The Creation of Feminist Consciousness by Gerda Lerner

Gerda wrote many influential essays and books. When she talked about the need for women to have their own heroines she didn’t realize that, without knowing it, she created herself into just such a heroine, inspiring many women and men to think for themselves, to always hold spirit higher and not waver from the belief in a deep humanity within all of us. When I met her, as a ninety-two-year-old woman she still exuded this high level of integrity that she demanded of herself and others. Some people say at times it was not easy to work with Gerda because she always demanded more from them, never accepting mediocrity. Her lifelong commitment to social justice, her relentless courage to always walk beyond the limitations she faced, and her fearless and creative ways of thinking have made her into a powerful, dignified woman. Meeting Gerda Lerner personally was a great delight. She simply says: “Women and men have created history together.” Gerda has given us tools to understand, to learn, to own our own history – and to move from here into the future to be created. And even more importantly, she doesn’t take the classic feminist viewpoint. She makes you feel the historical structures in yourself. Why? Because Gerda does not exclude herself as the writer or researcher when she describes the historical situations of women.

I felt like I had walked through human history – as a woman – and was seeing everything from a different view point. While reading Gerda Lerner’s books on The Creation of Patriarchy and The Creation of Feminist Consciousness, I was very moved by her objective, precise, rational way of describing women’s lives and by weaving the complexities of our human development so thoughtfully together, going straight down to the navel of our cultural development, asking the question: why? Why was there patriarchy? Why were there different roles for men and women? What was it like to be the concubine, the veiled woman, an early Christian woman? And what was it like to start feeling the murmurings of freedom, of autonomy, of a direct relationship to God?

The Creation of Feminist Consciousness by Gerda Lerner