...Religion and Gender Is religion bad for women? Religion by definition is “a particular system of faith and worship” (New Oxford American Dictionary). I believe that religion in its simplest form of just faith and worship is good for everyone, including women. However, the politics, and power inequity that play such a large role in organized religion are bad for women in many ways, three of which include; organized religions are male centered, brilliant women are oppressed, and they are not given credit for what they do. Organized religions are male centered, which creates a hostile environment for women to pray and worship. “Men administered the sacraments, wrote the prayer books, preached the sermons and made the decisions.” (Women and American Religion p.11) For centuries men have played the leading roles in organized religion and consequently “sexist assumptions about women” (Women and American Religion p.124) have incorporated themselves into religious communities. For example, Muslim and Jewish women are required to sit behind a curtain during religious services. By doing this, men are prevented from becoming too “distracted”. When Asra Q. Nomani sat in the main hall with the men in her mosque, they claimed they could not pray in the presence of a woman, and when she again refused to sit behind the curtain, they banned her from the community. Another example is the Protestant view that: “God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of man, and man is the head of women”...
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...Many feminist sociologists argue that religious institutions and beliefs help legitimise gender inequality. Like Marxists, feminists argue that religion is a source of domination and oppression. However, unlike Marxism, they see religion as a product of patriarchy, rather than capitalism. They argue that religion is patriarchal in that women are exploited by men and seen as subordinate. Feminist sociologists are interested in how women have become subservient and how religion has promoted patriarchy. This view is not just shared by female and feminist sociologists. Anthony Giddens argues that; “The Christian religion is a resolutely male affair in its symbolism as well as its hierarchy. While Mary, the mother of Jesus may sometimes be treated as if she had divine qualities, God is the father, a male figure, and Jesus took the human shape of a man.” Religious texts tend to tell the stories of men rather than women, for example, in the bible, it tells the story of Jesus and in the Qur’an it tells the story of Prophet Muhammad. Women are mentioned in the religious sacred texts but feminists argue that when religious texts do, they often reflect anti-female stereotypes. The story of Eve is an example of this; she was the cause for humanity’s fall from grace and expulsion from the Garden of Eden. However, the stories in religious texts that do contain women portray them with an important role such as Mary, the mother of Jesus and the three women who helped Jesus after he resurrected...
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...focus on the attendance of gender stereotypes in the mass media, which nowadays has a great power and reaches large audiences. In order to create a medium which is universal, understandable and acceptable for numerous and diverse recipients, senders very often use stereotypes, which fill the social life and evoke certain associations. However, mass media not only gives people information and entertainment, but, also affects people’s lives by shaping their opinions, attitudes and beliefs. Men have been perceived as the head of the household and women were mainly housewives. Nowadays the differences between male and female roles are smaller, however mass media still perpetuates traditional gender stereotypes. Moreover, due to their great influence on people’s attitudes, they can depict certain social groups in negative and unrealistic manner. They can be a very useful tool for those remaining power. By manipulating the message, media can create a certain image of reality, which is consistent with the policy of the dominant group. As a result, the reflection of a real world is incomplete and distorted. Although people are aware of the unequal representation of certain social groups in mass media, it is hard to remain objective and insensitive to its influence. Religion interacts very closely with culture and since gender roles are defined by a culture, how religion interacts with culture can affect how religion treats gender roles. Typically, as religions grow in size, they become...
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...There are clear gender differences in religious belief and participation; while priesthoods of most religions are male which means women are more likely to participate in activities and have belief in god and the supernatural. For example in 2005 1.8 million women in England were church goers, compared to just 1.36 million men. Miller and Hoffman (1995) found women express greater interest in religion; they have a greater personal commitment and go to church more. They found that this was true for all religious organisations, ages and faiths. Bruce (1996) estimated there are twice as many women than men in sects. Heelas and Woodhead (2005) found in their study of Kendal 80% of holistic milieu participants were female. This shows that gender differences can be linked to the way men and women see god; as a god of power and control or a god of love and forgiveness. Sociologists have given several arguments for gender differences in religious belief and practice. Miller and Hoffman argue women are more religious as they’re socialised to be more passive, obedient and caring. Religion values all of these characteristics, thus women are more likely than men to be attracted to religion. Miller and Hoffman also argue that women are more likely than men to be employed in part time work or be full time carers, thus they have more time to organise around religious activities. Greely argues taking care of other family member’s increases women’s religiosity as they have responsibility to their...
