Gender & Religiosity

Measuring Religiosity… The term ‘Religion’ is used in this instance to refer to being an active member of a religious community and being a self confessed religious person. Religiosity is determined by religious behaviour and the factors take into account are 1.How often one attends at the place of worship 2. How regularly one studies religious texts 3. How regularly one prays.

The Flaws… There are problems with the indicators of religiosity with regards to whether they fully cover the quality of being religious. People attend places of worship without belief or without considering themselves religious. They may accompany a believer; be obliged as it is socially desirable behaviour; or perhaps go to interact with others.

Gender… In numerous studies, women have been shown to be more interested in religion than men and according to Fowler’s Theory of Faith Development, the majority of women aged 21 and 30 years are at a higher stage than Many consider women to be universally and therefore naturally more prone to religious behaviour and belief then men (Walter and Davie 1998 support this.) Those that believe must evidence it with biological reasoning. This view, however, is disputed and it is important to remember that the biological reasons are often debateable and the religiosity of people varies between different religions due to gender roles and a matriarchal or patriarchal leaning.

Vulnerability… Many sociobiologists claim the reason for religion’s manifestation in every human culture is that humans seek patterns to comprehend their world. This means they can exercise foresight and therefore feel deep anxieties. Religion has been deemed by many as a useful remedy for anxiety. Those who are religiously active have been shown to have lower levels of anxiety and lower mortality rates. Some make a connection between the benefit religion has in order to explain the different genders’ readiness to accept religious ideas. (This may not be a popular one....

Vulnerability, Sex and Religiosity… Many scholars have stated that women are affected more frequently by depressive disorders than men which could explain the therapeutic nature of religion for women. Some have taken this further, expressing the opinion that women experience this anxiety because they are both physically and socially more vulnerable than men. Childbirth (until recently) always carried with it a real chance of death and menstruation has been labelled a weakening burden. According to this, women in the ancestral environment were therefore more vulnerable then the men, hence there need for the comfort of religion. Walter and Davie say “whether or not religion is or has been response to socially-induced vulnerability- it is and always has been a response to the physical vulnerability of the body that is the human condition.” They extend this to say that women are therefore more religious as their bodies are more vulnerable. It is for this reason people say that women’s greater religiosity is due to biology and sex, not culture because this idea would fit a universally if one agreed. The vulnerability argument could be said to be supported by religion in the lifecycle. Conventionally people are most religious at the beginning and end of their life (when they are most vulnerable.)

+ Traits and Dispositions and Religiosity… Some have considered a natural, psychological difference between men and women that may explain the female advantage in religiosity to be traits. One theory is that religion is a ‘tender minded attitude’ (Matby 1995) and passiveness and obedience (Miller &Hoffman 1995) are traits associated with religion and frequently associated with women. Perhaps, therefore, a feminine personality is more prone to religion.

Work, Gender and Religiosity… One theory about women’s predisposition to religiosity is that women have, in the past, comprised a smaller proportion of the workforce, thus had more time to devote to religion and men received an alternative source of values. This reasoning has been criticised due to its narrowed view on the world’s societies. Furthermore, in the western world women are increasingly attaining formerly male dominated roles and having less children but are still often found to be more religious than men.

Socialization… There is an assumption among sociologists that socialization is key to women’s susceptibility to religion. According to this, men are instilled with secular ideals of aggression and accomplishment, and women with morality, conflict resolution and nurturance- more compatible with religion. This has also been criticised as inadequate to explain the universality of women’s greater religiosity because it will not cover all cultures. However, the idea of socialization contributing to religiosity of either gender can be considered plausible- it suggests that there is no major psychological of physiological difference leading to the genders’ different religiosity.

Universality Questioned… Although recent research on religiosity has tended to claim higher female religiousness as an undisputed, universal finding but it can be argued that that the reasons for this is generally down to socio- cultural environment and not a genuine difference in male and female religious attitudes. It has been suggested that the difference between men and women and there religious behaviour have been overstated and exaggerated. Campiche (1996:94) said that men and women from similar social backgrounds tend to have similar attitudes and behaviour. Loewenthal(2000) suggested that superior religiosity in either gender varied depending on the religion. Hindu and Christian women are often have higher religiosity than men, but in Judaism and Islam studies seem to indicate the reverse.

Muslims & Jews… To show that women are not universally higher in religiosity, only a few examples of discrepancies are required. Muslims and Jews are often used to demonstrate how higher female religiosity is not universal. World wide, it is suggested that Jewish men attend the synagogue more frequently than women and have higher rates of belief I life after death but otherwise there is no difference between the genders’ religiosity. The attendance at worship is also bound to differ as the female role in Judaism is different and women are not obliged to go. Muslim men similarly have higher mosque membership, although this is often explained by restriction to female participation, particularly for those menstruating.

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