Status
Adopted by the members at Disting 2018. Revised at Disting 2023.
The statement
Heathen Women United holds that women and men are of equal worth in Heathenry, that worth is shown by deeds, and that no role, rite, or office in our religion is reserved to one sex.
On roles
- Every rite is open. A woman may lead blot, speak at symbel, hold any office in a kindred, serve as gydja, teach, and represent her community in public. No part of Heathen worship is closed to her.
- No role is assigned. A woman is not obliged to cook, clean, look after children, or carry the horn because she is a woman. Where these tasks are shared fairly they are honorable. Where they fall always to the same people, something is wrong.
- The gods are not divided by sex. There is no rule that women honor goddesses and men honor gods. Women have always been devoted to Odin and Thor, and men to Frigg and Freyja. Any Heathen may honor any power.
- Motherhood is honored and is not required. We honor mothers, as our ancestors did. We equally honor women who have no children, by choice or otherwise. A woman's standing does not depend on whether she has borne a child.
On the use of history
- The past is a teacher, not a master. We study how women lived in the pre-Christian North with care and respect. We do not treat the arrangements of a medieval farming society as instructions for our own lives. Our ancestors also kept slaves and exposed infants. We are under no obligation to revive their limits along with their gods.
- We reject false history in every direction. The claim that the old religion requires women to be submissive is false. So is the claim that early Germanic women lived as the equals of men. We will say what the evidence supports and no more.
On voice and credit
- Presence is not the same as participation. A community in which women attend but are not heard has not included them. We ask every Heathen group to notice who speaks, who decides, and who is never asked.
- Work must be credited. The labor that sustains Heathen communities, much of it done by women, should be acknowledged by name. Reciprocity, the return of a gift for a gift, demands nothing less.
On safety
- Frith is not silence. A woman who reports harassment, coercion, or assault is not breaking frith. The person who harmed her did that. Communities have a duty to listen, to act, and to protect the one who spoke.
Why we say this
When the first version of this statement was drafted, some asked whether it was needed. Most Heathen groups would say they already agree with every word. We believe they would be sincere.
But agreement in principle sits comfortably beside habits that tell a different story. Our founders described communities that valued their women highly, when reminded, and could then talk about Heathenry for hours without mentioning one. They described women whose opinions were set aside unless a man repeated them. They described capable women arriving with enthusiasm and fading quietly away.
A community does not have to be hostile to women to lose them. It has only to be inattentive. This statement is an invitation to pay attention.
A word to Heathen men
Many of the people who have done most to put this statement into practice are men: kindred leaders who changed how rites are assigned, husbands who took their turn in the kitchen without being asked, friends who learned to say "I think she had not finished speaking."
If you are wondering where to begin, one of our founders offered advice that has stayed with us. When you notice a woman sitting quietly at the edge of the conversation, ask her directly what she thinks. Do not ask whether she agrees; ask what she thinks. Then listen to the whole answer, and before you say where she is wrong, find what she has right.