How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality What Women Want
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Mar 29, 2026 Dr. Dianne Stewart, Emory professor and scholar of African heritage religions, explains women's spiritual authority in Orisha and Vodou. Dania Suleiman, writer and lawyer on faith and feminism, shares how religious women defend rights and reshape gender roles. They discuss legal battles over religious expression, reinterpretations of scripture, ritual power, and diverse paths to liberation.
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Visible Faith Can Mask Women's Agency
- Public debates often cast visible religious symbols as signs of oppression, ignoring women's agency and broader immigration anxieties.
- Dania shows religious women both defend religious freedom in courts and challenge gender inequality inside their communities.
Improve Mosque Spaces For Women's Inclusion
- Audit religious spaces and push for equitable physical environments rather than assuming doctrinal change is the only path.
- Hind Makki's Side Entrance project revealed many mosques provide poor, hidden, or unattractive spaces for women, prompting ISNA action.
Multiple Paths Religious Women Use To Challenge Inequality
- Dania recounts diverse strategies women use: leading mixed-gender prayers, creating women-only mosques, or leaving practices they find unjust.
- She emphasizes the core point: these are all expressions of agency tailored to individual contexts.
