Equal Opportunity Means Equal Obligation: The Meanings of Jewish Women's Kippot

• In Event: 341 - Section on Sociology of Religion Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 06. Religion and Gender

Abstract

Considerable literature has explored the meanings of women’s gender-normative religious head-covering practices, but this is the first to explore the meanings of an emergent gender non-normative practice. This investigation analyzes the words of 576 Jewish women who wear kippot (a small circular skullcap customarily worn by Jewish men). The main themes that emerge reveal that Jewish women do not simply wear kippot to transgress the gender binary that divides Jewish practice, but also to “do Jewish,” “feel Jewish,” “look Jewish,” and connote status relative to other Jews: meanings that also account for Jewish men’s kippah practice. Although this gender non-normative practice may appear radical and even subversive, Jewish women wear kippot for a range of reasons that include, but are not limited to, gender politics.

Author

• Helana Darwin, Stony Brook University