Women’s Agency in Gender‐Traditional Religions: A Review of Four Approaches

Burke, Kelsy

doi:10.1111/j.1751-9020.2011.00439.x

Cited by 125 publications

(132 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…In another paradox-which I will argue is related to and can help explain the underdog paradox-religion is men-dominated and yet women-populated. Although religion can promote patriarchal beliefs and gender inequality (Edgell 2006;Edgell and Docka 2007;Schnabel 2016a), women being more religious than men is one of the most consistent findings in the social sciences and has motivated a vibrant literature on how women exert agency in conservative and even patriarchal religions (Agadjanian 2015;Avishai 2008;Burke 2012;Charrad 2011;Khurshid 2015;Prickett 2015;Rao 2015).…”

Section: The Underdog Paradoxmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Religion Suppress Gender Differences in Values? A Cross-National Examination

Schnabel¹

2018

Preprint

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Women are typically more liberal than men. But on some issues related to "traditional moral values"-including sexuality and the beginning and end of life-women are just as if not more conservative than men. This study examines the role of religion in complicating the relationship between gender and values cross-nationally, with particular attention to variation across religious groups and contexts. Using data from a diverse set of 56 countries in the World Values Survey (N=85,181), I find that religiousness suppresses what would otherwise be larger and more consistent gender differences in values among Christians. Among most other groups, including Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, and Muslims in non-Muslim contexts, religiousness does not greatly alter gender differences in values. However, among Muslims in Muslim-majority contexts-where men tend to be more religious than women-religiousness amplifies what would otherwise be smaller gender differences in values. Accordingly, gender differences in values tend to be larger among Muslims than Christians. I conclude that religions are complex and powerful social structures with heterogeneous social consequences. Keywords Gender Differences in Values 2Women tend to be more liberal than men. In many contexts, women are more likely to claim liberal identities, espouse egalitarian values, and vote for progressive politicians (Beutel and Marini 1995;Box-Steffensmeier, DeBoef, and Lin 2004;Charrad 2011;Davis and Robinson 1991;Hadler 2012;Inglehart and Norris 1999;Manza and Brooks 1998;McDermott 2016;Pratto, Stallworth, and Sidanius 1997;Shapiro and Mahajan 1986). Yet, in a gender-and-politics paradox, women are just as if not more conservative than men on certain issues related to notions of "traditional morality"-including gender-related issues such as abortion-in at least some contexts (Barkan 2014;Schnabel 2018). In another gender paradox, religion tends to be mendominated and yet women-populated . Historic religious figures and current religious leaders are predominantly men, and religion often promotes patriarchal beliefs and gender inequality (Edgell 2006;Edgell and Docka 2007;Schnabel 2016a).Nevertheless, women being more religious than men is one of the most consistent findings in the social sciences (Hoffmann 2009). Although the gender gap in religion is frequently noted, its political repercussions are largely ignored (but see Rinehart and Perkins 1989). As I will demonstrate, gender differences in religion help explain the gender-and-politics paradox on certain "traditional moral values" 2 related to sexuality and the beginning and end of life.In this study, I argue that religion intersects with social status characteristics such as gender and that the social consequences of religiosity vary across religious groups and contexts (Read and Eagle 2014;Schnabel 2016b;Stewart, Frost, and Edgell 2017;Wilde and Glassman 2016 Christianity specifically may be a feminine-typed "underdog" religion, appealing more to women based on gendered social norms and women...

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Section: The Underdog Paradoxmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Religion Suppress Gender Differences in Values? A Cross-National Examination

Schnabel¹

2018

Preprint

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“…Many feminist studies of religion highlight religion's dual potential to empower and oppress women (e.g. Fournier, 2014;Scott, 2009;Braidotti, 2008;Fessenden, 2008;Sands, 2008;Braude, 2004; see also Burke, 2012 for a useful overview). Some scholars show that women's agency and empowerment is also visible within conservative religious contexts (e.g.…”

Section: For Secular Feminist Analyses Of Religion Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The lived religion approach in the sociology of religion and its implications for secular feminist analyses of religion

Predelli

2017

Social Compass

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“…The past two decades have seen a sudden expansion in social research on the impact of 'lived religion' for women's rights and empowerment. This has been accompanied by further debate on the notion of agency that has been de-linked from the 'logics of subversion and resistance', often in relation to what from the secular-liberal point of view can be identified as more gender-traditional, conservative, non-oppositional religious piety and practice, including, for example, compliance and docility (Nyhagen and Halsaa 2016;Mahmood 2005;Burke 2012).…”

Section: Spirituality Wellbeing and Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Women’s Circles and the Rise of the New Feminine: Reclaiming Sisterhood, Spirituality, and Wellbeing

Longman

2018

Religions

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This paper draws on the results of ethnographic research on 'women's circles'; women-only spaces that celebrate sisterhood and the 'feminine', including the increasingly globally popular 'Red Tent'. Women's circles are non-institutionalized, often monthly gatherings, for women to come together and relax, meditate, share stories, partake in rituals, heal, nourish, and empower themselves. Based on fieldwork and in-depth interviews with founders and organizer-practitioners of women's circles in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, the study shows how they offer a growing number of women from diverse backgrounds a space that they find lacking in secular-liberal society, out of a desire to 're/connect' with each other, their bodies, their inner selves, and sometimes with the sacred. Women's circles are indicative of women's heightened participation in the realm of subjective wellbeing culture, including both elements of spirituality and more secular 'personal growth'. Against the presumption that circles would be merely expressive of neo-liberal individualist consumer culture or retrograde gender essentialism, the paper argues they can be viewed as sites of sisterhood, solidarity, and dissent, cultivating a new type of femininity grounded in both affirmative and more oppositional forms of emerging feminist consciousness. In response to the so-called 'post-secular turn in feminism' and the growing interest for religion and, more recently, spirituality in (secular) feminist theory, the paper pleads for a re-consideration of the rise of women's spirituality/wellbeing culture in the West as a form of post-secular agency.

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Women’s Agency in Gender‐Traditional Religions: A Review of Four Approaches

Cited by 125 publications

References 47 publications

Does Religion Suppress Gender Differences in Values? A Cross-National Examination

Does Religion Suppress Gender Differences in Values? A Cross-National Examination

The lived religion approach in the sociology of religion and its implications for secular feminist analyses of religion

Women’s Circles and the Rise of the New Feminine: Reclaiming Sisterhood, Spirituality, and Wellbeing

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