Indigenous Australian

Female Initiation

The transition of girls to women through ceremony and teaching.

Female initiation marks a girl's entry into women's knowledge and responsibility. It involves teaching about women's law, sacred knowledge restricted to women, and preparation for adult roles. Women hold their own sacred domain.

Women have their own sacred knowledge, their own ceremonies, their own power.

Women's Teaching, Oral Tradition

Women's initiation establishes parallel but separate sacred authority.

Oral Tradition