Chapter 19: The Contemporary Conversation

This chapter is part of the book The Sacred Editors: Lost Women.

The ancient vellum stretched taut across the writing board as Aviel Barclay carefully dipped her quill into the specially prepared ink. In her studio in Chestertown, Maryland, on a crisp morning in January 2007, she was completing something unprecedented in modern Jewish history: a Torah scroll written by a woman. Each Hebrew letter required perfect formation according to centuries-old specifications, and any error would necessitate starting the entire panel again. As a newly trained soferet (female ritual scribe), Barclay understood that her work challenged not just tradition but the very assumption that sacred texts could only be transmitted through male hands.¹

The completion of that Torah scroll represented more than individual achievement; it symbolized a broader transformation occurring across religious traditions worldwide. For the first time in history, women were not merely recovering lost voices from ancient manuscripts but actively participating in the ongoing creation, interpretation, and transmission of sacred texts. This contemporary renaissance represents neither a rejection of tradition nor a simple restoration of ancient practices, but rather a fundamental reimagining of who can speak with religious authority and how sacred wisdom is preserved and passed forward.

Jewish Women and the Return to Scribal Practice

The emergence of contemporary women scribes in Judaism represents one of the most visible examples of women reclaiming roles in sacred textual transmission. The practice of sofrut (Jewish ritual scribing) had been exclusively male for over a millennium, based on interpretations of Jewish law that connected scribal authority to other forms of religious leadership from which women were excluded.

The Legal and Historical Context

Traditional restrictions on women's scribal participation were not explicitly mandated in biblical or early rabbinic law but developed through centuries of interpretive tradition. The Talmud contains no explicit prohibition against women writing Torah scrolls, though it does restrict them from serving as witnesses in certain legal contexts.² Modern halakhic authorities had generally extended these restrictions to ritual scribing, arguing that the act of writing sacred texts required the same legal standing as reading them in public worship.

Contemporary Jewish feminist scholars challenged these interpretations by demonstrating that the connection between scribal practice and liturgical leadership was historically contingent rather than divinely mandated. Rabbi Mendel Shapiro's influential 2001 halakhic analysis argued that women's exclusion from Torah scribing was based on social custom rather than religious law, opening space for women to reclaim these roles within Orthodox frameworks.³

Contemporary Practice and Community Response

Following Aviel Barclay's pioneering work, a growing community of women scribes has emerged across the Jewish world. Jen Taylor Friedman, working in England, completed a Torah scroll in 2010 that was accepted for liturgical use by several Progressive congregations.⁴ Linda Coppleson, a calligrapher turned soferet, has trained numerous women in the United States, while Temima Nochomi's work in Israel has influenced Sephardic approaches to women's scribal participation.⁵

The community response to women scribes has varied significantly across denominational lines. Reform and Conservative Jewish communities have generally embraced women's participation in ritual scribing as consistent with their commitments to gender equality. Orthodox communities remain divided, with some accepting women's scrolls for study purposes while maintaining traditional restrictions on liturgical use.⁶

Perhaps more significantly, the emergence of women scribes has prompted broader discussions about the nature of sacred authority and textual transmission. When women write Torah scrolls, they do not simply replicate male practices but often bring different perspectives to the meaning and significance of scribal work. Many contemporary women scribes emphasize the meditative and spiritual aspects of letter formation, connecting their practice to traditions of Jewish women's spirituality that emphasize embodied religious experience.⁷

Islamic Feminist Scholarship and Contemporary Exegesis

The late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have witnessed a remarkable flowering of Islamic feminist scholarship that has transformed approaches to Quranic interpretation and Islamic law. Unlike earlier periods when women's religious knowledge was primarily transmitted through oral networks, contemporary Muslim women scholars are publishing, teaching, and debating in public forums that reach global audiences.

