1. See for example Rosemary Radford Ruether, Women-Church. Theology and Praxis of Feminst Liturgical Communities (San Francisco: Harper&Row, 1985), ??? or Daniel I. Leifer and Myra Leifer, "On the Birth of a Daughter" In: The Jewish Woman. New Perspectives ed. by. Elizabeth Koltun (New York: Schocken, 1976), 21-30.
2. The Uniting Church in Australia Assembly Commission on Liturgy, Uniting in Worship. Leaders Book (Melbourne: The Joint Board of Christian Education, 1988), 410-415. I am indebted to Judy Redman for bringing this to my attention.
3. Here a parallel to the importance of harvest thanksgiving feasts in rural communities can be drawn. For a similar argument in the context of feminist sacramental theology see Christine Gudorf, "The Power to Create: Sacraments and Men's Need to Birth" Horizons 14.2, 296-309