{"id":385,"date":"2026-04-13T17:13:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T21:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religiousfeminism\/?page_id=385"},"modified":"2026-04-28T11:25:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T15:25:25","slug":"feminist-leaders","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religiousfeminism\/feminist-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Congregational Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Special Collections holds materials related to at least eight explicitly feminist religious leaders, across several different institutional and non-institutional faiths. These leaders include Episcopal priests, founders of spiritual communes, ministers, and a New Age priestess. As the broader religious feminist movement grew throughout the late twentieth century, the number of feminist congregational leaders naturally expanded as well. Materials in the archive document this expansion, and offer insights into their work, the challenges they faced, and the issues they addressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many collections relate to individuals who prioritized feminist theology or practices in their leadership (rather than religious leaders who happened to be women). Special Collections holds information on both individual leaders<\/a> and the resources and networks<\/a> they utilized. There are also extensive materials related to women\u2019s ordination<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To see a larger list of materials in Special Collections related to this topic, see Collections at Smith<\/a>. For further reading, see Secondary Sources<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Individual Leaders<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Among the feminist religious leaders featured in Special Collections, many were Episcopal priests. The Episcopal Church, the American member of the worldwide Anglican communion, has ordained women since 1974 and has generally been regarded as relatively progressive in its theology since the late twentieth century.1<\/a><\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruth Tiffany Barnhouse, for instance, was a complex figure whose notes and publications offer valuable insights into women\u2019s leadership within a Christian Church. Unlike many religious feminists, she separated the issue of women\u2019s rights from other social justice movements. Instead, she aligned herself with the subsection of the feminist movement that saw collaborating with LGBTQ rights activists as a mistake.2<\/a><\/sup> These stances are not reflected in the papers of other feminist Episcopal priests in Special Collections, but they shaped Barnhouse\u2019s work and her push for women\u2019s participation in Christian life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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A page from Rev. Barnhouse’s sermon notes on women’s ministry and the steps necessary for achieving equality within the Church.3<\/a><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Throughout her career, she used many of her publications to call for greater equality for women in religious spaces. She also conducted extensive research into how religious life differed for men and women, and gave numerous sermons about gender and the Church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other religious leaders in Special Collections rejected traditional institutional religion, and focused on leading alternative faith communities. These practices were overwhelmingly syncretic, as individuals blended various traditional and new belief systems. The New Age movement, in particular, was an especially strong source of inspiration and rituals for feminist spirituality.4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kay Gardner was ordained as a priestess by the Irish Fellowship of Isis in 1998, which honors the goddess Isis. In the United States, she founded the Temple of the Feminine Divine and the Isium Musicum, an ordination program.5<\/a><\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gardner\u2019s work also emphasized music as a spiritual practice. As a professional musician, she created New Age musical workshops and services to allow others to participate in her beliefs. Gardner also formed Women With Wings, a sacred singing circle. Her papers highlight a non-traditional path to feminist religious leadership, as well as the development of anti-institutional spiritual communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Several pages from one of Gardner’s compositions.6<\/a><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Other notable feminist leaders with materials in Special Collections include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n