1. Religion and Gender Inequalities Brittney ClergetSociology 235Professor Erica Dixon
2. Grew up in a religious home Active in a local Christian church Looking at my age group to see if there is inequalities felt by the young men in a “gendered religion”. Want to be treated fairly as the men are Can at times feel being treated unequally. Am I the only one? Interest
3. Karen Zittleman “Being a Boy and Being a Girl: The Voices of Middle Schoolers”. Discussed the inequality the female gender felt in middle school. Questions were: What is the best/worst thing about being a boy/girl? Girls and boys thought boys were better off. Background
4. Leonard Swidler’s “Jesus Was a Feminist” Discusses Jesus and gender equality. There should be no inequality Jesus teaches all are equal in the eyes of God, sick or healthy, rich or poor, and man or woman. Background
5. Michael Kimmel’s “The Gendered Society” Religion is a gendered institution. God is referred to as man, and women are suppressed and forced to follow rules. Orthodox Jew women ritual cleanings. Muslim women can be one of many wives, have to wear special head dressings, and even cover entire body. Background
6. My hypothesis was young Christian men and women around the ages 18-30 years old have a strong sense of being male or female. Also, the women do not dislike being female when they are older in the same sense of when they were younger in dealing with sports and other things considered unequal such as biological and personal factors. Hypothesis
7. Test Group Ages 18-30 years old Church attended: Emmanuel Bible Fellowship Religion: Christianity Number of subjects: 10 men and 10 women Survey of 4 questions. What is the best thing about being a man/woman? What is the worst thing about being a man/woman? Methods
8. Women never actually claimed to feel inferior to their Christian male peers. Answers varied with the best and worst things about being a man. Some men stated there was nothing bad about being a man. Few considered women weak, illogical, unable to interpret the Gospel, and biological hindered Results
9. Answers were consistent with the best/worst thing about being a woman. Women noted the ability to communicate and emotionally relate with people. Some men noted that this was the best thing about being a woman. Both men and women noted that the worst was biological issues such as being weak, menstruation, and Results
10. Only two people brought religious views into their answers. Both said having passion/impure thoughts directed towards women in the wrong way was the worst thing about being a man. Women and men stated biological things were the worst for women. Biological and economical things were stated as the best for men. Results
13. Results Data Table 1- What is the worst thing about being a man? Categories are as written male answers first foll0wed by female answers separated by a slash mark. What is the worst thing about being a man?
14. Results What is the worst thing about being a woman? Categories are as written male answers first followed by female answers separated by a slash mark. What is the worst thing about being a woman?
15. Hypothesis is refuted. Not enough evidence to clearly prove that women feel unequal religiously. Men believe women are unequal due to the lack of strength and biological issues, not necessarily spiritual issues. Questions should have been geared towards a more religious view/feel. Conclusion
16. Study group would have been better if it covered two or three additional religions. Comparing and contrasting might have shown a greater inequality of the genders with the right questions. Study group was too small. Unfortunate that women feel weaker and untreated fairly economically. Conclusion
17. It was interesting seeing that men and women both agreed that the best thing about being a women was their beauty. Does this mean the genders really are unequal? Seeing if religion is really gendered and creating inequality is important. It could show how to make men and women feel equal in society. Give reasons of why men and women shouldn’t hide emotions, feelings, or actions based on being gendered. Conclusion
18. Kimmel, Michael. 2008. The Gendered Society, Third Edition. New York, New York. Oxford. Swidler, Leonard. 1971. “Jesus Was A Feminist”. Catholic World.http://www.godswordtowomen.org/feminist.htm Zittleman, Karen. 2006. “Being a Boy and Being a Girl: The Voices of Middleschoolers”. Annual American Research Assocation Conference. San Francisco, California. http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED491670.pdf References
