In a thought-provoking commentary, columnist Barbara Kay has raised alarms about a cultural shift she calls the 'Great Feminization,' arguing it is actively reshaping and undermining Jewish institutions across North America, including in Canada.
The Core Argument: Feminization Defined
The discussion stems from a September 2025 speech by public intellectual Helen Andrews at the National Conservatism Conference, later published as an article titled "The Great Feminization" for Compact magazine. Andrews defines this trend as the prioritization of feminine over masculine interests within society's institutions, but extends it to a preference for "empathy over rationality, safety over risk, cohesion over competition."
Kay concurs, asserting that these combined traits, prevalent in environments where women are numerically dominant, form the bedrock of what is commonly labeled "wokeness" and "cancel culture." She warns that as institutions become more feminized, extreme empathic attitudes increasingly displace rational decision-making at policy levels, eroding societal confidence.
A Case Study: The Changing Rabbinate
Kay points to a specific and dramatic transformation within non-Orthodox Jewish spiritual leadership as a microcosm of this broader trend. She cites a recent empirical study released in November 2025 by the Atra Center for Rabbinic Innovation, which surveyed the American non-Orthodox rabbinate.
The findings are striking: 58% of current rabbinical students identify as women, compared to 30% as men and 12% as non-binary. Furthermore, a staggering 51% identify as LGBTQ, a figure far exceeding general population statistics and even the high percentages reported at Ivy League universities.
Supporting this data, Kay references a Tablet magazine report from September 2024 by Leil Leibowitz on the "disappearing male rabbi," which noted that the 2023 graduating class at Reform Judaism's Hebrew Union College was 75% female.
Consequences for Community and Policy
Barbara Kay draws a direct line between this demographic shift in leadership and the spread of progressive ideologies within these communities. She argues it is "by no coincidence" that alongside a feminizing rabbinate, there is a rise in wokeness and, subsequently, an alignment with radical anti-Zionist positions.
She also critiques a perceived misdirection of empathy at the national level, using the Canadian government's funding for international programs like "Gender-Just, Low-Carbon, Rice Value Chains in Vietnam" as an example where feminized policy priorities may divert focus from domestic needs.
The columnist's analysis builds on Helen Andrews' earlier observation of cultural shifts in workplaces like The New York Times. Andrews highlighted Bari Weiss's 2020 resignation, linking the newsroom's shift to a female majority in 2018 to an environment where emotional harmony and covert actions replaced open debate.
While acknowledging the controversy of this argument, Barbara Kay concludes that the 'Great Feminization' presents a clear and present challenge to the traditional operational logic and future direction of Jewish communal life in Canada and beyond.
