Elizabeth Farians (10 April 1923 – 21 October 2013) was an American religious studies scholar and feminist. She was an early member the National Organization of Women and is considered the first Catholic feminist to organize public protests and for over forty years she led a public fight against discrimination in religion. Farians was an activist for

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

and veganism.

Teaching career

Elizabeth Farians, also known as Betty, taught in K-12 schools as well as at the university level. In the 1940s, she was a physical education teacher at Our Lady of Angels High School in the city of St. Bernard, Ohio. She also taught P.E. in Terre Haute, Indiana and at

Loyola University Loyola University is one of several Jesuit Universities named for St. Ignatius of Loyola. Loyola University may refer to: Democratic Republic of the Congo *Loyola University of Congo, Kinshasa, Congo Spain * Loyola University Andalusia, Sevilla ...

in Chicago. In 1970, while working at Loyola University, she testified in front of Congress in support of the

Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, United States Constitution that would explicitly prohibit sex discrimination. It is not currently a part of the Constitution, though its Ratifi ...

. Farians was still teaching as late as 2008 when she taught a course on theology and animals at

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier had an enrollment of approximately 5,600 undergraduate an ...

NOW Task Force on Women and Religion

Farians created the Ecumenical Task Force on Women and Religion in 1966. According to journalist Patricia Miller, "...Farians convinced

etty Etty, Ettie or Etti is a feminine given name, often a short version of Esther or Elizabeth. It is also a surname. It may refer to the following people: Given name * Etti Ankri (born 1963), Israeli singer-songwriter * Etty Darwin (1843–1927), edit ...

riedan that religion was the "root cause" of women's oppression and should be included as a core issue for the largely secular women's rights movement. Farians had personally experienced discrimination within the religious community as a result of her sex and these experiences helped fuel her activism. She said the hierarchy of the church was stuck in a "women-sex-sin syndrome." In June 1966, Farians became the first woman to attend an annual meeting of the Catholic Theological Society of America. When she tried to attend a dinner at this event, one of the priests promised to have her thrown out of the meeting. Before the creation of the

National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...

(NOW), Farians was a member of

St. Joan's International Alliance St. Joan's International Alliance is a non profit women's organization, women's organisation. St. Joan's is a feminist Catholic organisation, with a focus on women's equality. It is named after St. Joan of Arc. The organisation has played a major r ...

, a more moderate group of Catholic feminists who supported the

. Farians was one of the founders of NOW when it was created in 1966. In the 1960s, Farians was a leader of NOW's Ecumenical Task Force one of the seven original task forces. Farians claimed that women were enraged with inequality within the church and would soon undertake significant resistance. In 1970 she was quoted in The New York Times saying, "Some day soon some pastor is going to tell a woman she can't read the epistle and she's going to pop him one. We're not encouraging it but it's going to happen. The women are enraged."

NOW's Ecumenical Task Force on Women and Religion

Farians was the head of the National Organization for Women's Ecumenical Task Force on Women and Religion from 1966 to 1972, a group she founded. Part of her work with this organization was to gather support for the

among faith based feminists. She did this in part through her creation of the group Catholics for the ERA. As historian Patricia Miller has noted, by 1970, Farians "was the national voice for Catholic feminism." Farians was personally devout and was quoted in 1974 as saying, "We will reflect the image of God in individualized variation. The Coming of Woman will be the final humanization of the species. Man and woman will relate to each other truly for the first time..."

Catholics for a Free Choice

Farians was an outspoken proponent of reproductive rights. She served on the board of the Catholic feminist group

Catholics for a Free Choice The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international instituti ...

in the early 1970s. It was reported in the New York Daily News that she was allegedly fired from teaching at Loyola University in Chicago in 1972 for being outspoken in support of abortion rights. Peope of Faith for ERA Button

Congressional testimony for the Equal Rights Amendment

In May 1970, Farians testified before Congress on behalf of the

Alice Paul Alice Stokes Paul (January 11, 1885 – July 9, 1977) was an American Quaker, suffragette, suffragist, feminist, and women's rights activist, and one of the foremost leaders and strategists of the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the Unit ...

encouraged her to testify to counter the narrative from Catholic bishops that the ERA was incompatible with Catholicism. Another faith based feminist who testified in front of Congress on behalf of the ERA in the 1970s was Reverend Joan Martin.

St. Joan's Alliance

In 1965, Farians became involved with the U.S. chapter of St. Joan's Alliance, an organization of Catholic feminist women. She worked alongside notable Catholic feminist Frances McGillicuddy to bring this organization from the UK to the United States.

Mary Daly Mary Daly (October 16, 1928 – January 3, 2010) was an American radical feminist philosopher and theologian. Daly, who described herself as a "radical lesbian feminist", taught at the Jesuit-run Boston College for 33 years. Once a practicing ...

was also a member of St. Joan's Alliance and a frequent collaborator with Farians.

Loyola University lawsuit

Elizabeth Farians was hired as a theology professor by Loyola University in 1968. Her contract was not renewed in the summer of 1970, the same year she testified in front of Congress for the ERA, and as a result she filed a lawsuit claiming discrimination based on sex. Newspapers such as the New York Daily News speculated she was terminated due to her position on abortion.

Personal life

Farians was born to Hilda and Charles Farians in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1923. She earned her Ph.D. in 1958. She was a prominent activist for animal rights. She became a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

in 1980. She was a vegan for over thirty years and was active with an animal rights group known as Animal Rights Community. She also co-founded the organization Feminists for Animal Rights. She died in 2013 and her funeral was held in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Publications by Farians

* ''Institute for the Study, Redefinition and Resocialization of Women: A Program for Colleges and Universities'' (1971) * ''The Double Cross: Writings on Women and Religion'' (1973)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farians, Elizabeth 1923 births 2013 deaths 20th-century American women writers 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century American women writers 21st-century Roman Catholics American animal rights activists American feminist writers American Roman Catholic writers American veganism activists American women's rights activists Catholic feminism Catholic feminists Equal Rights Amendment activists National Organization for Women people Women in Ohio Second wave feminists