A women's circle as will be discussed in this article is an intentionally feminist gathering of women in aim for community and spiritual wellness. Women's circles are an opportunity for empowerment, bestowing growth for feminism as well as establishing the personal. Feminism entails sisterhood, and the most effective way to reach sisterhood is through smaller communities, or circles, which then create a borromean ring of widespread feminism. The importance of the circle is the opportunity for deeper understanding. Especially in the digital age, women's gatherings have dwindled to the internet and protests, insufficient in attaining relationships and community. There is a clear dire need for the development of women's spaces, women’s circles offer a space to commune interpersonally and spiritually, fostering unity while placing necessary validation in the importance of the individual. 

A look at spirituality within feminism is greater understood by looking into religion as it has existed within and outside of feminism as well as reflecting on our preconceptions of the differences between religion and spirituality. In the post industrial US ‘religion’ is a historically established belief practice that is in many ways fixed and known, definable, while ‘spirituality’ loosely means a search for greater meaning apart from those traditional religious institutions. In the early rebirth of the women's movement little was focused around religion, though much of what was and still is being fought for could be accredited to some degree to various religions, especially Christianity in the West, until, as Kristen Aune writes in her article “Much Less Religious, a Little More Spiritual” the 1990s when “scholars began addressing the thorny question ‘why, given that religions often define and restrict women's roles, are women religious?’” This question is thematic of this essay as a whole, asking how women can embrace new, post traditional sources of inspiration and community. 

Aune conducted surveys which showed that feminists are largely less supportive of traditional religion. Compared to non-feminists they are more likely to be Atheist or Agnostic. This is a revealing statistic in a history of secularity which has predominantly affected men. In the mid eighteenth century as Western society industrialized, the tasks of men and women in the workplace and the home divided. Women stayed in the private sphere of the home where they became ostracized from politics and economy. Religious values were inherent to the lifestyle of the housewife, since religion catered to their lives in the largely private sphere. Men oppositely experienced the effects of secularization in their independence among public, career focused lifestyles. This is illustrated by the dedication to churchgoing amongst women at the time which men were less inclined to. The church provided a place of gathering for women whereas men had social opportunity in their workplaces. 

While religion may be established, spirituality should not lose credit or value for its being self fashioned, rather its mystique is its strong suit. Wilcox, as cited in Aune’s article, writes "religion encompasses beliefs and/or practices centred around ultimate meaning.”  The study of religion is still being improved to this day where white male scholars have been the primary classifiers and judges of the grand and worldly spectacles of theologies. The colonial product of religious studies must be addressed to better understand all religions, especially those such as spirituality which are less respected for their lack of foundation in a church system and general Christian dissimilarities. 

One of the reasons spirituality works well amongst feminism is its broadness in who can practice it and its intention to better the self and the world. This generality allows one to be Catholic and spiritual or Atheist and spiritual, a respect of the varied positions in women's lives which must exist between women in order to achieve feminism. Spiritual ideology often refers to the ‘mind, body, and spirit’ as instruments of expression. Wholeness and self-worth are highly valued, and the interconnectedness of the body with emotions is central. ‘Well-being’ is common terminology in spirituality, referring to a feeling of physical, mental, and emotional health. These fundamentals are approachable and beneficial for everyone. 

There is a theme in spirituality of primary responsibility to the self while still placing esteem on the opportunity to care for others. Spirituality then, provides women with an “openness to future projects and an existence for oneself.” (Sointu, Woodhead) Women have historically been put in roles of caretakers to a degree of existing for those around them which has created a stain on women's subjectivities, spirituality impels an opportunity to not only care for oneself but also plan for oneself and thereby find empowerment and ascend various proverbial ladders. This is illustrated by terminology used in feminist spirituality such as “Goddess,” the importance of which is in offering women a rare representation in the atmosphere of the divine, affirming women's existence in the highest possible place of power. 

Spirituality is especially effective amongst women due to the “rapid role change of the detraditional environment.” Sointu and Woodhead write that “post-traditional women are more likely to be provoked by questions of meaning and identity” due to the somewhat shocking extraction from the ingrained nuclear household, the newly available opportunities and their motivations to explore what it means to live for oneself. It can cause a struggle to meet the incompatible “models of selfhood,” with the “independent, entitled self and the other-referential, caring self” which is eased by the aforementioned holistic pursuit of self and worldly motivations within spirituality. The New Age spiritual view which prompts removal from indoctrinated society “dovetails with the feminist notion of gender as a social construction” challenged “in order for women to be freed from social and patriarchal pressures.” (Sointu, Woodhead) So feminists often embrace spirituality because they are living detraditionalized lives and seek liberation of the self by pursuing intention and working to shed negative socialization. It is unsurprising to see the success of the connection between spirituality and feminism when we look at these similarities in tenets.

Circles are key for bringing to attention the inequities amongst women when it comes to race, class, and sexuality. Without doing so, women are at risk of White Feminism. The term White Feminism is a critique of popular feminism and its tunnel vision oscillation around white middle class women. Women cannot get their feminism solely from the mainstream popular culture, it has to be uniquely tangible in their own lives outside of themselves. Bell Hooks writes that women are enriched by bonding but “cannot develop sustaining ties or political solidarity using the model of Sisterhood created by bourgeois women's liberationists” who built a basis for bonding on victimization and oppression, which is actually affirming of male supremacist thinking. 

Hooks also explains that sexist ideology teaches this victimhood, and that embracing it and making it a “basis for woman bonding” meant that women had to not only relate in some way to the identity of ‘victim’ to be relevant to the movement but also see their peers as victims, the combination of which causes a failure to challenge their own sexist beliefs about women different from themselves especially in terms of race because identifying oneself as a victim allows one to abdicate responsibility for “maintenance and perpetuation of sexism, racism, and classism.” And there are women, especially women of color whose “survival depends on continued exercise of the personal powers they possess” It is a privilege to portray yourself as a victim and therefore this branding of feminism is exclusionary and consequently nonfeminist. Hooks writes that “It would be psychologically demoralizing for these women to bond with other women on the basis of shared victimization.” Hooks argues for the opposite, that women who are oriented in their power bond “on the basis of shared strengths and resources.” which is a true feminist relationship, enfranchised and stimulated by one's own experiences and sisterhood.

Women's circles help to develop inclusive relationships while cultivating a women's own identity. Bell Hooks puts it beautifully “Women do not need to eradicate difference to feel solidarity.” It is important that we champion women's diversity, which we can do so astutely in small, more intensive groups, creating a ripple effect in how women look at their own biases and sexism. The spiritual aspect of women's circles affirms the aim and foundation of feminist principles while uniquely benefiting each woman in her health and aspirations. Women's circles need to be utilized for their greater impact in the feminist agenda and for women's individual wellbeing.

Works Cited:

Aune, Kristin. “Much Less Religious, a Little More Spiritual: The Religious and Spiritual Views of Third-Wave Feminists in the UK.” Feminist Review, no. 97, 2011, pp. 32–55. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41288846. 

Hooks, Bell. “Sisterhood: Political Solidarity between Women.” Feminist Review, no. 23, 1986, pp. 125–38. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1394725. 

Sointu, Eeva, and Linda Woodhead. “Spirituality, Gender, and Expressive Selfhood.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 47, no. 2, 2008, pp. 259–76. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20486911.