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...Religion and Gender Inequality RELIGION and GENDER INEQUALITY Equality for women in our society has been a controversial issue for centuries, sparking debates, marches, protests, and movement for the purpose of lifting women out of servitude to men. Many might point to the idea that women are the smaller, delicate, and weaker of the two genders as the reason for male domination. In history there have been many groups that were dominated by another group, but none with such complicity from those claiming to be following the word of God, as men over women. The Bible, perhaps the most influential collection of scripture, seems to align man with God; “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground” (Genesis: 26). Does this passage from the Old Testament establish men as the rulers of all that lives and breathes on the Earth, or is the word “man” used to establish the human species (men and women) as masters of our world? My guess is that asking a woman might garner a different response than if posed to a man. When it comes to the matter of inequality or oppression, a condition that has affected many groups during human history, it seems that religion, or God in one way or another has been used as an example to stop the onerous treatment of such groups, seemingly with the exception of women. During the...
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...RELIGION and GENDER INEQUALITY Equality for women in our society has been a controversial issue for centuries, sparking debates, marches, protests, and movement for the purpose of lifting women out of servitude to men. Many might point to the idea that women are the smaller, delicate, and weaker of the two genders as the reason for male domination. In history there have been many groups that were dominated by another group, but none with such complicity from those claiming to be following the word of God, as men over women. The Bible, perhaps the most influential collection of scripture, seems to align man with God; “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground” (Genesis: 26). Does this passage from the Old Testament establish men as the rulers of all that lives and breathes on the Earth, or is the word “man” used to establish the human species (men and women) as masters of our world? My guess is that asking a woman might garner a different response than if posed to a man. When it comes to the matter of inequality or oppression, a condition that has affected many groups during human history, it seems that religion, or God in one way or another has been used as an example to stop the onerous treatment of such groups, seemingly with the exception of women. During the 19th century many Christian women...
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...men’s work took place outside of the household, a lifestyle developed that associated femininity and domesticity with religion. Religion’s place in men’s and women’s family roles has changed over time in relation to economic shifts – and this relationship between gender, religion, and the economy continues to evolve. Original sin in the Garden of Eden was woman’s. She tasted the forbidden fruit which tempted Adam and has been paying for it ever since. In Genesis the Lord said, “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception, in sorrow thou shall bring forth children and thy desire should be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. Sociologists would regard the above quotation as a mythological justification for the position of women in society. However, over time new classifications of religions have arose and offer the genders something different, I will now discuss what organizations attract what gender and why. Religious organizations are mainly male led with the position of priest being barred to females in Catholicism. Where women are represented in religious beliefs, they tend to be in a submissive role or as agents of evil or temptation. Outward religious forms for women are often presented in western societies as symbolic of the ‘other’, for example the wearing of the veil by Muslim women. Yet, although this may be the case, in many religions women form the majority of regular attenders at services. However Rodney stark argues that lower rates of male religiousness...
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...Carolina Oquendo Sociology of Gender Final Project Gender roles in religion have always been a controversial topic. All of the major world religions belittle women to some degree. It is not a secret that women have historically gotten the short end of the stick, so to speak, when it comes to how they are treated and viewed in religion. After researching this topic, I can safely say that the women do all the work and the men take all the credit. Women are treated less than equal to men in most religious settings. Below I will touch upon women’s roles in Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, the Rastafari Movement, Mormonism and Islam and how they have in fact, gotten the “short end of the stick” and how women have been belittled in every major religion. Christianity is a religion wholly based on the life teachings of Jesus Christ as presented by the gospel. Followers of this faith, known as Christians, believe that Jesus is the son of God. They refer to Jesus as Christ or the Messiah. There are many denominations within Christianity. Some of these include Catholicism, Orthodox, Protestant and Restorationists. The Roman Catholic Church is headed by the pope. Catholics believe that there is one holy catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus. The Protestants are people that separated from the Catholic Church in the 16th century. They often refer to themselves as being born again and when asked what religion they follow, they answer that they are Christian. All...
