Gender and Religion

Statistics:

• Women are more likely to attend church than males according to a range of data

• Brierly (2005) suggested more than half a million more females attend church

• PEW Research Center (2016) 83.4% of women identified with a faith compared to
  79.4% of males

• YouGov (2020) found 48% of women believe in a god compared to 36% of males

• Fergusson and Hussey (2010) found more women than men practise religion regularly across most religious groups

Why do more women believe?

• Accoer differences in religious belief) there are 3 factors influencing

  1. Women are less engaged in risk-taking behaviours - men are less likely to believe in something that is not certain

  2. Gender socialisation - churches fall into the feminine domain of expressive behaviours

  3. Less involvement in paid employment - more time to organise lives

  4. around religious events

Employment and Religion:

• Supported by Bruce (1996) who argued that less involvement in the labour process afforded more time for religious participation

• Men have undergone more rapid secularisation due to the process of rationalisation in work

• Women's increased role in employment has seen a decline in female involvement in religion - 'decline of female piety' (Brown 2009)

Religion and the Patriarchy:

• De Beauvoir argued that religion is used as a form of control over women and so women are encouraged to attend religious services

• Bruce and Trzebiatowska (2012) argue the moral guidance of family is delegated to women as part of the expressive role

• Women expected to maintain ties with the church to provide a veneer of respectability for the family - 'guardians of domestic morality'

Gendered secularisation:

• Woodhead (2005): the process of rationalisation has led to secularisation

• Women isolated from rationalisation and therefore secularisation - as women were isolated from the effects of rationalisation, they did not experience levels of disenchantment that men did

• Feminisation of religious institutions - focus on aspects of caring and nurturing

Spiritual Shopping:

• Danielle Hervieu-Leger (2000; 2006) continues the theme of personal choice and believing without belonging​

• She says that cultural amnesia has occurred – the formalised church has lost its power and people no longer hand religion down to the next generation​

• Religion is now individualised and consumerist – people are spiritual shoppers

• Religion has become a personal spiritual journey and, as a result, Hervieu-Leger argues that two new religious types are emerging:

  1. Pilgrims - follow an individual path on a spiritual journey of New Age spirituality by joining groups or through individual 'therapy'

  2. Converts - Join religious groups that offer a strong sense of belonging. Evangelical Christian groups are examples of this​

Evaluations:

• Measuring levels of faith is difficult - attendance one aspect of believing

• Changing emphasis on women to be part of both public and private sphere has seen a decline in female attendance

• Less stigma in modern society attached to lack of religious beliefs - less need for women to maintain contact with church

• Increased involvement of women in New Age Movements compared with men, linked to expressive roles