Religious feminists and the intersectional feminist movements: Insights from a case study

Abstract

Scholars describe Global North feminisms as mostly ‘secular’ and often opposing religion. Contemporary feminist intersectional movements seem to offer different approaches able to overcome distances and articulate the role of religion in feminist emancipatory practice. This contribution explores the complex role of religion in intersectional feminist movements, drawing on the experiences of religious-feminist and secular-feminist women in Italy. The results highlight that religious women are increasingly part of feminist intersectional movements. Nonetheless, religious inequalities are often overlooked, and religion triggers ambivalent reactions, often resulting in a process of othering minority women.

Women and Gender in Contemporary European Catholic Discourse: Voices of Faith

“…In this sense, the results are relevant to the broader analysis of contemporary Catholic women's activism. Overall, the analysis contributes to the literature on women's activism and feminism within the Catholic Church (e.g., Giorgi 2020;Daigler 2012;Eckholt 2020;Hunt 2009;Qualbrink 2019), and to the studies on current women's mobilizations in different fields.…”

“…This activism claims for the voice of women in the Church to be heard, and claims for equality and recognition: also, it has developed in relation to the conservative and traditionalist turn of some Catholic groups (especially Catholic women's groups). Its visibility is also related to the women's movements all around the world: the #metoo campaign, and the Ni Una Menos (initiatives against violence against women) in particular (Giorgi 2020). On the one side, this renewed broad women's activism opened a window of opportunity in the public discourse and in the Catholic discursive sphere for speaking about the violence, patriarchy and abuse in Catholicism.…”

“…The topic of violence in the Catholic Church communities, whomever the perpetrator, has been traditionally neglected, with tangible consequences on women's capacity to recognize an abuse (Aune and Barnes 2018). In recent years it has started to be discussed, for the initiative of local communities and, also, in relation to the broader #metoo campaigns (Giorgi 2020). Introducing the initiative on abuse and violence in the Catholic Church, one of the women clearly affirms: "Yes, I am deeply convinced about that.…”

“…Contemporary women's movements, which have developed all around the world managed to gain sympathetic attention, which create a favorable climate for religious women's mobilization. In addition, contemporary women's movements are mostly attentive to intersectionality and women's diversity, which make them attuned to connect with different actors and unlikely allies, such as religious women-even though the intersections of religion and feminism have a long history (Giorgi 2020), mainstream secular feminism in Western European countries is often suspicious toward religious feminism or religious feminists (Van den Brandt 2014). Moreover, the digital arena offers an important platform for networking and for voice and public visibility.…”

Pushing Intersectionality, Hybridity, and (Inter)Disciplinary Research on Digitality to Its Limits

“…GE: When looking at digital religion and discussions of gender and sexuality, I find it particularly relevant to try and include the voices of the people whose practices I am exploring. This is something that scholar Alberta Giorgi (2021) did in her study on the Italian feminist group Non Una Di Meno [Not One Less]. Giorgi employed interviews to invite conversations with religious women and validate their experience and activism as feminists.…”