ANDRADE, PAUL NICO B.

COM43
Medsoc Think Paper (Religion, Culture and Gender)

Culture refers to the “learned and ideational aspects of human society” (Jenks 1993). In
its subjectivity, culture carries the illusion of shared concerns and values in the face of the real
and contentious divisions that exist among classes, gender, race and ethnic groups. Religion on
the other hand refers to what people believe in, their spirituality and how this shapes people's
relation with each other and with God. Culture and religion are the sources of gender construct.
then religion is derived from culture and gender is derived from both culture and religion.
Media and communication can play a role to change the cultural norms about gender
equality both negatively and positively. The recent portrayal of women on media are quite
stereotypical and instead of promoting positive image, objectification seems to be still there. But
in terms of religion, they say that women are more religious than men.
There is a study in 1997 by Beit-Hallahmi and Argyle, they stated that it has been widely
accepted that women are more likely to be religious than men. The statistics gathered by Beit-
Hallahmi and Argyle theorized this phenomenon into three causes. The first explanation is that
women feel emotions at greater heights than men do, so women tend to turn to religion more in
times of high emotions such as gratitude or guilt. The second is that female socialization is more
likely to align with values that are commonly found in religion such as tenderness, and humility.
In contrast, male socialization is more likely to emphasize rebellion, thus making the guideline
aspects of religion less likely for them. And the last one which is also the most recent theory, is
that females are more likely to be able to identify with religion as a natural consequence of
societal structures.
For example, since majority of religions emphasize women as caretakers of the home, the
societal expectation of women to take greater responsibility than men for the upbringing of a
child makes religion an appealing commitment. Men tend to work outside the home whereas
women tend to work inside the home, which corresponds to studies that have shown that people
are more likely to be religious when working inside of their homes.
The intersection between traditionalist culture, religious norms, and gender speaks patriarchy.
There is a need for protection against backlash and unintended adverse effects, by the fact that
the cultural defense or claims of religious freedom are used to oppose women’s demands for
gender equality. All world religions today maintain male social dominance within societal
structures (Young, 1987). On the other hand, women are more inclined to participate in religious
life (Hamplová, 2013, 2011; Renzetti and Curran, 1999).
“The role of God, or a creator of a religion, is always taken by a male and the woman is
primarily valued as a mother, especially as a mother to a son. Her place is in the household, less
so at religious ceremonies or in public positions. The real status of a woman in a religion is more
complicated, however, as in some religions certain women have acquired significant posts”
(Holm, 1994).

The voice of women is rarely heard, due to the patriarchal dispositions of societies in
which these religions emerged, and which eventually stifled some of the changes in the status of
women triggered by these new religions.
The world religions all agree on the respect for women and their crucial role in family life,
especially with emphasis on women as mothers and wives. The influence of women on the
formation of religious norms and traditions is small, even though in certain doctrines, we can
find women who succeeded in having their normative views accepted, or men who advocated
equal integration of women into religious ceremonies.
Male and female roles are much differentiated and is also unbalanced in the world religions.

References:
- Culture, Religion and Gender pdf (e-book)
- Klingorova, Havlicek 2015 Religion and gender inequality: The status of women in the
societies of world religions. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279526649_Religion_and_gender_inequality_The_stat
us_of_women_in_the_societies_of_world_religions
- Raday 2003 Culture, religion and gender. Retrieved from
https://www.academia.edu/9282424/Culture_religion_and_gender