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I'm Krista Tippett and this is Speaking of Faith, public radio conversation about belief,

meaning, issues, and ideas. Each week we focus on a different theme, asking writers, thinkers,

and theologians to discuss how religion shapes everyday life.

Today, three perspectives on women, marriage, and religion in our time.

Over the last four decades, women's roles have changed dramatically, at home in the workforce

and in religious institutions as well. In America, resistance to this is often couched in religious

terms. Where there is a backlash against feminism and its repercussions, it is often embodied

in religious practice. The head of every woman is the man. Now that is clearly true in the case

of every married woman. She is to be in subjection to her husband. That is the plain teaching of

Ephesians 5. She is to be under the authority of her husband. Today on Speaking of Faith,

we'll be in conversation with three devoutly religious women who also call themselves feminist.

That is a very broad label, as we'll hear. It suggests that heart, a passion for the rights

and concerns of women. And the three voices of this hour reflect the way feminism as a movement

has evolved in recent decades. They're less interested in criticizing men and patriarchy.

They're more engaged in balancing the tremendous upheavals in marriage and family and society

in our time. And they insist that women need partnership with men to do that. We'll hear from

Kisha Ali, a Muslim feminist and scholar, a young wife and mother. Also, Mary Stewart Van Lewin,

who has been studying women's roles and advocating for women's rights over four decades. She is

also an evangelical Christian. First, Rebecca Chop, the president of Colgate University. By academic

training, she is a feminist theologian. I grew up in an era where I leave it to beaver to find the

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