Feminist Theories of Religion Flashcards
1
Q
Evidence of Patriarchy: Religious Organisations
A
mainly male dominated despite the fact that women participate more. Orthodox forbid women to become priests
2
Q
Evidence of Patriarchy: Places of Worship
A
often segregate the sexes and marginalise women e.g. not being allowed to read from sacred texts.
- taboos that regard menstruation in the holy place
Holm - describes this as the devaluation of women in religion
3
Q
Evidence of Patriarchy: Sacred Texts
A
largely feature the doings of male gods, prophets, etc and are usually written by men
- stories often reflect anti female stereotypes such as Eve caused humanity’s fall from grace
4
Q
Evidence of Patriarchy: Religious Laws and Customs
A
- may give women fewer rights than men e.g. access to divorce
- religious influences on cultural norms may also lead to unequal treatment
- many religions legitimate and regulate womens traditional domestic and reproductive role
5
Q
Armstrong
A
- women have not always been subordinate to men
- argues that early religions often placed women at the centre e.g. Hinduism
- however the rise of monotheistic religions saw the establishment of a single, all powerful male God such as Judaism
6
Q
Saadawi
A
- while religion may be used to oppress women S argues that it is not the direct cause of their subordination
- rather this is the result of patriarchal forms of society coming into existence
- once in existence, patriarchy began to influence and re shape religion e.g. men interpreted religious beliefs in ways that favoured patriarchy.
7
Q
Woodhead
A
- criticises fem explanations that simply equate religion with patriarchy.
- while accepting that much traditional religion is patriarchal, she emphasises that this is not true of all religion. She argues that there are ‘religious forms of feminism’ - ways in which women use religion to gain greater freedom and respect.
- uses the example of the hijab which is a means of liberation for women