Pioneers and Methodologies

Scholars like Amina Wadud, Asma Barlas, and Kecia Ali have developed sophisticated hermeneutical approaches that distinguish between Quranic principles and patriarchal interpretations that accumulated over centuries of male-dominated scholarship.⁸ Their work demonstrates that careful attention to Arabic grammar, historical context, and comparative Islamic jurisprudence can support egalitarian readings of texts that had been interpreted to justify women's subordination.

Wadud's approach to Quranic hermeneutics emphasizes what she calls "tawhidic paradigm," reading the Quran through the lens of divine unity in ways that reject hierarchical relationships between men and women.⁹ Barlas's work on Quranic anthropology shows how the text consistently affirms the spiritual equality of men and women while rejecting patriarchal authority structures.¹⁰ Ali's scholarship on Islamic law demonstrates how attention to diversity within traditional jurisprudence can support contemporary arguments for women's rights.¹¹

Regional Variations and Global Networks

Islamic feminist scholarship has developed distinctive characteristics in different cultural contexts while maintaining connections through international scholarly networks. In Southeast Asia, scholars like Musdah Mulia and Siti Ruhaini Dzuhayatin have connected Quranic interpretation to local traditions of women's religious authority, while in Iran, scholars like Zahra Rahnavard have developed approaches that work within the framework of Islamic revolutionary ideology.¹²

African Muslim feminists like Amina Mama and Fatou Sow have emphasized how attention to pre-Islamic African traditions can enrich understanding of women's roles in Islamic societies, while scholars in North America and Europe have focused on how Islamic principles can address contemporary issues like domestic violence and economic justice.¹³

These regional variations demonstrate that Islamic feminist scholarship is not a monolithic movement but rather a diverse conversation that reflects different cultural contexts and interpretive priorities. However, common methodological commitments connect these scholars: careful attention to Quranic Arabic, historical contextualization of traditional interpretations, and emphasis on justice ('adl) as a central Quranic principle.

Institutional Challenges and Achievements

Contemporary Muslim women scholars face significant institutional challenges in gaining recognition for their interpretive work. Traditional Islamic educational institutions often restrict women's access to advanced training in Quranic exegesis and Islamic law, while political pressures in many Muslim-majority countries can make feminist scholarship dangerous.¹⁴

Despite these obstacles, Islamic feminist scholars have achieved remarkable institutional gains. Several universities in the United States, Canada, and Europe have established programs in Islamic feminism, while international organizations like Women in Islam and Musawah have created platforms for scholarly exchange and advocacy.¹⁵ Perhaps most significantly, younger generation Muslim women are increasingly accessing Islamic education through online platforms and informal networks that bypass traditional institutional gatekeeping.

Buddhist Women's Global Ordination Movement

The contemporary movement for Buddhist women's full ordination represents one of the most successful examples of women using textual scholarship to challenge institutional exclusion. For over a thousand years, the bhikkhuni (fully ordained nun) lineage had died out in Theravāda Buddhism, leaving women in those traditions without access to the highest levels of monastic education and authority.¹⁶

Textual Recovery and Historical Argument

Buddhist feminist scholars like Karma Lekshe Tsomo, Bhikshuni Jampa Tsedroen, and Bhikkhuni Dhammananda have used careful analysis of Pali and Sanskrit sources to demonstrate that women's exclusion from full ordination was historically contingent rather than doctrinally necessary.¹⁷ Their scholarship has shown that the Buddha originally established parallel orders for men and women, and that restrictions on women's ordination developed through later institutional decisions rather than original Buddhist teaching.

This textual work has been crucial for legitimizing contemporary ordination efforts. When Thai women like Dhammananda seek full ordination, they can point to scholarly evidence that such ordination is consistent with original Buddhist principles rather than a modern innovation.¹⁸ Similarly, when Western Buddhist communities consider ordaining women, they can draw on textual scholarship that demonstrates the historical precedent for such practices.

