SOCIOLOGY : RELIGION AND WOMEN
Religion can be seen to act as a social control over women to a large extent. The feminist perspective argues religion serves the interests of men and cements patriarchal power. Karen Armstrong points out the ways in which God has been redefined by each era, by men to continually meet their needs. We can see this in relation to two main ideas, the nature of religious imagery. In most religions, women tend to be portrayed in terms of their "traditional" social characteristics. The "Virgin Mary" in Christian religion for example. Although a powerful figure her power, is ideological rather than political - the virtues of purity, chastity, motherhood and so forth are personified through her as ideals for womanhood. Giddens states, "Females appear as important figures in the teachings of some Buddhist orders...but on the whole Buddhism, like Christianity, is an overwhelmingly male-created institution dominated by a patriarchal power structure in which the feminine is most closely associated with the secular, powerless, profane and imperfect." Beauvoir says religion is used to deceive women into thinking they are equal and taught to be passive. They are told they are close to God as they produce a soul of god when they are mothers but this is used to control them and they in turn socialize the children into the religion and the ideology, ultimately not recognising their inequality and it all benefits men. The nature of religious organisation is another issue when stating the extent to which religion is used as a social control over women. While women, feature strongly in both religious participation and to a certain extent, imagery, it is evident that there has been a very noticeable inequality between males and females in terms of positions of power and authority within religious organisations. Although some sects have allowed women to preach and spread the word, the majority of the world's major religions have tended to relegate women to relatively subordinate roles, in terms of their power, authority and influence in their organisation (which further reflects women's experience in the social world).
