Prior to patriarchy, a lot of people worshipped female deities. In her book, The Creation of Patriarchy, Gerda Lerner writes that archaeological evidence indicates that early societies revered the function of mothers, who are observably the sources of life and fertility. This is important: because religion is one of the main repositories and purveyors of meaning systems, the gradual destruction of goddesses, and the removal of women from positions of power in religion, is essential to our subordination.
Evidence of the status of women thousands of years ago is common in archaeology. About ten years ago, archaeologists working on the Çatalhöyük Research Project discovered yet another figurine of what might be a fertility goddess, or perhaps a representation of an elderly woman who had risen to prominence in an egalitarian society.
Similar female figurines were common in the Neolithic period throughout southeastern Europe, the Middle East and in central Turkey. While some researchers believe that these figurines are fertility goddesses, some scholars think that maybe they are representations of “older women who have achieved status (Hodder, 2016).” In any case, these are representations of powerful women.
Many subsequent societies represented women in powerful roles. Here is a listing of goddesses from around the world, and there are many more resources if you care to search for them: https://goddessgift.com/goddesses/world-goddesses-across-time-and-space/. You will notice that not many of them are worshipped today.
Notable exceptions include Hinduism, which features numerous female deities. Indigenous spirituality, where Indigenous creation stories often feature women in central, powerful life-making roles. For example, in Iroquois and some Anishinaabe traditions, Sky Woman creates the world and gives birth to humanity. In Navajo (Diné) tradition, Changing Woman defeats monsters, makes the soil fertile and creates the first people from her own skin. In Lakota tradition, White Buffalo Woman brings sacred knowledge and teaches. Indigenous women remain important in their communities as keepers and teachers of stories, histories, and cultural knowledge (Montague, 2024). The resurgence of contemporary Pagan spiritual systems also feature powerful female figures.
Lerner theorizes that the gradual subordination and denigration of female goddesses had a profound impact on the meaning systems of patriarchal cultures. Specifically, as Abrahamic religions emerged, the role of creating life switched from numerous female deities to a single, violent, vengeful, and punishing male god. For Lerner, the transition in beliefs, values and meaning systems was critical to reinforcing male authority and control. The shift from goddess to god imposed the normalization of male power, creativity, and authority and female subservience and passivity (Lerner, 1987).
Rachel McCoppin wrote a more recent book, Goddess Lost: How the Downfall of Female Deities Degraded Women’s Status in World Cultures, where she mirrors Lerner’s claim that societies which revered female deities typically recognized women as significant social, political, and religious leaders and that patriarchal systems dominated, female deities were systematically replaced, entrenching patriarchal norms and limiting women’s agency and representation in both religious and political spheres.
Crucially, women could no longer be spiritual leaders. In all but the most progressive Abrahamic religions, women are still not spiritually equal to men and certainly never more powerful (unless we are in league with the devil). Even in Hinduism, which continues to feature female goddesses, priestesses are only now resurging (Ramana Maharshi Foundation, n.d.).
Ramana Maharshi Foundation. (n.d.). Titles and roles of female priests in Hinduism. https://www.ramana-maharshi.org/titles-and-roles-of-female-priests-in-hinduism/
Goddess Gift. (n.d.). World goddesses across time and space. Goddess Gift. https://goddessgift.com/goddesses/world-goddesses-across-time-and-space/
Hodder, I. (2016, September 22). Archaeologists find 8,000-year-old goddess figurine in central Turkey. Stanford News. https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2016/09/archaeologists-find-8000-year-old-goddess-figurine-central-turkey
McCoppin, R. S. (2023). Goddess lost: How the downfall of female deities degraded women’s status in world cultures. McFarland & Company.
Montague, E. (2024, August 12). The first women: The power of women in Native American mythology. The Fem Word. https://www.thefemword.world/the-word/the-first-women-the-power-of-women-in-native-american-mythology
Unlearning Patriarchy 