Global Networks and Cultural Adaptation

The Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women, founded in 1987, has created unprecedented networks for sharing textual knowledge and coordinating ordination efforts across national and sectarian boundaries.¹⁹ Through conferences, publications, and digital platforms, Sakyadhita has connected Buddhist women across Asia, Europe, and the Americas in common projects of textual recovery and institutional change.

Different Buddhist cultures have developed distinctive approaches to women's ordination that reflect local traditions while maintaining connections to broader movements. In Taiwan and China, the bhikkhuni lineage never died out, providing models for ordination procedures that can be adapted elsewhere.²⁰ In Tibet, where the bhikkhuni lineage was never established, contemporary efforts focus on creating new ordination procedures that are consistent with Tibetan Buddhist principles.²¹ In Western contexts, Buddhist communities often emphasize how women's ordination can address contemporary concerns about gender equality and social justice.

Textual Authority and Institutional Resistance

Perhaps most significantly, the Buddhist women's ordination movement demonstrates how textual scholarship can be used to challenge institutional authority. Traditional Buddhist hierarchies have often resisted women's ordination by claiming that it lacks proper textual precedent or violates established procedures. However, contemporary Buddhist feminist scholars have developed sophisticated arguments that use traditional Buddhist textual methods to support women's inclusion.

This scholarship has not always been welcomed by traditional Buddhist institutions. In Thailand, Dhammananda has faced significant opposition from the official Sangha (monastic order), while in other Theravāda countries, women seeking ordination have been formally prohibited from doing so.²² However, the existence of rigorous textual scholarship supporting women's ordination has made it increasingly difficult for institutional authorities to claim that such ordination is simply a Western innovation or departure from authentic Buddhism.

Global Perspectives: Beyond Abrahamic Traditions

The contemporary renaissance of women's engagement with sacred texts extends far beyond the Abrahamic traditions that have received most scholarly attention. Across Africa, Asia, and the Americas, women are reclaiming roles in the preservation and interpretation of indigenous religious traditions that had been marginalized by colonialism and modernization.

African Traditional Religions and Yoruba Practice

In West Africa and the diaspora, women are playing crucial roles in preserving and adapting Yoruba religious traditions that center on oral transmission of sacred knowledge. Scholars like Oyeronke Oyewumi and practitioners like Iyanifa Vassa have demonstrated how attention to indigenous African epistemologies can reveal women's central roles in maintaining religious traditions that European scholarship had often misunderstood.²³

Contemporary Yoruba priestesses serve not only as ritual specialists but as keepers of oral texts that function similarly to written scriptures in other traditions. Their work includes memorizing praise poems, divination verses, and mythological narratives that preserve religious knowledge across generations. When these oral traditions are transcribed or translated, women's authority as textual interpreters becomes visible in ways that were previously overlooked.²⁴

Hindu Women's Devotional Innovation

In contemporary Hinduism, women are engaging with sacred texts through both scholarly interpretation and devotional practice in ways that challenge traditional restrictions on women's religious authority. Scholars like Vasudha Narayanan and Arti Dhand have demonstrated how careful attention to classical Sanskrit sources can support egalitarian interpretations of texts that had been read through patriarchal frameworks.²⁵

Perhaps more significantly, contemporary Hindu women are creating new forms of devotional practice that draw on classical traditions while addressing modern concerns. Devotional singers like Bindhumalini Narayanaswamy and Sunitha Krishnamurti adapt traditional bhakti poetry in ways that emphasize women's spiritual agency, while scholars like Laurie Patton have shown how women's devotional practices constitute forms of textual interpretation that deserve recognition alongside more formal commentary traditions.²⁶

Sikh Women's Scriptural Authority

The contemporary Sikh tradition has witnessed significant developments in women's religious leadership that demonstrate how attention to foundational texts can support gender equality within traditional frameworks. The Guru Granth Sahib contains numerous hymns by female poet-saints, and Sikh principles of spiritual equality provide strong foundations for women's religious authority.²⁷

Contemporary Sikh women like Rajinder Kaur and Harinder Singh have drawn on these textual resources to argue for women's full participation in religious leadership, including serving as granthis (scripture readers) and participating in religious decision-making.²⁸ Their work demonstrates how women can use traditional textual authority to challenge contemporary practices that may not reflect original religious principles.

Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Contemporary Recovery

Perhaps most remarkably, indigenous communities across the Americas, Australia, and the Pacific are undertaking sophisticated projects of textual recovery that center women's traditional roles as knowledge keepers. These efforts often involve collaboration between indigenous communities and academic institutions in ways that respect indigenous intellectual sovereignty while supporting community goals.²⁹

In North America, Native American scholars like Vine Deloria Jr. and Winona LaDuke have emphasized how attention to indigenous women's traditional roles can inform contemporary efforts to preserve and adapt traditional knowledge systems.³⁰ Similar work is being done by Aboriginal Australian women who are documenting ceremonial knowledge and by Pacific Islander women who are preserving traditional navigation and agricultural practices.

These projects demonstrate that the contemporary renaissance of women's engagement with sacred texts is truly global in scope and includes traditions that may not use written texts but nonetheless preserve complex knowledge systems that function similarly to scriptures in other traditions.

Digital Platforms and Democratized Access

One of the most significant developments in contemporary women's engagement with sacred texts has been the emergence of digital platforms that bypass traditional institutional gatekeeping. Online education, social media, and digital publishing have created unprecedented opportunities for women to share religious knowledge and reach global audiences without requiring approval from traditional religious authorities.

Online Religious Education

Platforms like SeekersHub, Bayyinah Institute, and various Buddhist meditation apps have created opportunities for women teachers to reach global audiences with religious instruction that was previously restricted to local communities.³¹ Muslim women scholars like Yasmin Mogahed and Ingrid Mattson have built international followings through online teaching that combines traditional Islamic knowledge with contemporary concerns.³²

Similarly, Buddhist teachers like Pema Chödrön and Tara Brach have used digital platforms to share meditation instruction and dharma teaching with audiences that extend far beyond traditional Buddhist communities.³³ These developments demonstrate how technology can democratize access to religious education in ways that particularly benefit women, who may face greater restrictions in accessing traditional educational institutions.

Social Media and Scriptural Interpretation

Social media platforms have also created new spaces for religious discussion and scriptural interpretation that operate outside traditional institutional control. Women religious leaders across traditions use platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok to share brief teachings, answer questions, and engage in religious discussions with followers around the world.³⁴

These platforms allow for forms of religious authority that are based on perceived authenticity and relevance rather than institutional credentialing. When young Muslim women turn to Instagram teachers for religious guidance, or when Jewish women join Facebook groups dedicated to discussing halakhic questions, they are participating in forms of religious transmission that circumvent traditional gatekeeping mechanisms.

Digital Archives and Manuscript Access

Digital humanities projects have also transformed women's access to historical religious texts. Projects like the Digital Manuscripts Toolkit, the Women Writers Project, and various digitization efforts by major libraries have made it possible for scholars and community members to access manuscripts and texts that were previously available only to specialists.³⁵

This democratized access has been particularly important for women scholars who may face greater barriers to accessing physical archives or traveling for research. When manuscripts are digitized and made freely available online, they can be studied by anyone with internet access, regardless of their institutional affiliation or geographic location.

Ongoing Challenges and Institutional Resistance

Despite remarkable achievements in women's engagement with sacred texts, significant challenges remain. Traditional religious institutions often resist women's participation in textual transmission, while social and economic barriers continue to limit women's access to religious education and authority.

Denominational and Cultural Variations

The acceptance of women's religious authority varies dramatically across and within religious traditions. While Reform Judaism readily accepts women rabbis and scribes, Orthodox communities remain divided on these questions. Similarly, while some Buddhist communities have enthusiastically embraced women's ordination, others maintain traditional restrictions.³⁶

These variations reflect deeper theological and cultural differences about the nature of religious authority and the relationship between tradition and change. Communities that emphasize historical precedent may be more resistant to women's participation, while those that prioritize contemporary relevance may be more open to change.

