A NAME OF OUR OWN
Subaltern Women's Perspectives on Gender and Religion
Keywords:
Subaltern WomenAbstract
Even early in human social organization, women had primacy of place in the religious consciousness and practice. Their role as progenitors and mothers - giving birth and nurture, as producers and gatherers - cooking, weaving, livestock rearing, and as early agriculturists and horticulturists clearly gave them an edge as functioning parts of human society. At a time when there was only a rudimentary understanding of reproduction the fact that women gave birth and nurtured the babies perhaps engendered a sense of awe. Thus religious practice in almost every primitive community has women in important roles - as priestesses, even objects of worship. The fertility cults, of course, celebrate women and their fertility.
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