Feminism Flashcards
Define patriarchy.
Based on male domination and reflects inequality.
How do feminist regard religion?
Religious beliefs function as a patriarchal ideology that legitimated female subordination.
How does RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS demonstrate patriarchy?
Mainly male dominated even though females participate more than men in organisations.
KAREN ARMSTRONG, sees exclusions from priesthood as evidence of women’s marginalization.
How does PLACES OF WORSHIP demonstrate patriarchy?
Segregates the sexes like seating them behind screen while men occupy more sacred places and women’s participation is restricted eg not allowed to read from sacred book. Taboos that regard menstruation, pregnancy and child birth as polluting also prevents participation. JEAN HOLM describe this as devaluation of women in religion.
How does SACRED TEXTS demonstrate patriarchy.
Largely feature doings of male gods, prophets etc. and usually written and interpreted by men. Stories reflect anti- female stereotypes such as eve in Judaeo- Christianity story of genesis, caused humanity’s full from grace and expulsion from garden of eden.
How does RELIGIOUS LAWS AND CUSTOMS demonstrate patriarchy?
Gives women fewer rights that men eg access to divorce, how many spouses may marry, decision making, dress codes etc. and religion influences cultural norm and lead to unequal treatment like genital mutation. WOODHEAD argues that the exclusion of women from catholic priesthood is evidence of church deep unease about emancitipation of women generally.
According to ARMSTRONG, in what ways has the position of women within religion changed?
Early religion place women in the centre eg. Earth mother goddesses and female priesthood found throughout Middle East until about 6000 years ago. Until 4000 years ago, the rise monotheistic religion saw establishment of single and all powerful male god and male prophets like Abraham and Ibrahim.
Outline one example of how women use religion to gain greater freedom and respect?
Elisabeth Brusco, found in Colombia, belonging to a Pentecostal group can be empowering for some women. Eg, a strongly held belief among Pentecostals is that men should respect women. Gives women power to influence men’s behaviour by insisting that they practice what the preach.
What’s are priest movements and which women are most likely to join them?
Rachel Ronaldo, sees this pattern as typical of piety movements. There are conservative movements that support traditional teachers about women’s role, modest dress, prayers and bible study. Most likely to join- middle class urban women.
What are liberal Protestant movements?
Such as Quakers, are often committed to gender equality and women play leading roles. Eg, the Church of England, has female priests since 1992 and female bishops since 2015.
