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ABSTRACT

Women have outnumbered men as followers of Christianity at least since the transition to industrial capitalist modernity in the West. Yet developments in women's lives in relation to employment, family and feminist values are challenging their Christian religiosity. Building on a new strand of gender analysis in the sociology of religion, this article argues that gender is central to patterns of religiosity and secularization in the West. It then offers a case study of evangelical Christianity in England to illustrate how changes in women's lives are affecting their religiosity. Specifically, it argues that evangelical Christianity continues to be important among women occupying more traditional social positions (as wives and mothers), but adherence is declining among the growing number whose lives do not fit this older model.

Feminist spirituality as lived religion How uK Feminists Forge religio-spiritual livesKristin Aune Coventry university, uK How do feminists in the united Kingdom view spirituality and religion? What are their religious and spiritual attitudes, beliefs, and practices? What role do spirituality and religion play in feminists' lives? this article presents findings from an interview-based study of 30 feminists in england, scotland, and Wales. it identifies three characteristics of feminists' approaches to religion and spirituality: they are de-churched, are relational, and emphasize practice. these features warrant a new approach to feminists' relationships with religion and spirituality. rather than, as others have done, equating feminism with secularism, secularization, or alternative spiritualities, the article reveals the complex ways feminists forge religio-spiritual lives. the interview data demonstrate that it is unwise to see "spirituality" and "religion" as analytically distinct. instead, drawing on the growing field of scholarship on "lived religion," the article proposes conceptualizing feminist spirituality as lived religion.

Since the start of the new millennium in the UK, a range of new feminist activitiesnational networks, issue-specific campaigns, local groups, festivals, magazines and blogs-have been formed by a new constituency of mostly younger women and men. These new feminist activities, which we term 'third-wave' feminism, have emerged in a 'post-feminist' context, in which feminism is considered dead or unnecessary, and where younger feminists, if represented at all, are often dismissed as insufficiently political. Representations of North American third-wave feminism are brought into play in these criticisms of the UK third wave, and insufficient attention has been paid to the distinctiveness of the UK contexts. Drawing on data from a survey of 1265 people involved in post-2000 forms of feminism and semi-structured interviews with thirty feminist activists, the article sketches out the contours of the contemporary feminist movement and its activists, activism and priorities. It attends to differences and similarities between second and third waves, and situates contemporary UK feminism in its distinctive UK context. Arguing that feminism is both alive and relevant for significant numbers of people in the UK today, the article interrogates younger feminists' reluctance to use the term 'third-wave feminism' to describe themselves, attributing this reluctance to ambivalent and cynical representations of the third wave in academic literature and the popular media.