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...Analyze 20th century quests for religious, racial, and gender equality. How did they influence artistic works of the time? The influence of artistic work was a great one in the 50’s-80’s time period. With the equality of women being able to vote, and the rights of African-Americans being able to vote, sit with white people and attend the same schools as white people this gave artist of the time a chance to be bold in every way they could be. To me art is not just paintings and sculptures but it also music and movies. Rock-n-roll was a big hit in the 50’s thanks to Elvis Presley whom to me is the greatest musical artist of all times. If it were not for him and his music then there would be no type of rock-n-roll type music. The Beatles would probably not exist nor any other rock group. If movie stars like Marilyn Monroe did not exist then there would no sex symbol for women to idolize like Anna Nicole Smith did and become famous. Without Jim and Tammy Bakker the Christian religion would not have been televised and a way for other religions to be televised and come out in the open for the world to experience. Andy Warhol experimented with film and brought out the most postmodern types of film in history. Throughout the century religious, racial and gender equality was the biggest influence in time. Come the mid 90’s time changed and people were no longer influenced by what was going on in this time period instead they just redo something and call it art. Musicians take music and...
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...relationship between gender and religion (33marks) Many feminists view religion as a patriarchal institution that reflects and perpetuates this inequality. There is much evidence of this female subordination in religion; They are male dominated and in Orthodox Catholicism and Judaism women are forbidden to become priests. Also Christianity teaches that men made in ‘the image and glory of God’ and women made ‘for the glory of man. This is supported by the Old Testament which states ‘...for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church.’ There are many female characters in the biblical texts and some are portrayed as acting charitably or bravely, however the primary roles are reserved for males and most female roles are either evil (Eve) or subordinate (Mary). Similarly in the Quran, the sacred text of Islam contends that ‘men are in charge of women’. Even Christianity and Buddhism are dominated by a patriarchal power structure in which the feminine is mainly associated with the secular, powerless, profane and imperfect. Even women’s bodies and sexuality are felt to be dangerous by many religious. Because women menstruate and give birth, they are considered to have the capacity to ‘pollute’ religious rituals. The presence of women is seen to distract men from their important roles involving worship. Even though there is evidence to suggest that religious institutions have patriarchal values, it should not be assumed that all religions are equally oppressive...
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...The promotion of gender equality in religion is a slow and painful process, and it is barely beginning to unfold worldwide. But it is a dynamic process, one in which progress begets progress. As a result of sexuality, gender inequality dramatically differs from other forms of inequality such as class or race. Women and men are bound together as intimate couples. And because of reproduction, all people are bound to both mothers and fathers and other kin of both genders. Inequality is the divergence of appropriation or opportunity and can be taken a look at through numerous positions from a social scientist angles. This essay will look into the fundamentals of sexual orientation imbalance inside of marriage through three distinct religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Religion has a distinctive affect on marriage and sexual orientation, so much so that people are not willing to be true to themselves in order to please their religion. Taking a look at the rudiments of sexual orientation disparity one can discover that it is an educated conduct starting at the formative phases of adolescence. As indicated by Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development under the preoperational period (2-7 years old) amid the instinctive stage (4-7 years old) a child’s "discourse turns out to be more social… has a natural handle of sensible ideas." also "ideas shaped are unrefined and irreversible" which makes a child to a great degree vulnerable to social discernments set up by the child’s parents...
