Dissident religious movements in the service of women's power

Abstract

It is a well-known fact that women in Latin America lack access to institutionalized positions of leadership and power. However, religious healing cults are one noninstitutionalized avenue for women to gain leadership and power positions. This article focuses on a Spiritualist cult in Mexico, hierarchically structured, in which the leaders are usually women. It is suggested that sectarian movements with a multitude of male and female followers open to women positions of authority, as well as an avenue for economic mobility independent of their husbands. For these women, membership in the cult is not only an expression of powerlessness in society, as scholars have asserted, but is a mode of acquiring power through positions of leadership in the public domain. The special role of women in dissident religious cults has not previously been explored in the literature.