Bøker av Matilda Joslyn Gage

""Woman, Church, and State"" is a seminal feminist work authored by Matilda Joslyn Gage, a prominent figure in the 19th-century women's rights movement. In this groundbreaking book, Gage critiques the patriarchal structure of society and its entwinement with religion, particularly Christianity. She examines the historical oppression of women by institutionalized religion, challenging traditional interpretations of scripture that perpetuate gender inequality. Gage argues for the separation of church and state, advocating for women's rights to autonomy, equality, and full participation in society. Drawing on historical evidence and feminist analysis, she exposes the ways in which religion has been used as a tool to subjugate women and restrict their freedoms. ""Woman, Church, and State"" remains a pivotal text in feminist literature, inspiring generations of activists to challenge systems of oppression and advocate for gender justice.

Woman, Church and State is a book by American writer and activist Matilda Joslyn Gage, first published in 1893. Vehemently anti-clerical, this was one of the first books to draw the conclusion that Christianity is a primary impediment to the progress of women, as well as civilization, arguing that the church was responsible for women's oppression throughout history. Then, as now, religious doctrine was used as a justification for the dehumanization of women, depriving them of civil, human, economic and political rights, even denying them the right to worship alongside men. Gage reviews extensive evidence of this complex. In 1913, Women, Church, and State was banned under the Comstock Laws, that dealt with the suppression of trade in so-called obscene literature.

Presenting a history of woman's oppression, this book attempts to document the sad legacy of injustice and discrimination against women, which is inseparable from the history of both Christianity and the evolution of the Western state. It also traces the patterns of male domination in both church and state that kept women in virtual bondage.