Jenni's blog » Religion and misogyny
Religion and misogyny
Why is it that most people's religions discriminate against women? This was the thought that occurred to me when I read Jimmy Carter's recent article in The Guardian talking about the role of religions in encouraging discrimination against women.
Writing on behalf of the Elders, an independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela, who offer their influence and experience to support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity, Carter bravely states that male religious leaders have had - and still have - an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter.
According to his analysis, most religions have given men a reason or excuse to deprive women of equal rights across the world for centuries. He points out that the impact of religious beliefs on women ranges from boys being educated before girls through to female genital mutilation. But the main point of his article is that religious leaders have chosen to interpret religion to support misogyny.
He says: I understand that the carefully selected verses found in the holy scriptures to justify the superiority of men owe more to time and place - and the determination of male leaders to hold onto their influence - than eternal truths. Similar Biblical excerpts could be found to support the approval of slavery and the timid acquiescence to oppressive rulers.
At the same time, I am also familiar with vivid descriptions in the same scriptures in which women are revered as pre-eminent leaders. During the years of the early Christian church women served as deacons, priests, bishops, apostles, teachers and prophets. It wasn't until the fourth century that dominant Christian leaders, all men, twisted and distorted holy scriptures to perpetuate their ascendant positions within the religious hierarchy.
I can't help but agree with Jimmy Carter when he says It is simply self-defeating for any community to discriminate against half its population. We need to challenge these self-serving and out-dated attitudes and practices - as we are seeing in Iran where women are at the forefront of the battle for democracy and freedom.
And like Carter, I can see no point in having a religion that encourages discrimination against women.
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Comments
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Yes, challenging the broad social structure is difficult and too big; we have to approach it in chunks. Women are consistently held responsible for making work and family balance. If there is an issue with child care, it is seen as the woman's problem. Small wonder that women also hold themselves accountable - and feel that they have failed if they don't achieve a successful balance. Their male partners, meanwhile, continue in largely-unchanged work and family roles, with work being the priority. The social and organisational structures we live in were developed on a male breadwinner model, and those structures have not changed to meet the increase in women's paid work involvement. Religion supports those structures, and indeed, it was there at the start. Change has to happen in our structures, starting with government and progressing to organisations, then society, then smaller social structures and so on until it reaches individual family units. Without change at the policy level (both government and organisational policies), change at the individual level is just too hard to sustain in the face of a disapproving, disempowering and misunderstanding social environment.
Posted by Linda Peach, 14/08/2009 6:50pm (1 year ago)
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Thanks for your thoughtful comment Linda - you have hit the nail on the head with your observations about the way traditional gender roles and religion are so intimately linked. I am convinced that the way our society confines 'caring' to a woman's role, which as you rightly state is an expectation in society, not just in religion, is particularly treacherous for women's equality. My dilemma is that I keep finding that Australians emphasise this role segregation far more than I expect - perhaps because it is too hard for most people to challenge anything more than an individual's circumstance, so social structures remain constant.
Posted by Jenni Colwill, 13/08/2009 9:27am (1 year ago)
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Hi Jenni - I am always delighted to see your online work for women, thank you. I am researching women and sexism and religion (and a pile of other related things) at present, and I was very interested to see the hoary old religion goat appear here... I agree that religion is geared towards the subjugation of women, and also that it is pointless to have a religion that discriminates against women. I would also say that we need to understand how religion achieves this aim in order to change it. It seems to me that there is the obvious layer of religious discrimination against women - i.e. the so-called scriptures and rules that tell us the world is 'so' and should remain 'so' or hell and brimstone fire will await you in the murky afterlife - and there are also more subtle layers or lines of influence that are harder to trace. One of these is through the idealisation of traditional relationship structures. It's a long time since I voluntarily attended a church service other than a wedding or a funeral, but I can't recall priests ever standing in the pulpit and saying outright "subjugate women!!" (not in recent decades, anyway). What I do recall, and see being played out around me constantly, is the message that a 'good' or 'holy' relationship involves a male breadwinner and a female housekeeper/child bearer-carer who stay together for life. No doubt I am preaching to the converted (ha ha), but my research keeps leading me back to this issue: that it is the romanticised notions of love, relationships, family life, and of traditional gender roles within relationships that stop women from getting out from under, completely. And it's a very difficult and insidious bit of brainwashing to work against, because it is supported fully throughout society. The promise of eternal happiness through the boundless love that we will each be offered by a single other human being, one who can be willingly bound to us for life by a religious rite, is indeed a very strong motivator for people to follow a religious path, even if they don't identify as being religious. I can't offer any solutions; only awareness that this is very wrong and that while our young people continue to be bombarded with these messages from an early age, I wonder whether we will ever really make progress?
Posted by Linda Peach, 12/08/2009 11:00pm (1 year ago)
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Jenny, I looked at your info again and find it extremely interesting. Keep working for these worthwile causes and make the world a "better place", even if you 'only' get people to think. I shall look at more of your issues which seem "close to your heart". By the way, the comment underneath was mine. However, I obviously did not put my name to it and also had to make a correction. Keep up the good work!
RoswithaPosted by , 25/07/2009 11:06am (1 year ago)
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I fully agree with your statement that "there is no point in having a religion that encourages discrimination against women". If you talk about oppressiveness, female suffering, discrimination and outdated practises, look at parts of Africa where women still have to go through genital mutilation. It makes me sick to even think of this. What kind of a world are we living in ??
Posted by , 18/07/2009 9:46am (7 days ago)Posted by R. McKinlay, 25/07/2009 10:53am (1 year ago)
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