2. Table Of Contents
1. Title Page
2. Table of Contents
3. What is Religion?
4. What is a Social Institution?
7. Religion as a Social Institution
10. Interlocking Institutions.
13. It‟s Not About Sex Differences
14. Religion Constructs & Constrains Gender
17. Rereading the History of Women in Religion
18. Religion Constructs Masculinity
20. Religion as Liberation & Empowerment
3. What Is Religion?
Religion is an organized set of beliefs, practices, and rituals,
based on faith (the belief in a higher, infallible power), that is
agreed upon by many people.
4. What is a Social Institution?
A social institution is an organizational system which functions to
satisfy basic social needs by providing an ordered framework linking
the individual to the larger culture.
Important social institutions in society include:
-Family
-Education
-Work
-Media
-Religion
5. Functions of Religion
1. Provides solutions for unexplained, natural phenomena.
2. Supplies a means for controlling the natural world.
3. Supports the normative structure of society.
4. Furnishes a psychological diversion from unwanted life
situations.
5. Sustains the existing class structure.
6. Serves as an instrument of socialization.
7. Promotes and retards social change.
8. Reduces and encourages conflicts in and among groups.
6. “Religion, like all social institutions, constructs gender/sex, is constructed
by gendered/sexed people, and is a location of both subordination and
empowerment. This complexity highlights the need to understand the
relationship between spiritual equality and social equality.”
7. Religion as a Social Institution
Religions function as institutions. People who
belong to a particular religion share common
practices, beliefs, and rituals.
► Religions are social
because they are
established by different
groups of people who
work together to create
and maintain that religion.
8. Religious institutions participate in the
construction of sex, gender, and sexuality.
Religious institutions are gendered/sexed,
because they assign gender roles according to a
person‟s sex.
“Religion is so intertwined with gender and other
axes of oppression „that it is no longer possible
for philosophers of religion to presume that
religion exists as some common universal
underlying all particular religions; only particular,
culturally variable religions exist, and even the
very concept of religion itself needs to be
recognized as a modern and Western concept.”
9. Homosexuality
Religions structure certain understanding of sex and gender, but
struggle with the understanding of sexuality and what is or isn‟t
acceptable. Many people reject the idea of homosexuality based on
their religious beliefs. Others try to reconcile their faith and sexuality.
10. Interlocking Institutions
Christianity has been institutionalized as the dominant religion in the United
States. There are different elements of religion that many Americans share.
This plays a key role in the development of U.S. institutions.
11. Polygamy
One instance in which religion, gender/sex,
and civic identity can be seen as
interwoven is in the rejection of Polygamy in
the United States. In the mid 1800‟s, novels
were published describing the Mormons
who practice polygamy as not fully white,
Christian, or civilized. The criticisms of
religious practice expose how society views
religion and how society understands race,
sex, and citizenship.
12. Women‟s Suffrage
Religion can be seen as intersecting
with citizenship in the fight for
women suffrage. Women both
supported and opposed women‟s
voting rights, using arguments about
gender, sexuality, religion,
nationality, and citizenship. The
debate was about more than where
or not women deserved a vote. It
also raised other civil issues on
religion, citizenship, culture,
immigrant status, and gender.
13. It’s Not About Sex Differences
People tend to link religious activity to sex rather
than gender identity by assuming that women and
men experience religion differently. A person‟s
gender orientation is the variable that most often
determines their level of religiousness.
Women who identify with the masculine gender
orientations tend to be less religious. Men who
identify with the feminine gender orientations tend
to be more religious.
14. Religion Constructs & Constrains Gender
“Every religion constructs gender in one way or another. Religions speak to
the relationships between men and women, and to how to be a good man and
a good woman, and rarely are the ways to goodness the same, even though
most major religions speak to spiritual equality. The major religions of the
world (Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism) all
have outlined a particular role for women.”
15. The Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic
Church on the Collaboration of Men and
Women in the Church and in the World
In 2004, the Roman Catholic
Church released a letter
written by Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger (who later became
Pope Benedict XVI) that was
offered as a definitive
statement of men‟s and
women‟s roles in the Church
and in the world.
16. Constructs & Constrains of the Letter
Constructs:
-The letter calls for recognition that the work institution needs to
change in order to fit the demands that working mothers face.
Constrains:
-The letter shows a binary understanding of sex.
-The text of the letter suggests that feminism should be opposed.
-The letter combines sex and gender, claiming that only women can
identify with feminine gender orientations and only men can identify with
masculine gender orientations.
-The letter restricts women to only having two roles: a mother or a virgin.
17. Rereading the History of Women in Religion
In most religions, men hold institutionalized power and
therefore are the ones with the authority to interpret
religious texts. However, women have been seeking to
illuminate the central role that women have played in
religious history.
For example, in the Bible, most male interpretations
minimized the role of women, focusing on their limited
roles as wives, slaves, or mothers. However, this is not
a good representation of what the Bible says. For
instance, the word “anthropos” that occurs in the Bible
is most often translated as “man” but can be more
accurately translated as “humanity.” The Bible itself
does not contain sexist text, but the sexism found in
today‟s society leads to a sexist interpretation.
18. Religion Constructs Masculinity
“Religion influences how one performs and understands sex, race, gender,
and sexuality. Religion circumscribes roles for women, sanctions particular
sexualities and sexual practices, and is intertwined with understandings of
race.”
Masculinity and religion are intertwined.
19. Muscular Christianity
During the Victorian era, women were suppose to live up to
the standard of the “angel of the house” which was based off
of the ultimate angel, the Virgin Mary. Religion was a central
component of a women‟s identity. Men were viewed as the
strength in society. Muscular Christianity was defined as a
Christian commitment to health and manliness. People
believed that there was an association between physical
strength, religious certainty, and the ability to control the
world.
These views slowly died off after World War I, but in
contemporary society, there has been a resurgence of these
ideas.
20. Religion as Liberation & Empowerment
While religion and scripture have been used to outline strict
religious roles and to justify social inequality, they have also
played a significant role in liberation.
21. The Civil Rights Movement
Many influential women spoke
out against slavery during the
Civil Rights movement. Maria
Miller Stewart was the first
African American women to
speak to a mixed-sex
audience. She argued that
she had been called by God to
speak against slavery. She
preached about her faith in
God and believed she was
doing God‟s work as an
abolitionist.
22. The Power of Veils
Veils are often viewed as a sign of oppression for
women, but they are truly a sing of complex
cultural practices and sometimes even a form of
empowerment.
In Arabic, there are many different types of terms
for the English word “veil.” While Americans think
of all veils as something women are forced to
wear by men to conceal themselves, that is not
always the case. For example, a women from
Indonesia may choose to wear the hijab– a scarf
that covers the hair and neck, but leaves the face
revealed– because it is part of her cultural
identity.