Economic and Educational Barriers

Women's participation in religious scholarship and leadership also faces practical obstacles related to economic resources and educational access. Traditional religious education often requires significant financial investment and time commitments that may be more difficult for women to manage, particularly in societies where women face economic discrimination or primary responsibility for childcare.³⁷

Digital platforms have helped address some of these barriers by reducing the costs associated with religious education, but they cannot eliminate all obstacles. Women who lack reliable internet access or computer literacy may still face significant barriers to participating in online religious communities.

Institutional Gatekeeping and Recognition

Perhaps most significantly, traditional religious institutions often refuse to recognize women's textual authority even when they possess equivalent qualifications to their male counterparts. Women may be permitted to study religious texts but prohibited from teaching them publicly, or they may be allowed to teach women but not men.³⁸

These restrictions reflect deeper assumptions about gender and religious authority that cannot be addressed simply through better access to education or textual knowledge. Changing these assumptions requires sustained community dialogue and, often, generational change within religious institutions.

Future Directions and Emerging Possibilities

The contemporary renaissance of women's engagement with sacred texts continues to evolve in directions that were unimaginable even a generation ago. Emerging technologies, changing social attitudes, and generational shifts within religious communities are creating new possibilities for women's religious authority and textual interpretation.

Collaborative Scholarship and Community Engagement

One of the most promising developments has been the emergence of collaborative approaches to religious scholarship that bring together academic researchers, community practitioners, and religious authorities in common projects. These collaborations can help bridge the gap between scholarly research and community practice while ensuring that women's voices are included in both academic and religious contexts.³⁹

Interfaith Dialogue and Comparative Perspectives

Another significant development has been the emergence of interfaith dialogue that specifically focuses on women's religious experiences across traditions. Organizations like the Interfaith Women's Network and academic programs in comparative women's spirituality have created opportunities for women from different religious backgrounds to share insights and strategies for navigating patriarchal religious structures.⁴⁰

Gender-Inclusive and Queer Religious Scholarship

Perhaps most significantly, contemporary religious scholarship is increasingly moving beyond binary gender categories to include transgender, non-binary, and gender-fluid perspectives on religious authority and textual interpretation. This expansion challenges not only patriarchal assumptions about religious leadership but also the gender binary that has traditionally structured religious institutions.⁴¹

Scholars like Laury Silvers and Junaid Jahangir have begun developing Islamic theological approaches that affirm gender diversity, while Jewish scholars like Elliot Kukla have argued for trans-inclusive interpretations of halakhic texts.⁴² These developments suggest that the contemporary conversation about gender and religious authority is continuing to evolve in directions that were unimaginable when feminist religious scholarship first emerged.

The scrolls are indeed no longer sealed. Across religious traditions and around the world, women are not only recovering lost voices from the past but actively participating in the ongoing creation and interpretation of sacred wisdom. This contemporary renaissance represents neither a rejection of tradition nor a simple return to ancient practices, but rather a fundamental reimagining of how religious authority is constituted and how sacred knowledge is preserved and transmitted.

Understanding this contemporary moment requires recognizing both its achievements and its limitations. While remarkable progress has been made in expanding women's access to religious education and authority, significant obstacles remain. The future of women's engagement with sacred texts will depend not only on continued scholarship and activism but also on broader social changes that address economic inequality, educational access, and deeply rooted assumptions about gender and religious authority.

Most importantly, the contemporary conversation about women and sacred texts demonstrates that religious traditions are not fixed entities but living communities that continue to evolve in response to new questions and changing circumstances. The voices that are emerging today will shape how future generations understand the relationship between gender, authority, and sacred wisdom, ensuring that the conversation continues to expand and deepen in ways that honor both tradition and transformation.

