Women as Religious Leaders

Maryam compiles some evidence for why woman can serve as imamas in mosques. Christianity, Islam, and probably most branches of Judaism all have issues with women as religious leaders arising from the fact that as these religions developed in patriarchal societies, the idea of women as leaders didn't really cross anyone's mind. Over the years, these attitudes have been embedded in tradition so thoroughly that to many people, having women lead worship sounds like a huge change even though it's really no different in religious terms than enfranchising them was in politics. If you are an opponent of having women as priests, imams, or whatever, think about this: If 'Aisha, Mary Magdalene, or someone else appropriate to your religion were to show up for worship and want to take over, what would you do with her? In terms of holiness and authority, she would pretty clearly trump anyone else who might be present, so gender can't possibly be that relevant.