris Dreshmanis, put it this way:

“Religious power has been privatized by men. There have been many Roman popes, and not a single Roman mom.”

“I believe the future of the planet belongs to women.”

More of his sayings: Maris Dreshmanis: Quotes and Sayings.

Frequently asked questions

Which religions allow women to be leaders?

The Anglican Communion, most Protestant churches, Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative Judaism, Sikhism and Shinto ordain or appoint women as clergy. The Catholic and Orthodox Churches and Orthodox Judaism do not; in mainstream Islam women teach and lead other women but not mixed congregations.

Who was the first known woman religious leader?

The earliest known by name is Enheduanna, high priestess of the Moon god in Ur in the 23rd century BC, who is also the first named author in history (Glaz, 2020).

Can the Dalai Lama be reincarnated as a woman?

The 14th Dalai Lama has said more than once that his successor could be a woman; in 2007 he said the lama “could very well be reincarnated in this form”. His office dates the idea back to a 1992 conversation with Vogue, when he answered, “Certainly, if that would be more helpful.” So far every Dalai Lama has been a man.

Does the soul have a gender?

In most rebirth teachings — Hindu, Buddhist, Theosophical — the soul itself has no gender and may be born as a man in one life and as a woman in another. One notable exception is Digambara Jainism, which teaches that final liberation requires a male birth.

Was there ever a female pope?

According to a medieval legend, a woman called Joan reigned as pope in the 9th century. Historians consider the story a legend; see Pope Joan.

Sources

1. Paul’s Letter to the Romans 16:1–7; Gospel of Luke 7:36–50 and 8:2.
2. Eldon Jay Epp. Junia: The First Woman Apostle. Fortress Press, 2005.
3. Pope Gregory I. Homily 33 (591).
4. Congregation for Divine Worship. Decree raising the memorial of Saint Mary Magdalene to a feast, 3 June 2016.
5. Pew Research Center. The Gender Gap in Religion Around the World, 22 March 2016.
6. Universal House of Justice: Bahá’í Reference Library, bahai.org.
7. Imperial Household Agency of Japan; Ise Grand Shrine (Jingu), isejingu.or.jp.
8. Church of England: announcement of the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, 2025–2026.
9. Ian Stevenson. Children Who Remember Previous Lives. McFarland, revised edition 2001.
10. Michael Newton. Journey of Souls. Llewellyn, 1994.
11. Rodney Stark. “Physiology and Faith: Addressing the “Universal” Gender Difference in Religious Commitment”. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 41(3), 2002, 495–507. doi:10.1111/1468-5906.00133
12. Landon Schnabel. “The Gender Pray Gap”. Gender & Society 30(4), 2016, 643–669. doi:10.1177/0891243216644884
13. Sarah Glaz. “Enheduanna: Princess, Priestess, Poet, and Mathematician”. The Mathematical Intelligencer 42(2), 2020, 31–46. doi:10.1007/s00283-019-09914-7
14. Andrea Hartmann. “Junia – A Woman Lost in Translation: The Name IOYNIAN in Romans 16:7 and its History of Interpretation”. Open Theology 6(1), 2020, 646–660. doi:10.1515/opth-2020-0138