To the Editor:

Re “Religion and Women,” by Nicholas D. Kristof (column, Jan. 10):

I commend Mr. Kristof for his insightful exploration of the ways in which religion serves to justify abuses against women across the world. I could not agree more that “when religious institutions exclude women from their hierarchies and rituals, the inevitable implication is that females are inferior.” But it is important to note that when women’s voices are silenced, it is not only the message that such discrimination sends that is damaging.

The institutions themselves suffer. When women are rendered second-class citizens, the important contributions they make are lost.

It is not only the discrimination perpetrated in the name of religion that is tragic here, but also the fact that by disempowering women religious institutions, and the broader societies in which they operate, lose the invaluable input of 51 percent of their constituents.

Jessie Cronan

Boston, Jan. 10, 2010

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To the Editor:

Nicholas D. Kristof’s column about how religions often perpetuate the oppression of women doesn’t mention one of the most egregious examples of this oppression: the practice of honor killing.