Religion and Gender 1

How has religion, in the form of discourses, institutions, and actors, been used in

support of and/or against the achievement of gender equity?

Name:

University:

Course:
 Religion and Gender 2

1. Introduction

People are born as either female or male. Children learn about their different roles as

male and female. Men and women are shaped by the teaching of religion and culture

but a person is born male or female. Hence, creation of individuals’ identity using

society is known as gender. Inequality arises when men posses all the power and value

as perpetuated during childhood. When inequality exists, women are excluded and have

little to contribute to the society. The outcome is that they will be dependent on men at

all times. According to Stopler (2005), the role played by women in religion has resulted

in debate and disagreements in the contemporary times. For a long period of time,

women have been classified under major monotheistic faiths unlike men who have

always controlled religious hierarchies hence solely making decisions on what to do.

The exclusion of women greatly vary based on faith, it is mostly determined by

combination of religious and extra-religious factors, which include culture, geography

and history. Even though women are being ordained as priests in certain Christian

denominations currently, most religions still restrict women from accessing power.

Karen Armstrong was a nun and is actively involved in advocating and promoting better

positions for women. Apart from being the author of A HISTORY OF GOD, she has

also written biography about Buddha and valued volume concerning Islam. According to

her, tradition greatest fault arise when women are belittled. She insists that the fault

comprises of great wound which has it way into the religion resulting in the damage and

defilement of traditions reliability. She further suggests that the worst part in women

oppression is where women take their own ratings. Karen Armstrong compares women
 Religion and Gender 3

to the people living in the developing countries who have been colonized and assume

defamation done to them by race colonists.

2. Background on Development approach to understanding religion and gender.

According to Nye (2008), religion is a belief on the existence of a god who decides the

fate of someone. Religion is more than going to church or mosque, engaging in ritual

practices, having faith or reading sacred texts. Religion can influence social

development positively or negatively. It provides primary force for social progress. This

is possible because religion has universal principles such as tolerance, love, sacrifice,

trust, honesty, and dedication. The principles lead to unity of purpose and social

progress among people sharing same values. However, some religions have been

source of social disintegration, hatred, intolerance, gender discrimination poverty and

oppression. Therefore, religion should be treated with utmost care. It should be

encouraged if it brings cohesion and social progress but discouraged if it disrupts peace

because conflicts hampers development and social progress.

Gender refers to male or female. Male population is considered favored yet female

population continues to struggle with gender intolerance, heavy and less productive

work as well as marginalization. Most feminist proponents argue that women are denied

opportunities for advancement and are petitioning policy makers to give priority to

women issues. They further explain that women are contributing greater percentage to

country’s gross domestic product as compared to men in developing countries yet

receive little economic power in return. Therefore, women are asking for equity to

accelerate social security and rural development and get what they deserve.

Consequently, development can be accelerated by considering different levels of needs,

 Religion and Gender 4

constrains, threats, opportunities as well as priorities of both sexes.

3. How religion is used in support of the achievement of gender equality

According to Al-Sadawi (1982), Islam religion acknowledges that though there are

physical differences among men and women, both are spiritual before God. The Quran

clearly states that the issues concerning ones gender have no correlation with the

reward or the punishment one will receive in the next life. According to Watt (1988),

fundamental rights are strongly assured in the Quran and are not meant for men only.

Equality in the Quran is justified using the following verses; individuals who strictly

follow righteousness and be full of faith, whether male or female will qualify to enter

heaven and they will not face injustice (Quran 4:124). In the Islam religion equality

exists between men and women and is valued alike before the eyes of God. Individuals

can only be differentiated through righteousness. Moreover general rules which deals

with legal and practical expressions are similar for all human beings. According to

Sabbah (1984), In the Islam religion acts of worship are similar for all men and women

though done separately. Both men and women face similar legal penalties incase of

breaching the law.

