Feminism, Liberalism, and Religion

January 15, 2026

[Editor’s note: this is the third of six posts commenting on Gila Stopler’s new book, Women’s Rights in Liberal States: Patriarchy, Liberalism, Religion, and the Chimera of Rights (Cambridge University Press, 2025)].

In Women’s Rights in Liberal States. Patriarchy, Liberalism, Religion and the Chimera of Rights, Gila Stopler discusses the global rise of religious and far right-wing movements, pointing out an unlikely (but not exclusive) culprit: liberalism, or the liberal state, which has let patriarchal beliefs flourish, unchallenged, in the private sphere.

                Dean Stopler’s book is incredibly timely and will become mandatory reading for anyone interested in the complicated relationship between populism, the patriarchy, religious beliefs, and liberalism. The book also provides a thorough discussion of recent developments in Israel and the United States pertaining to women’s rights and the rise of far-right movements, while skillfully acknowledging the relevant differences between the two countries, both in their political systems and their approach to religion.

                The private sphere has been of concern to feminists for a long time. It is within the intimate setting of the family where patriarchal social norms are first encountered, to be learned, internalized, and, eventually, reproduced. The same is largely true of religious beliefs: they are often learned and internalized within the private sphere. But many religions (and, thus, religious beliefs) are, as Stopler notes, “patriarchal,” that is, they are premised on a gendered worldview, whereby men are women are not equal or are formally equal but destined to fulfil different (gendered) roles. When these religious beliefs are left to flourish in the private sphere they eventually seep into the public sphere and start eroding women’s rights and, even, democracy.

                These beliefs, Stopler contends, should be understood as unreasonable comprehensive doctrines under a Rawlsian framework. Like “war and disease,” they should be contained. As a result, Stopler is in favor of some degree of state intervention in patriarchal religions, at least at the level of religious organizations. However, she sets the limit at intimate relationships: while the state can intervene to prevent gender-based discrimination in private organizations, including religious ones, it cannot legitimately do so within intimate relationships. 

                Stopler’s is a thoughtful and thought-provoking argument. It connects important strands of feminist theory with Ralwsian liberalism, while challenging some key assumptions about the place and limits of religion within the latter. And it does so by connecting what could be an entirely theoretical discussion with a context-sensitive treatment of an important global trend: the rise of the far-right and the related erosion of gender-based rights in the United States and Israel.

                Stopler’s book is, in that way, wonderfully ambitious—and it delivers. Of course, those more inclined towards the theoretical dimensions of Stopler’s argument will perhaps miss a more thorough treatment of Rawlsian neutrality and whether the latter is compatible with Stopler’s preferred solution, which requires state intervention in religious organizations. One might also wonder to what extent we can blame Rawlsian liberalism, a highly idealized theory, for the flourishing of gendered beliefs in the private sphere when no society has ever perfectly embodied Rawlsian ideals.

Those more inclined towards the comparative dimensions of Stopler’s argument  might wonder to what extent different constitutional frameworks can accommodate Stopler’s preferred solution and what factors, in addition to the avowed neutrality of the liberal state, can contribute to explaining the current gender-backlash and its appeal. Indeed, young men tilt more and more conservative in several countries, further apart from women than they were before; social media is ripe with misogynistic content; and anti-trans legislation and sentiment is flourishing in many parts of the world. Furthermore, an intersectional analysis of this gender backlash would, perhaps, reveal its ethnic and racial dimensions, tightly linked to anti-immigration sentiments and the nostalgic desire for an ethno-state, both key to the far right’s ideology.

                The fact that Stopler does not devote as much time to these issues should not be seen as a shortcoming in what is already a formidable book. On the contrary, Stopler’s work also succeeds in showing how important it is to pay attention to misogyny in the private sphere and how fragile gender equality in the liberal state is. It is up to future work in the area to start answering the questions that Stopler’s work raises but does not yet answer.