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...‘There is no “single” Asian past. We must always acknowledge the diversity of experiences related to class, gender, ethnicity, religion, caste, family and kinship arrangements, or other indices of social differentiation, to fully appreciate the complex history of Asia.’ The area known to us as Asia sits on the eastern side of the landmass of Eurasia and is the largest continent, encompassing a staggering 17 million square miles. Asia is home to a variety of cultures, religions, governments and mindsets, giving it a wide base for a complex history involving largely different groups of people. These different groups, or ethnicities, all formed their own histories over time, which when combined together give Asia more than one past, they arise into an intricate and comprehensive history fashioned by a diversity of experiences. Therefore, there is no ‘single’ Asian past; we must delve into each single experience to gain insight into the prolific and wide ranging history that gathers under the one banner of ‘Asia’. Each country within Asia has its own geographic links to other nations and cultures. These links were expanded on by exploration, trade routes and missionary ventures. These vital networks allowed cultural influences to travel from country to country, resulting in each nation in Asia receiving different influences from the next. In turn, this led to widespread variety amongst individual countries. These networks were invaluable to allow the able interaction of cultures...
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...Samuel Cabrera ANTH 321 Professor Gill Response Paper Four Gender and sexuality have been the core of many debates in many cultural norms, in particular when it comes to religion, class and political reforms. Authors such as Dan Savage, Serena Nanda, and Alok Gupta have taken the role to write about these issues in North America and India. These authors argue that the intersection of sex and religion, gender in religion, and class in sexuality have been at the core of the gender and sexuality movement. The idea of “class” being an issue to “class” when it comes to sexuality in India has been contributed to a lot of debate (Gupta). Also, when it comes to sexuality in religion in a North American content the idea of anything other than heterosexuality is blind in the catholic religious practice. However, when it comes to gender practices in India, the Hindu religion is more open and understanding to the idea of the third gender. The rise of concern of homosexuality when it comes to religion in American culture is one that is gaining attention in the homosexual community. Especially when it comes to the Catholic practice and its unwillingness to welcome the gay community into there religion. Dan Savage argues that the Catholic religion ignores the gay community because the sin of homosexuality can be seen by the open eye, and ignores the fact that most of the heterosexual followers of the religion engage in the practice of nonprocreative sex. For example, Dan Savage brings...
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...Evaluate feminist views on the role of religion in society today. (33 marks) Feminists argue that in religion there is evidence of an oppression against women. Feminists highlight four main ways in which religion oppresses and subordinates’ women, these are: Sacred texts (feature predominantly male gods and profits as well as being written and interpreted by men. Women in sacred texts are presented in a negative light.); Places of worship (There are often rules preventing women from participating fully, for example, in Islam, women are not able to touch the Qur’an); Religious organization and hierarchy (male dominated- Orthodox Judaism and Catholicism forbid women to become priests); and religious laws and customs (Many religions legitimate and regulate women’s traditional domestic and reproductive role e.g. Catholic Church bans abortion and artificial contraception). These examples clearly show that there is a gender issue in religion, however are these feminist views as valid in todays society as in the past? Some would say that feminist views on the role of religion are valid as they do recognise gender inequality in religion. It is clear that religion is extremely patriarchal from the teachings to the hierarchy. Within religious organisations, women are often found at the bottom of the career ladder, facing the same glass ceiling barrier of prejudice and discrimination that stops them from rising higher up the hierarchy in the workplace. Despite legal obstacles...
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...different opinions and interpretations on gender and religious participation. Marxist Feminists would argue that religion is oppressing but is seen as patriarchal rather than a capitalistic. Armstrong argues that religion is still largely male dominated even though women participate more than men (57% of those attending a main church or denomination in 2005 were women). She argues this is shows women becoming marginalised, for example orthodox Jews forbid women priests. However Wright argues that Judaism has allowed women to become Rabbis since 1972. Armstrong also argues that women weren’t always depicted as lower than men in sacred texts. Although in Islam women will often pray behind a screen, separate to men and will not be allowed to touch the Qur’an if they’re menstruating. Holm’s argues this is devaluating women within religion. Similarly, Radical Feminists would argue with Marxists because they believe that women are suppressed within religion. Radicals want to get rid of anything patriarchal, including religion. Liberal Feminists criticise them for not acknowledging that not all religion is patriarchal. Jill Swale argues that traditional forms of religion such as Judaism is patriarchal, for example the Torah was written by only men and continues to be interpreted by only men. Swale argues biases towards women have been created because of this inequality. Although Liberal Feminists agree with Radical and Marxist Feminists that religion is patriarchal, instead of getting rid...
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