According to Kandiyoti (1991), these rights are embedded in humanity hence denying or

even violating them results in negation of what makes people human. According to the

Islam religion, these rights came to being to enable human beings to actualize their

potential. According to religion, these rights apart from providing human beings with

appropriate chance to develop their inner resources, they also give direction of what

God intended humans to be. In the Quran, different rights to all humans are

emphasized. According to Roy (2004), firstly is the right for everyone to be regarded in
 Religion and Gender 5

a manner that shows complete value of every human life. Every individual has right to

respect apart from that of life. These rights are not based on whether one is a man or a

woman; instead, it is by virtue of one being a human being. This is illustrated in the

Quran whereby it states that, every human being has been honored (Surah 17: Al-Isra:

70). Human beings are considered to be worthy as compared to the rest of creation.

This is because unlike the rest of creation, they accepted trust of the liberty of the will.

(Surah 33: Al-Ahzab: 72). Another important right according to the Islam religion is the

right to have freedom from traditionalism and authoritarianism. In the Quran, great

emphasis is on every individual right to seek knowledge. Religion stresses that

acquisition of knowledge helps an individual to be able to assess life’s condition and

helps to strive towards creation of a just world. In restricting assess of knowledge

Muslim women are deprived of justice which is their own right. Considering Muslim

women status, equality should be seriously considered. This is because all the human

beings have the right to work, to earn from ones labor, and to be in possession of

certain properties. It should be clearly understood that this rights are not meant for men

alone but for all. According to the Islam religion, God owns everything hence equal

rights to all human beings. Moreover, women according to the Quran are deemed as

persons who have their own and not associates to men. Having a right to earn a living

is essential to women. Both men and women are entitled to the wages of their labors.

Another important right of human being s is the ability to increase visual sensibilities and

in addition, the right to thrive and be able to enjoy good life instead of just surviving.

Self-actualization or development is required which is obtained through social justice.

Women’s rights are essential factors of social justice and it help in bringing about a
 Religion and Gender 6

society which is just and enables every individual to be able to actualize their own God

given potential. In religion, it is stressed that rights necessitates responsibility, this refers

to the individuals not misusing rights in order to warrant destructive behaviour. Another

kind of responsibility involved in the rights, is the duty of individuals not disregard them.

Rights given to human being by God have to be practiced because God provides

guidance on how people should live in this world. Human beings having a covenant

relationship with God should always strive to protect the rights given to them by God;

hence temporal authorities will not be able to revoke them. According to the Christian

religion both men and women are equally created by God. Paul in the book of

Galatians3:28 stressed that all human beings are one in Christ hence there is no

classification of people as male and female. Therefore, it shows the importance of

equality. According to Cullen (2005), in the Christian religion natural biological

distinctiveness of both male and female is highly regarded

4. Example of a religious discourse, institution or faith-based organization

supporting gender equity

An example of faith based organization which supports gender equity is UNFPA. This

stands for United Nations Population Fund. Its core practices involve empowering

women and promoting gender equality, which include every right of a woman, man and

child.

5. How religion is used against the achievement of gender equity.

Religious leaders and the followers clearly argue that there should be no existence of

prejudiced actions within the religious belief, which involves books that are honored

such as the Bible or the Koran. However, religion has commonly been used to validate
 Religion and Gender 7

principles that are focused towards women. According to Jane et al (2003), these

principles include issues on dress codes that make them invisible. Women are also

required to shave their heads, association inside and outside the home being restricted,

and inability to hold authoritative positions both in the church as priests and ministers

and even in work places. Moreover, denying them the access to education and the

opportunity of working outside home in order to fulfill their potential. According to King

(1995), religion can also influence social and economic development negatively. This is

because its values are involved in determining and preserving social hierarchy and

exclusion. The extent in which women empowerment is limited by religion has been

derived from unwillingness of various religions to let women have positions where they

will be able to exercise different responsibilities within religious and other social

organization. Limitation of empowerment is also viewed from the different ways in which

women are defined by religious values concerning the domestic responsibilities. The

worst violation occurs especially concerning family and marriage. Woman are denied

the opportunity to make informed choices especially when deciding whether to choose a

partner or not, have children or not to and be able to decide on the number of children

one will have and how to space them. Another crucial decision is whether to divorce

one’s husband or not and concerning divorce being able to access rights and privileges

similar to those of the husband. An illustration of inequality in the issue of divorce for

women in Orthodox Judaism is whereby religious divorce certificate is withheld. The

divorcing husband has freedom to make his own decisions unlike his wife who remains

joined to him. In order to be released under the Jewish law the husband may require

some payment for the release. Female sexuality is controlled by religion with greater
 Religion and Gender 8

harshness unlike men, condemns expression of women, and denies them the

opportunity to enjoy their own sexuality. Sexual relationships are also condemned by

most religions; respect is only allocated to relationships between husband and wife.

