Gender and Religion

Gendered Religiosity

“…Religion in this context, therefore, appears to be a gendered institution that appeals to essentialist men and feminine women (Thompson 1991) and may reinforce gender complementarianism (Schnabel 2016a; Wilcox 2004) and promote inequality (Schnabel 2016b). Not all religion is the same, however, so variation in everyday expressions of gender essentialism and femininity likely play out differently across groups in ways that should be further scrutinized (Bartkowski and Read 2003; Lummis 1999; Schnabel 2015).…”

Revisiting Gender and Religion

“…The pioneers were followed by many other women, which represented an extraordinary change. Scholars took note and generated a significant body of research about clergywomen; see, for example, Carroll et al 1983;Jones et al 2008;Lehman 1985Lehman , 1987Lehman , 1993Lummis 1996Lummis , 1999Lummis , 2008Nason-Clark 1987a, b;Nesbitt 1995Nesbitt , 1997bZikmund et al 1998 (Regarding women in seminary, see also, for example, Charlton 1987;Finlay 2002). Ordained clergywomen now occupy such an increasingly significant proportion of the ministry in some Protestant denominations that their presence is considered to be mainstream.…”

“…These early scholars of gender and religion were of a pioneer generation, too. They were firsts in their ways of attending in their scholarship and their teaching to the experience of women, to uncovering understudied, gendered aspects of social life and of religion that had been invisible, to thinking about the possibilities of feminist theory and the potential of new methodologies (see, for example, Davidman 1991; Jacobs 1984; Lummis 1999; Nason-Clark 1987a, b; Neitz 2003; Nesbitt 1997a, b; and others).…”

Gendered Congregations, Gendered Service: The Impact of Clergy Gender on Congregational Social Service Participation

“…Religious organizations are unique among organizations in that many religions do not profess to be gender neutral (Adams, 2007; Bagilhole, 2006). In fact, many religions unapologetically make distinctions between women and men and avoid applying a woman‐affirming hermeneutic of sacred texts; in this manner, they justify and even sanctify the gendered division of religious labour (Lummis, 1999). However, because religious organizations do not operate in a vacuum and are consequently influenced by liberal feminist ideas that have permeated the dominant culture (Chaves, 1997), there has been a move to institute gender‐neutral policies in many religious organizations, especially regarding the hiring and promoting of clergy.…”