Women's Religious Experience In Prehistoric And Small Scale Societies

Abstract

Women's religious lives in contemporary state-based cultures seem to exist on the periphery of centralised religions headed by male clergies and male defined institutions and rituals. This was not always so for women. For over 97% of our history as human beings, women and men have participated fully in the religious lives of their communities, each in their own clearly defined spheres. Drawing on examples from women-focused anthropology and evidence from ancient history, this essay explores some aspects of women's religious lives in prehistoric and contemporary small-scale cultures, previously hidden from Western eyes by assumptions and biases which, until recently, informed anthropological investigations.