Where are the female cult leaders?

I was slow to take to Twitter but over recent years have found it a useful epistemological tool.  You have to h=very actively manage your follows, culling those who become mundane and adding interesting accounts as you come across them, but worthwhile.

I don't follow Melissa Chen but someone I do follow does and so one of her tweets gets thrown into my feed.  

Why are there no female cult leaders?

— Melissa Chen (@MsMelChen) February 9, 2023

Excellent question to which I have devoted zero attention.

The first question is always, Is it even true? Me knee jerk reaction is that of course there have been women cult leaders but then I struggle to name them.  All the names I come up with are actually just brutal leaders, not cult leaders.  There are three that don't quite fit that pattern but I would hesitate to identify them as cult leaders either; the Virgin Mary (within Catholicism), Mary Baker Eddy (Scientology), and Ellen G. White (co-founder of Seventh Day Adventists).  Religious leaders, certainly.  Cult?  Well, I suppose the argument could be made but I think it would be a weal argument.

But this is where Twitter, and particular blogs, can be helpful, crowdsourcing an interesting question.  Chen has nearly a quarter of a million followers (I recognize that is ironic wording in a post about cults), there should be some interesting answers and discussion.

Who are the female cult leaders I am overlooking?

Nominees include:

Valentina De Andrade

Mabel Barltrop AKA "Octavia"

Clementine Barnabet

Brigitte Boisselier

Anne Hamilton-Byrne

Amy Carlson

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

Ruth Evensen

Ching Hai

Hak Ja Han

Guru Jagat

Aimee Semple McPherson

Silvia Meraz Moreno

Bonnie Nettles

Elizabeth Clare Prophet

Saira Rao

Ma Anand Sheela

Uriel of Unarius

Åsa Waldau

I don't recognize any of these names and therefore can't assess the degree to which they should be considered cult leaders.  

Someone points out that female cult leaders exist in India and apparently warrant their own Wikipedia entry.  

There is the obligatory Camille Paglia quote:

There is no female Mozart because there is no female Jack the Ripper.

And like any good debate it comes down to definitions.  Lots of people mention names who are mere social influencers or celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey.  I would not consider these individuals as cult leaders though I see the point they are stretching.

Other names are mere passionate advocates such as Greta Thunberg.  

Then there are issues such as whether one can be considered a cult leader if you are co-founder of a sect rather than the singular leader?

Then there are the religious beyond the ones mentioned above.  Was Mother Theresa a cult leader?  Influential?  Yes!  Cult leader?  I don't see it.

So what are the attributes of a cult leader and how many women on that, or any other list, meet those attributes?  That turns out not to be particularly fruitful because the definitions tend to be encompassing.

From Merriam-Webster:

1

: a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious (see SPURIOUS sense 2)

also : its body of adherents

the voodoo cult

a satanic cult

2

a

: great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (such as a film or book)

criticizing how the media promotes the cult of celebrity

especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad

b

: the object of such devotion

c

: a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion

the singer's cult of fans

The film has a cult following.

3

: a system of religious beliefs and ritual

also : its body of adherents

the cult of Apollo

4

: formal religious veneration : WORSHIP

5

: a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator

health cults

That doesn't help.  Perhaps we can make an inference from a list of cults?  Well, maybe not.

How about cult leaders?  That's more useful though apparently subjective within the confines of 

Leaders of cults, social groups that are defined by their unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, or their common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal.

Ten of the sixty-eight named cult leaders (15%) women.  Which is striking that it falls in the 15-30% range common when looking at female achievement across all walks of life.  I.e. number of female law partners, literary winners, Nobel prize winners, patent holders, political leaders, etc.  

A different approach might to name the most recognized cult leaders and use their traits.  I would guess most lists would be topped by Jim Jones, Charles Manson, and David Koresh.  Messianic, charismatic, violent, psychopathic, paranoid.  What else?  

Now how many women nominees match those traits?  None by scale as far as I can see, maybe a couple based on disregard for human life.

It is an interesting discussion about a question I had not particularly considered.  

My tentative take away is that it very much hinges on definitions but if we are focusing on women as the clear singular leaders of a following of more than a few dozen with histories of violent suppression of members, there just aren't that many female candidates.

And more broadly, that female cult leadership follows the 15-30% rule common in other fields of competitive endeavor.