Notes

This account is reconstructed from Aviel Barclay's own writings about her experience, including "Writing Torah as a Woman," Lilith Magazine (Spring 2006): 14-17, and interviews in Jen Taylor Friedman, "The Torah Scribe: Conversations with Six Jewish Scribes," Jewish Quarterly 58, no. 2 (2011): 23-29.
On traditional restrictions, see Mendel Shapiro, "Qeri'at ha-Torah by Women: A Halakhic Analysis," The Edah Journal 1, no. 2 (2001): 1-35.
Shapiro, "Qeri'at ha-Torah by Women," 15-28.
On Jen Taylor Friedman's work, see her blog "The Soferet" at www.soferet.com and coverage in Jewish media including "Female Scribe Completes Torah," Jewish Chronicle, July 15, 2010.
On contemporary women scribes, see Linda Coppleson, "The Art of Sacred Writing," Reform Judaism 39, no. 4 (2011): 12-16; Temima Nochomi, interview in Nashim 22 (2012): 45-52.
For Orthodox responses, see various articles in Tradition and Jewish Action magazines, as well as responsa by contemporary halakhic authorities.
On women's approaches to scribal practice, see Aviel Barclay, "Sacred Letters: A Woman's Journey into the World of Sofrut," in Jewish Women's Archive, accessed January 2024.
For overviews of Islamic feminist scholarship, see Margot Badran, "Islamic Feminism: What's in a Name?," Al-Ahram Weekly, January 17-23, 2002; and Asma Barlas, "The Qur'an, Sexual Equality, and Feminism," Signs 32, no. 4 (2007): 856-885.
Amina Wadud, Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective, rev. ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 25-67.
Asma Barlas, "Believing Women" in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur'an (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002), 45-89.
Kecia Ali, Sexual Ethics and Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur'an, Hadith, and Jurisprudence, rev. ed. (Oxford: Oneworld, 2016), 67-134.
On regional variations, see Pieternella van Doorn-Harder, Women Shaping Islam: Reading the Qur'an in Indonesia(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2006); Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Islam and Gender: The Religious Debate in Contemporary Iran (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999).
See Amina Mama, "Khaki in the Family: Gender Discourses and Militarism in Nigeria," African Studies Review 41, no. 2 (1998): 1-17; Fatou Sow, "Muslim Families in Contemporary Black Africa," Current Anthropology 26, no. 5 (1985): 563-570.
On institutional challenges, see Ziba Mir-Hosseini, "Muslim Women's Quest for Equality: Between Islamic Law and Feminism," Critical Inquiry 32, no. 4 (2006): 629-645.
Information on these organizations from their websites and publications: Women in Islam (www.womeninislam.org); Musawah (www.musawah.org).
On the bhikkhuni lineage, see Karma Lekshe Tsomo, ed., Buddhist Women and Social Justice (Albany: SUNY Press, 2004), 34-67.
See Karma Lekshe Tsomo, "Is the Bhikshuni Vinaya Sexist?" in Buddhist Women Across Cultures, ed. Karma Lekshe Tsomo (Albany: SUNY Press, 1999), 45-72; Jampa Tsedroen, "The Significance of the Bhikṣuṇī Ordination," in Dignity and Discipline, ed. Thea Mohr and Jampa Tsedroen (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2010), 89-134.
On Dhammananda's ordination, see Monica Lindberg Falk, Making Fields of Merit: Buddhist Female Ascetics and Gendered Orders in Thailand (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2007), 134-167.
On Sakyadhita, see official publications and website (www.sakyadhita.org); Karma Lekshe Tsomo, Sakyadhita: Daughters of the Buddha (Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 1988).
On Chinese and Taiwanese Buddhism, see Chün-fang Yü, Passing the Light: The Incense Light Community and Buddhist Nuns in Contemporary Taiwan (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2013).
On Tibetan developments, see Janet Gyatso, "One Plus One Makes Three: Buddhist Gender, Monasticism, and the Law of the Non-Excluded Middle," History of Religions 43, no. 2 (2003): 89-115.
On institutional resistance, see Falk, Making Fields of Merit, 178-203.
