Women in our society have been limited to participate in functions that are traditionally patriarchal. A critical participation restriction can be addressed in religion. Patriarchy has limited the involvement of women when practicing a specific religion, and can be overcome by interpreting the meanings goddesses’ hold to empower women. Goddesses are symbols that act as role models for women and have textual material in many religions to draw from to show woman empowerment, and promote benefits through worship. (Gupta, 2) mentions this in Kali, the Savior, “ Feminists have realized the overwhelming need for women to identify personally with positive images and role models, models that can reassert the importance of the “feminine” in all religious experience. With this realization has come the recognition of the general lack of such images and stories in most traditions.” Gupta’s argument addresses women’s inability to participate in major religious roles because men limit them to maintain power in their religious practices. Kali, a Hindu culture goddess, is an example of a goddess women can draw from to empower themselves as independent, strong women. When viewing the Hindu scriptures, called the Puranas’, there’s an underlining description of the traditional roles women are expected to play as care givers, mothers, and wives. Women are not meant to be limited to those roles, and excluded from diverse participation in Hinduism. “Hinduism is not inherently patriarchal; the equal importance of the gods and goddesses in the pantheon would seem to support this. But despite the equality and importance of the goddesses found in various scriptures, traditional Hindu life by and large has remained patriarchal (Gupta, 2).” Goddesses like Kali can be used to prove that the patriarchal role Hinduism has taken is meant to benefit men, and to a point, reduce the power women can achieve through goddess devotion. The patriarchal structure of Hinduism can be described in the restrictions women were put under when Hindu law was first formed in seventh century B.C.E. Women were stripped of their independence and freedom, and were under the rule of men at all points of their life. From birth, they were placed under their father’s rule, they would then be under the rule of their husband when married, and as they had children were placed under the rule of their sons. Their role was restricted to wife and mother. Kali is used to keep women from gaining their independence by using the goddess as an example of what good mother’s and wives should be to support their male counterparts. However, in looking at an image of Kali, she is holding a skull in one of her four hands, which represents knowledge, and gives one the ability to remove them from bondage and earn their independence and freedom. The sword Kali holds in another hand depicts wisdom, and is used to sever the heads of those binding others, women being bound in this case. In the Catholic religion, the Virgin Mary, also known as Our Lady of Guadalupe, is a symbol that represents women and their connection to God. The danger Catholics face is the misrepresentation of Guadalupe being God himself. But the truth is, Guadalupe is viewed as a symbol or metaphor for God. The qualities that she represents are considered to be the same qualities God possesses. The biggest misconceptions women face being Catholic is men brand women with the image of Guadalupe, and expect them to live as Guadalupe did. The church sets unrealistic ideals for women, expecting them to remain virgins and play the supportive roles they have traditionally played as a mother and wife. The hypocrisy in the churches teaching is represented in the lack of education and discipline the men don’t receive in moral conduct, making them the beneficiaries of the religion by being able to do whatever they want without repercussion from the church and their parents. Guadalupe is known as a heavenly mother, offering love, kindness, forgiveness, and peace. Guadalupe’s representation has been transformed to benefit men in the Catholic religion, promoting the attributes she held on women. The true definition of Guadalupe is to represent the loving side of God. The focus on God has been on how he can benefit men with his strength and power, associating God’s power with the power men hold, which has limited the role of women because they do not possess the strengths that men do. The meaning Guadalupe is meant to have is to show how much God loves his children, and the attributes Guadalupe represents are meant to counterbalance the powerful side of God. Guadalupe’s meaning is meant to unify both sides so that the strongest relationship with God can be formed with his children. Guadalupe was not meant to separate women from their counterparts, but to use the attributes that she possesses to unify and strengthen both sexes so they can live as equals with different strengths to benefit everyone. To explain the flexibility of goddesses and the symbols they represent, I will do so by refereeing to the story of Sandra Cisneros. Cisneros discusses her experience growing up in a Catholic household, and the strict rules imposed on the women in her and other Catholic families. Sexuality was a topic that was forbidden to talk about, and led to confusion in her life, as she got older. So much guilt was implemented into her discipline that she was unable to entertain the thoughts of having sex without feeling guilty. Confusion had manifested in her mind because of the teaching to not get pregnant and ruin her life, yet she was never taught how not to get pregnant. At this point in Sandra Cisneros life, she wanted nothing to do with Guadalupe because she felt that she was expected to follow rules that were unrealistic. (Cisneros, 2) writes, “As far as I could see, la Lupe was nothing but a goody two shoes meant to doom me to a life of unhappiness.” Wanting to focus on her career, she felt marriage and motherhood would hinder what she wanted to accomplish in life. As Cisneros’ discovered sex, she discovered the meaning Guadalupe was meant to represent in her life, and not the meaning the Catholic Church and her family had forced her to believe. She discovered through historic research that Guadalupe was a representation of a sex goddess, which empowered her to have dominion over her sexuality. Although she received resistance against her new stance in life from her family, Cisneros’ refused to return to the unhappy, sexually confused girl, and wants to feel as comfortable in her skin as she possibly can, because that’s what Guadalupe would want for her. In describing goddesses and the roles they played in the societies they were discovered in, compared to the society we live in now, and the meanings drawn from them would suggest that the changing perspectives today open opportunities to reinterpret what goddesses were attempting to accomplish for women. Goddesses have been viewed in a patriarchal perspective, reducing women to an image that represents standards men built for women to follow. If goddesses were meant to act as role model’s for women to follow and live traditional roles set by men, then why have women found freedom and independence with goddesses as their role models? Is it possible that goddesses represent more than has been taught throughout history? With the examples I wrote about, I believe that women have been limited to traditional roles set by men, to benefit men. We are meant to be equal with different qualities, and are supposed to celebrate each other’s qualities as interactive, and are not meant to discriminate each other’s differences. Saying that, I believe that reinterpreting religious symbols should be done to break the patriarchal tradition that has been socialized throughout history. Studying symbols that were meant to empower women, rather than suppress them, will help women find their true calling and help them develop their voices, and in turn will raise them to the same level men have stood on, making everyone equal.