WIE's Elizabeth Debold speaks with medieval
scholar and feminist author Carol Flinders about the
history and possible future of feminism and the spiritual
liberation of women. Flinders draws us into the world of
medieval women saints and the Beguine, a lay sisterhood active
throughout the 12th and 13th centuries across Europe considered
to be the spiritual precursor of the modern women's liberation
movement. Flinders and Debold then fast forward over 600 years
to explore the condition of women's spirituality and social
liberation today. Both realists and idealists, they conclude
that although the next stage in women's quest for spiritual
freedom will require an elite core of radically inspired
leaders, the possibility of a real and lasting revolution in
women's liberation—not just from patriarchal society but
from the constraints of gender itself—is a lot closer than we all might think.
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Recorded on: 11/18/2005
Gender Issues
Social and Cultural Evolution
Women and Spirituality