“Pyramids
of Inequality” by Hays talks about many different inequalities people suffer,
but I decided to focus more on gender inequality in women within religion. In the most fascinating article that I found,
called “Does a Masculine Image of God Matter?”, Whitehead speaks about how
women are still viewed as inferior in many religions; the more conservative
your religion is, the more traditionalist your gender ideology is. An example of this is Evangelical
Protestants. They believe that “if God
is male and men are a direct representation of God, women who defy men’s
authority are also defying God and the gendered order of reality.” Since religion is the most influential group
in society with the United States and some people try to secularize themselves,
it is still a prominent part of society.
It influences us in everyday situations that we never really
realize. Therefore, when we attribute
words such as “Almighty” and “greatness” to God in addition to “he”, we
transfer those adjectives to men and start viewing them as such.
In the second article by Whitehead
titled, “Gender, Homosexuality, and Inequality within Religious Congregations”,
he argues that we don’t see many women in clergy and when we do see them, they
are limited in the roles they can partake, advance slower than men, and are
paid less. They aren’t able to advance
as much as their male counterparts. Even
though homosexuality, a big topic within the article, is a big negative
controversial idea in many religions, those who willing to accept the addition
of women into the clergy are more likely to accept homosexuals. Also, those who tend to take the respective scripture more seriously and literally, such as the quote stated at the beginning, tend to have more traditional gender ideas.
In lieu with the previous article,
this next article expressed more gender differences between male and female
within the Jewish faith. This article
states a fun fact within Judaism that on a man’s birthday, he says a prayer
thanking Go d for making him man not woman.
Another article talked about the
Mormon faith and their relation to having a traditional gender ideology. If you considered yourself Mormon and were
active participants within the church, then they were more likely to think that
women should be in the homes. On the
other hand, they believed that man should go out and work to provide
financially for their families. Even
though both genders are in agreement that a women’s place should be cooking and
cleaning while taking care of the children, women are more liberal in their
beliefs that it is possible to have a job and help out financially as
well.
Another
interesting article that I found talked about an interesting perspective that
many wouldn’t really consider to be legitimate.
In the article “Men in Church Institutions and
Religious Organisations the Role of Christian Men in Transforming Gender
Relations and Ensuring Gender Equality”, the author states that it is more of a
man’s responsibility in trying to reverse the gender roles that are found in religion. A man who is familiar with the existing
gender ideologies within religion just steps aside and lets it occur, then he
is an accomplice by not doing anything to change it. Since men are seen as the gender with “more
power”, if they are the ones that are fighting for equality instead of women,
who are at this point expected to, then the fight for it will be more balanced
and heard. This would be a good idea, if people actually complied with it.
