The emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the sexes, is essential to human progress and the transformation of society. Inequality, the systematic oppression of women, is a conspicuous and tragic fact of human history deeply ingrained into human society. Are its roots exclusively cultural, or has religious prejudice translated into social and cultural norms what has traditionally determined a woman's status and her role in society? The class will look at how historically women have been abused in almost every society, their plight under a patriarchal family and a patriarchal society, the support for their equality in the scriptures of the great revealed religions, the role of organized religion in the subjugation of women and why men must become the champions of the equality of women.