Cultural force

Recently, I have been learning a bit more about Buddhism. The thought hit me: How come every major religion is founded by a man? Where are all the women? After some investigating, here is the list of founders of every major religious tradition.

According to Wikipedia, out of the list of 106 founders before 1800 AD, all of them were men except for one. Mother Ann Lee with the Shakers movement in 1774.

That’s it.

Out of the 93 since then, only 9 religious movements have been led by women in the modern era.

I don’t think it’s because God doesn’t talk to women. But it is worth asking why don’t more women start religious movements?

Indeed, culture–the invisible lines that cause people like us to do things like this–is such a powerful force that it even favors who can start a religion the last couple thousand years.