Gender and Beliefs

• Davie said many gender differences exist in practice, belief, self-id, private prayer and other aspects of religiosity
• Census - Religion (Men:Women)


  Have a religion: 44%:56%

  Spiritual: 26%:38%
• According to the census women have a greater interest and involvement in religion
• Miller and Hoffman said people risk condemnation by not being religious and women dislike taking risks as they face more danger
• Bedroom culture supports Miller and Hoffmans belief on women and risk
• Women are socialised to be passive, obedient etc, religion values these qualities
• Parsons supports that women are socialised into the churches values - instrumental/expressive roles
• Davie said women are closer to birth and death so become more religious as it can be stressful and cause someone to question life
• Miller and Hoffman state women are more likely to work half-time so can organise time for religious participation
• Duncombe and Marsden state women have a triple shift - this is similar to Miller & Hoffmans argument of womens partime work and religious activity
• Bruce says women are more likely to be religious as they have lower involvement in paid work - they deal with the private sphere of family and personal life
• Brown had taken on secular, masculinised roles in a public sphere so it led to ’the decline of female piety’ as women withdraw from religion
• Religion has a strong affinity to values such as caring - similar to a womans job at home
• Men withdraw from religion meaning churches became feminised
• Woodhead states church prioritises womens lives and priorities so are more attractive to women
• Despite all these differences, most pastors are men
• Women are associated with a ”nurture role” so are more attracted to New Age
• Heelas and Woodhead found 80% of participants in holistic milieu in Kendal were female
• Cults of healing give women a higher sense of self worth
• Bruce says women prioritise feeling over achieving so like the New Age
• Woodhead says the New Age is concerned with autonomy and personal growth rather then preformance, bypassing womens conflict of having both an instrumental and expressive role
• New Age emphasises being real more then acting out roles - so women like it
• Bruce found there is class differences in womens involvement in the New Age - Middle-class women prefer it
• Bruce found twice as many women are in sects to men
• Stark/Bainbridge state the religious market place offers compensators for the deprivation women are more common to have;

  • Organismic
  • Social
  • Ethical
• Women have being leaving the main Christian churches in the UK at a faster rate than men
• Aune et al explains womens fast leaving of churches as;

  • Feminism (they question gender roles)
  • Changing roles (More work giving identity)
  • Changing families (more diversity disliked by church)