Moreover, in some societies women are stoned for committing adultery and even killed

for what is referred to as honour crimes. In addition, men do development of doctrine in

most religions. According to Phillips (2002), women have little or even no opportunity to

determine religious doctrines. Therefore by increasing the impact of religion in the

society and processes women rights will be less respected because they have minimal

representatives.

According to Casanova (1994), most theologians have concluded that women are

morally inferior to men and that they are the key source of temptation to men especially

sexual temptation. Considering traditions where God is taken to be male. Men at times

are viewed to resemble God unlike women. This can be illustrated in 1 Corinthians 11:7

where Paul declares man as having the image and glory of God; he further suggests a

woman to be man’s glory. This statement in some cases leads to men being viewed as

superior while women are seen to be inferior.

According to Young (1993), in most religions women have continually been deprived

even though they are considered to be more religious than men. In the US, major

denominations do not permit ordination of women or even female to serve in capacities

equal to that of men. Among denominations which do not allow ordination of the female

are the Roman Catholicism, Southern Baptists and the Mormons. The main reasons of

not ordaining the female include, first is biblical literalism. This is whereby bible is not

taken as being historical work done at different times; instead it is taken to be Gods
 Religion and Gender 9

literal word. Secondly is sacramentalism. This involves beliefs that an individual

conducting sacramental rituals has to be Jesus representative in his manliness. These

reasons were defined by Chaves in his own book on female ordination. However he

stresses that this is similar to obvious reasons and he further insists that the hidden

reason is that religions maintain in order to be able to provide a given market niche,

those in resistance of modernity. According to Reuther (2002), generally fundamentalist

religions comprising of fundamentalist Islam and Christianity have the main objective to

preserve men power and be able to overpower women. Even in religions where women

rights importance is recognized, women are still discriminated against . According to

Swatos (1994), in the creation myths, women are portrayed to be unequal to men, and

in addition they are viewed to be weak, naturally sinful and human beings who cannot

help themselves. Women in most cases do not pastor a congregation; instead they

become assistants unlike men. Moreover women mostly are allocated congregation in

rural areas which are smaller and pay less. According to Jaffary (2007), the Jewish

legacy and the Christian religion, women are unequal to men and wives are considered

as being equivalent to their husband’s property. One can easily realize the low status

given to women in the Islam communities. This is clearly portrayed through polygamy,

honor rape, and young girl’s sexuality. In the Islamic law, when a girl attains nine years

it is considered to be the consent age. According to Mormons one was allowed to be

polygamous but polyandry was illegal.

6. Example of a religious discourse, institution or faith-based organization or

actor against gender equity

 Religion and Gender 10

The opposition of gender equity can be illustrated using Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan

when they came to power in 1996.they introduced strict limitation on women rights.

These involved not being allowed to contribute to communal life, partial education

access, limitation on job opportunities, and even access to health care.

7. Conclusion

It is a fact from most religious doctrines that both men and women are considered equal

in the eyes of “God”. Religions such as Islam and Christianity recognize the fact that all

persons need to be treated with respect and equality. However, it is obvious that most

female persons are trapped in the chains of segregations, economic marginalization

and violence as compared to men. Therefore, there is no gender equality in absolute

terms. As a result, socio-economic development is greatly hampered. Religion has

massive influence on the progression of communities. If well conceived and proactively

practiced, it can help accelerate global development. However, some religions are

considered obnoxious because it creates tensions and war among people of religious

divides. Therefore, it should be practiced with a lot of caution. Gender also plays major

role for advancing society’s progress. However, when female feel unprivileged as

compared to men, it cause some tensions and unwarranted gender based competitions

that may cause more problems. Opinion leaders and community educators should

promote aspirations, needs, wants and opportunities of both male and female to allow

for harmonized roles in the society.

References
 Religion and Gender 11

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