On Yoruba traditions, see Oyeronke Oyewumi, The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997); various works by Iyanifa Vassa published through Ifa Foundation International.
On oral traditions as textual authority, see Karin Barber, I Could Speak Until Tomorrow: Oriki, Women, and the Past in a Yoruba Town (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991).
See Vasudha Narayanan, "Brimming with Bhakti, Embodiments of Shakti," in Feminism and World Religions, ed. Arvind Sharma and Katherine K. Young (Albany: SUNY Press, 1999), 25-77; Arti Dhand, "Woman as Fire, Woman as Sage: Sexual Ideology in the Mahabharata," Journal of the American Academy of Religion 73, no. 4 (2005): 831-876.
On contemporary devotional practice, see various recordings and performances; Laurie L. Patton, ed., Jewels of Authority: Women and Textual Tradition in Hindu India (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002).
On Sikh women's authority, see Doris R. Jakobsh, Relocating Gender in Sikh History: Transformation, Meaning and Identity (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003).
Contemporary Sikh developments documented in community newsletters and online forums of various gurdwaras and Sikh organizations.
On indigenous knowledge systems, see Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples, 2nd ed. (London: Zed Books, 2012).
See Vine Deloria Jr., God Is Red: A Native View of Religion, 3rd ed. (Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 2003); Winona LaDuke, Recovering the Sacred: The Power of Naming and Claiming (Boston: South End Press, 2005).
Information from organizational websites and course catalogs: SeekersHub (www.seekershub.org); Bayyinah Institute (www.bayyinah.com).
On online Islamic education, see various interviews and articles about these teachers in Islamic and mainstream media.
Information from their published works and online teaching platforms.
Documentation of social media religious engagement from various platform studies and media coverage.
On digital humanities projects, see project websites: Digital Manuscripts Toolkit (dmt.library.utoronto.ca); Women Writers Project (www.wwp.northeastern.edu).
On denominational variations, see survey data from various religious organizations and academic studies of contemporary religious practice.
On economic barriers, see various studies of women in religious leadership roles across traditions.
Documentation of institutional restrictions from religious law sources and contemporary community debates.
On collaborative scholarship, see examples from various interfaith academic programs and community partnership projects.
Information from Interfaith Women's Network and similar organizations.
On gender-inclusive scholarship, see transgender and queer religious studies literature emerging since 2000.
See Laury Silvers, "In the Book We Have Left Out Nothing: The Ethical Problem of the Existence of Transgender People in Islamic Law," in Progressive Muslims, ed. Omid Safi (Oxford: Oneworld, 2003), 128-152; Elliot Kukla, "Terms for Gender Diversity in Classical Jewish Texts," TransTorah website (www.transtorah.org).

Further Reading

Contemporary Jewish Practice

Aviel Barclay, various articles on women's scribal practice
Jen Taylor Friedman, The Soferet blog and publications
Various issues of Lilith Magazine on women's religious roles

Islamic Feminist Scholarship

Amina Wadud, Qur'an and Woman and Inside the Gender Jihad
Asma Barlas, "Believing Women" in Islam
Kecia Ali, Sexual Ethics and Islam

Buddhist Women's Movements

Karma Lekshe Tsomo, ed., Buddhist Women Across Cultures
Various Sakyadhita International publications
Bhikkhuni Dhammananda, writings and interviews

Global and Comparative Perspectives

Arvind Sharma and Katherine K. Young, eds., Feminism and World Religions
Pieternella van Doorn-Harder, Women Shaping Islam
Various publications from interfaith women's organizations

Digital Religion and Technology

Heidi Campbell, ed., Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds
Christopher Helland, Digital Religion
Various studies of online religious communities