Women of Other Faiths
Using common values contained in their respective teachings, women of all religious traditions can work together and collaborate in many areas especially peace building and women’s empowerment. Collectively women of all faiths can learn from each other’s struggles and histories, while showing support for women’s religious leadership roles worldwide. Please contribute to this archive by suggesting women of all faiths to be featured through our recommendation form.
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Mary Daly
Known For: Prominent feminist theologian
Dates: A.H.: 1347 - 1432
C.E.: 1928 - 2010
Faith: Monotheism
Country: United States
About
Mary Daly was born in Schenectady, NY in 1928, and by adolescence had a strong, seemingly spiritual connection to the natural world. First studying English and Latin at College of Saint Rose in Albany and graduating in 1950, she then earned a master’s degree in English from the Catholic University of America and a Ph.D. in theology from Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Ind. Later she earned two more doctorates in philosophy and theology at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.
A self-declared “radical lesbian feminist,” Daly began teaching at the Jesuit-affiliated Boston College in 1966, retaining an agitated relationship with the school throughout her career. In the well-known case of 1969 she was denied tenure, which many interpreted as a sexist move of the college’s administration. After over 1,500 students petitioned in her support, she was restored to tenure.
In 1999, the Daly made international headlines when she retired rather than admit males into some of her classes. She reportedly left after a male student threatened a lawsuit when he was refused enrollment into her feminist ethics class. On the grounds that men’s presence in some advanced women’s studies classes would inhibit candid discussion, she had for a long time limited those classes to women only. But she did allow men into her introductory feminist classes and offered to instruct them privately in advanced areas.
Daly defied orthodox institutions from the beginning as one of the first American women to be trained as a Roman Catholic theologian. A renowned author, critics simultaneously praised and denounced Professor Daly for the penetrating wit and eccentricity of her writing style. She first became widely recognized in 1968 for her bold work titled The Church and the Second Sex (Harper & Roe), where she asserted that the Catholic Church has methodically oppressed women for hundreds of years. In Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women’s Liberation (Beacon, 1973) she went on to examine sexism more broadly in religion in general. Her other notable works include Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism (Beacon, 1978) and Websters’ First New Intergalactic Wickedary of the English Language (Beacon, 1987; with Jane Caputi), a dictionary of new, nonsexist English terms. Delving further into her own radical philosophy, she later penned Pure Lust: Elemental Feminist Philosophy (Beacon, 1984) and Outercourse: The Be-Dazzling Voyage: Containing Recollections From My Logbook of a Radical Feminist Philosopher (Be-ing an Account of My Time/Space Travels and Ideas — Then, Again, Now, and How) (HarperSanFrancisco, 1992).
Daly insisted that she was glad to be on the outskirts of mainstream academia and religion. Though initially a practicing Catholic, she eventually came to view organized religion as hopelessly patriarchal and dubbed herself “post-Christian.” Beginning her scholarly journey with primarily theological interests, over time they became spiritual in a very broad sense.
Many mourned Daly’s death at age 81 on January 1, 2010.
