Religion and Gender
I was recently having a conversation with some friends and the subject of religion and gender came up. It is a common conception that the practice of religion is generally stronger among women rather than men.
I have to admit that, in my experience, it has been the complete opposite. When I was back in England the prayer group and young adult group that I attended was predominantly male. The Bible study group I led here in the States was also predominantly male.
I’m interested to hear your own experiences. Have you noticed a particular gender dominance at your parish and parish groups? Do you have any explanation for this?
Religion is a form of culture. Culture is transmitted by women. Therefore it is easier to see women in the role of holder of culture and or religion.
On a personal note religion is a lot like food and wine. Most cooking and or wine purchasing is done by women. However most tv chefs and wine critics are men. Why because at the extreme edges of a taste or culture group, you will always find men. I hesitate to say leading, but certainly being more visible.
Hey Josh, so you’d say you have experienced a correlation in favour of women?
I’d say it’s probably quite simple, for the two main reasons:
1. Women do tend to be more faithful than men by nature
and
2. The feminisation of the faith.
Women nurture by nature, also their faith. Men fight and defend. The men being more logically minded can be put off by weak, non-offensive, all inclusive rhetorical, warm and fuzzy sermons, insincere practice of the faith and unorthodoxy, whereas women might not always have the capacity of noticing such things particularly if it also includes emotion.
Or to put it differently again, women tend to want to find the good and nurture it. Men want to find the bad and fight it. Both are needed. When the faith is feminized (that is, the total rejection of the masculine) all that is left is a church that leaves heresy unchecked, welcomes sinners (along with their sin) and allows emotion to reign.
Unfortunately, that seems to be almost all that is left in my neck of the woods. Plenty of fighting to do, though!
I’ve noticed that in young adult groups that most tend to be female unless there is a male in a leadership role -then that can change the ratio to either 50/50 or a higher percentage of men. Thanks for stepping up!
> unless there is a male in a leadership role -then that can change the ratio
Ah….that’s a good point. It also makes sense of a lot of my own experience since I have typically been involved in the leadership of most of the groups of which I have been a part.
I think it’s hard to tell in DC because it’s already a very woman-saturated city. Something like 6 to 1 women to men last I heard (and I don’t know how reliable that number is). But, at my parish there are many more women than men who help out in visible ways. The main organizers and volunteers are usually women, and often there are more women than men at events, although that varies a lot.
> think it’s hard to tell in DC because it’s already a very woman-saturated city. Something like 6 to 1 women to men…
Sheesh, why did I leave again?! 😉
Because it’s still DC ;)… But carrie and I keep telling you to come back and you never do! Silly David…
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