Women and Religious Traditions

This document explores women's relationship with organized religions, the role of patriarchy, evaluating difficult verses in holy books, strategies for inclusivity, and noteworthy points.

Running head: WOMEN AND RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
Women and Religious Traditions
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1WOMEN AND RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
1. Women’s relationship with organized religions:
 Diversity (spectrum), as described by all the experts in the video, is a spectrum
on which one side is where religions are seeing to actively involve women in
their religious practices and the other end of the spectrum is where women are
being oppressed in religious practices just because they are not male figures.
2. Patriarchy:
 Definition: Patriarchy is entirely a social order or a page of instructions that
places more value on men, and are granted more authority than females.
 Role of Patriarchy in Religion: Patriarchy is usually considered the natural
order of things, in a way that it is said that this is what God had wanted for
humans. There are many women who follow the faith but the institution of
patriarchy calls for a degeneration of the role of women. Patriarchy has also
caused a hierarchy within the women where some women who are associated
with men from higher roles receive better treatment then the ones who are not.
3. Evaluating difficult verses and texts in holy books:
 When evaluating difficult texts from holy books and scriptures, it is important
to view the unclear passages through the lens of the clear passages. This is to
say that if a scripture is difficult or is seemingly oppressive to women, it is
important to keep in mind the scriptures that say the total opposite.
 Elizabeth Wordsworth was running a college in Oxford but she also agreed
with the fact that women should not vote. This is an example of a woman
following religious texts and not understanding her position in it.
 Eve was expressed as an evil temptress but in recent times, she has been
expressed in different ways. It is important to rewrite concepts of history in the
context of recent times.

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4. Strategies for women to be more inclusive in religions:
 Women in the Islam religion have protested against the small nook of space
they are provided with in mosques that is in an “appropriate” place away from
the male gaze, so these women assemble support with great numbers, and also
assemble support from men to push for a better and a more dignified space for
prayer and congregation in mosques. More of this can be seen in the Western
world.
 Women within religions are encouraged to build connections with people who
are marginalized and find space for themselves during inter-religious dialogue,
and also by getting a seat at the (masculine) table to incorporate a female input
into the discussions.
5. Noteworthy points:
 It was interesting when Safiah had said that her wearing the hijab has become
more of a political statement, than a spiritual one which she wants to keep it
as. She often finds herself justifying her wearing of the hijab in terms of not
being oppressed by men, instead of the spiritual desire she has to veil.
 As Doris had mentioned that there was an upcoming trend of women wearing
the turbans but that it was only prevalent in women from western colleges to
defeat patriarchy, but that the same was not reflected in the counterparts living
in Punjab where that practice is not performed.
 Safiah makes note of the fact that the numbers shows by the anchor can be
misleading because the statistics showing women going to mosque will not
truly reflect the woman not praying. This is because she says that women do
not put that much importance in going to mosque to pray than what men to, so

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she says that numbers can be helpful but it is more important to put them into
context.