Welcome to the Broad Experience, the show about women, the workplace and success.

I'm Ashley Milne Tite.

This time on the show, what does it mean to be a woman in a religious role?

As soon as I sort of heard the criticism of this young female rabbi,

the first thing that I thought of was,

I don't think that that would be necessarily the way that people addressed a male counterpart.

How to react when people regard your pastoral body as public possession.

I was walking across the sanctuary, and I heard this young woman, a congregant, call out from across the sanctuary.

Those jeans make your butt look great.

And the perils of preaching when female.

When I want to make eye contact across the room and connect with people, I find myself looking at men and older men as if I need them to approve of what I'm saying. Coming up, in the wake of Easter and Passover, three women share their

experiences of religious life. None of the women on today's show imagine they'd end up where they are now.

My first guest is Rabbi Danielle LeShaw. About 20 years ago, she was a student at university

in Arizona, and her campus rabbi and his wife suggested she might want to become a rabbi when she grew up.

Today, she's executive director of Hillel, the Jewish campus organization at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.

Rabbi Danielle studied at rabbinical school in Philadelphia.

Back then, the thought of being any kind of leader was still intimidating,

and the years of study loomed ahead. So was there a moment when she knew this was the right path?

There were more moments of doubt. There were more moments where I wondered if this was the right

choice. You know, year three, year four, you know, you're sort of slogging

through it all and you think, when is this ever going to end? Am I really good at this? Can I actually

lead a community? You know, am I providing a source of comfort or strength to people in need?

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