Walker (1990) argues that women are more religious than men because, as a social group, attend church more frequently than men do. Puttick states that women have always been the ‘biggest consumers’ of religion but on the whole have been served badly and have been oppressed by the religions themselves. 66% of regular churchgoers are female. Miller and Hoffmann identify two main explanations. Primarily females are socialized to be more passive, obedient and nurturing than males which are traits compatible with religiosity. In addition, females have a lower participation in paid work and have more time for church activities. Women also have higher rates for child rearing which is thought to improve family well being. Walby and others claim that patriarchy has a very long history and that religion plays a part in the maintenance of patriarchy. Marxists would also state that religion is a way for women to compensate for their subordinence in society and their lower social status affects their access to power. Women are stereotypically prevented from penetrating the ‘glass ceiling’ to high -powered jobs and this is also evident in religion. Weber will argue that women are more religious than men simply because, in a patriarchal society, they are less powerful than men. He claims that this is why women were son prominent in many religious sects such as the Seventh Day Adventist Church (Ellen White) and Christian Science (Mary Baker Eddy who was inducted into the US National Women’s Hall of Fame).
Women are more likely to join sects than men and Bruce (1995) suggests at a ratio of 2:1. This maybe because women are more likely to experience to deprivation than men and this group is known to be more likely to join sects. This deprivation maybe social (women in poorly paid professions who lack prestige and power due to patriarchy) or ethical (where women see the world to be in a state of moral decline). Thompson (1996) notes that ‘sect members have the promise of salvation and the knowledge that they are enlightened’ and women are more likely to see a need within themselves for self improvement as women, in my opinion, are less egotistical than men. Cults often offer a more privatised version of religious activity and are therefore favoured more by females who submit to a more traditional gender role. However in some cults such as Rastafarianism, women are encouraged to have a much more traditional role in the home.
New Age Movements (NAM’s) celebrate the female form that is supposed to be closer to nature than men. For example, women are capable of supporting new life (childbearing) and this allows them a much higher status than men in such organisations. I think that this one reason that might explain a greater female involvement in NAM’s; that women are freed from patriarchal views and are able to explore their own femininity without the constraints of men. This maybe because NAM’s emphasise ‘natural’ such as homeopathic remedies, aromatherapy and massage.
The New Age appeals predominantly to middle class women. This could be because they have the time and money to invest in such ventures that working class women simply don’t have. NAM’s are also more likely to concern themselves more with issues of psychological under privilege rather than material under privilege. This could be of more of a concern to middle class women than working class women but patriarchy maybe more important to women who feel resentful that they can not progress in an ‘old boys network’ society where men work for and with men.
Holm and Bowker comment that traditional ideas about women’s gender roles are common across all fundamentalisms. Such fundamentalisms develop as a result of social change and attempts to remove the ambiguities associated with modernity; in genders case, to assert definite gender divisions. The notion wants to return to the ‘golden age’ of the past which is arguably not that golden. An example is that women are now able to abort unwanted foetuses but many fundamentalists have used extreme tactics to prevent such abortions by closing down clinics. When abortion was illegal women with illegitimate children were sent away to have the children which were taken from the mothers immediately after birth causing excessive heartache to families, the mother and the child. There were also countless women who would have been internally damaged from having illegal abortions. This was undoubtedly, not a golden age to me! Traditional gender roles are regarded as necessary to this ‘golden age’ which will give people the stability that they feel that they have been lost with postmodernity. Women in the home centre around child rearing and the home to ensure the socialization of children. This could, from a functionalist perspective, lead to a greater social solidarity, however in the eyes of feminists mean that women become powerless free to be abused by husbands and kinsman. However, there has been evidence that women converting to orthodox Jewdaism in the USA are actually attracted to the status in the home that their new found faith gives them. This means that not all women feel that men are wrong in wanting a subservient female.
In conclusion, it can be fair to comment that women faith plays a different role in different women’s lives according to their faith and upbringing. For example, fundamentalist Muslim women will have a different take on religion than a woman that belongs to a modernised, secular society. However, I think that religion is dominated by a patriarchal rationale. This means that men use religion as a social force to maintain and justify their social dominance. This male centred approach to religion is rooted throughout the majority of world religions, as noted by Holm and Bawker. However, it must be noted that religion should not be viewed with an ethno centric approach. Watson works on the veiling of Muslim women found that they did not find such attire oppressive but more liberating that men wouldn’t judge them on there looks but on their personalities. Watson commented that sociological findings should not be viewed simplistically if studying a religion that is not their own. In a postmodern society, women are finding different places for religion within their lives. Some find it reassuring, some as an expression of male control and others as an activity to fill spare time but in modern day society it should be, according to interactionalist theory, up to the individual how they expressed their religious observances.
