Gender and Religion

What is the evidence to suggest that women are more religious than men?

• Study by PEW (2016) - gender gap in religious affiliation: 83% of women identify with faith group VS 79% of men

• Survey - 2015: men 2x as likely to not believe in existence of god than women. Women 2x more likely to believe in afterlife than men

• Report - 2013: UK churches are attended by 65% women and 35% men

What are the biological explanations for why women are more religious than men?

• Davie - women feel closer to God as they are involved in creation of life through childbirth and pregnancy.

  • childbirth + pregnancy - could make women reflect on spirituality more e.g meaning of life - religion can answer these questions.

Evaluations of the biological explanations

• Women still adopt in most countries, rather than childbirth and pregnancy the journey of motherhood could be a reason for women to be more religious

  • New age movement celebrates biological aspects of femininity e.g motherhood

Social Role Theory explanations for Gender differences in Religion

• Traditional Female Gender Roles - nurturing, caring, emotional, intuitive, passive, submissive. All characteristics which match morals religion promotes e.g Catholicism and Islam

• Beauvoir - women traditionally stuck in marginalised domestic roles, religion compensates women for second class status and comforts them (false comfort which reinforces second class status)

Limitations of the Traditional Gender Role Theory

• Women’s higher levels of religiosity due to different age profiles - women live longer than men, older people are more religious than younger people.

• Doesn’t explain high levels of religiosity who don’t accept traditional feminine roles - New Age Movement: most members are female and very few accept traditional hegemonic prescriptions of femininity

Catholic Church and female Priest’s

• Women would never be allowed into PriestHood

  • Being a priest means they embody persona of jesus christ & god - since jesus = man, church thinks men and women have irreducible differences → no possibilities for women to perform christ like duties

  • Church has no authority to make women priests → decided when jesus chose all men to be his disciples despite having opp to choose women.

First Female Bishop of England

• Proud of her, about time

• Some disgaree - man objected as it “was not in Bible”