feminism and gender

• religion as a patriarchal institution:

  • Teaches and practices of religion suggest that they systemically benefit males over females, particularly in reinforcing an ideology of the family
• Simone De Beauvoir- saw religion as exploiting and oppressing women. She argued that religions encouraged women to be meek and put up with inequality to be rewarded in the afterlife.
• There are several ways in which religion can promote patriarchy:

  • Through religious scripture / teachings
  • Through religious ceremonies and practices
  • Through the structure and power-relations of religious organisations
• patriarchy in scripture and teachings:

  • Women are presented as temptresses who distract men from the serious business of worship. In the Bible, Eve disobeys God and tempts Adam to eat the forbidden fruit.
  • Women are given the role of nurturing, caring and giving birth which reinforce the gender norms in society and the patriarchal power structures. Women who don't conform are viewed as deviant.
  • Religious texts are full of male Gods and male prophets
  • The rules of religious organisations include a lot of rules that restrict the freedom of women
• patriarchies in ceremonies and practices

  • In several religious organisations men and women worship separately.
  • In many religions both menstruation and pregnancy are treated as impure or ungodly. E.g. Islam women who are menstruating are not allowed to touch the Quran.
• patriarchy in religious organisations:

  • In the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope, all the cardinals, archbishops, bishops and priests are men
  • There have been female Rabbis since the 1970s but it is still condemned by orthodox Jews.
  • Although there have been women priests in the Church of England since 1994, it took a further 20 years before there was a female bishop.
  • Karen Armstrong (1993) argued that the exclusion of women from the priesthood exemplified women’s marginalisation in religious and social life.
• criticism of the feminist approach to religion:

  • Goddesses- in many ancient and folk religions, females have had key positions. In ancient Greek and Roman religion, goddesses were neither uncommon nor unimportant.
  • the Greek goddess Athena was god of war, wisdom and the arts
  • Goddesses remain important in Hinduism
  • Christian Pentecostalism- thousands of women have assumed positions of leadership. These important roles often lead to leadership roles in the wider community
• criticism (freedom within religion)

  • Arnos and Parmar- the feminist view fails to understand cultural traditions of Asian people. There may be numerous motivations for veiling.
  • Watson states that it prevents unwanted attention to the body from men, thereby not fitting sexist stereotypes of women
  • Veiling rather than being a submission to patriarchy, is a means of ethnic and gender assertiveness.
• criticisms (socialisation, moral codes and social control)

  • In the USA, many women were converted to Orthodox Judaism because it supported and legitimated their desires for the traditional identity of wives and mothers in nuclear families.
  • Women acknowledge it is the cultural/man-made aspects of religion not religion itself that causes their oppression
  • In Catholicism, becoming a nun can be viewed as either oppressive or highly liberating
  • In 2021, 56% of people who responded 'other religion' were women, who identified as Buddhist and Christian.