How Has Religion in the Form of Discourses in Support of or against the Achievement of Gender Equity - Assignment Example

How has religion, in the form of discourses, institutions, and actors, been used in support of and/or against the achievement of gender equity? 1. Introduction People are born as either female or male. Children learn about their different roles as male and female. Men and women are shaped by the teaching of religion and culture but a person is born male or female. Hence, creation of individuals’ identity using society is known as gender. Inequality arises when men posses all the power and value as perpetuated during childhood. When inequality exists, women are excluded and have little to contribute to the society. The outcome is that they will be dependent on men at all times. According to Stopler (2005), the role played by women in religion has resulted in debate and disagreements in the contemporary times. For a long period of time, women have been classified under major monotheistic faiths unlike men who have always controlled religious hierarchies hence solely making decisions on what to do. The exclusion of women greatly vary based on faith, it is mostly determined by combination of religious and extra-religious factors, which include culture, geography and history. Even though women are being ordained as priests in certain Christian denominations currently, most religions still restrict women from accessing power. Karen Armstrong was a nun and is actively involved in advocating and promoting better positions for women. Apart from being the author of A HISTORY OF GOD, she has also written biography about Buddha and valued volume concerning Islam. According to her, tradition greatest fault arise when women are belittled. She insists that the fault comprises of great wound which has it way into the religion resulting in the damage and defilement of traditions reliability. She further suggests that the worst part in women oppression is where women take their own ratings. Karen Armstrong compares women to the people living in the developing countries who have been colonized and assume defamation done to them by race colonists. 2. Background on Development approach to understanding religion and gender. According to Nye (2008), religion is a belief on the existence of a god who decides the fate of someone. Religion is more than going to church or mosque, engaging in ritual practices, having faith or reading sacred texts. Religion can influence social development positively or negatively. It provides primary force for social progress. This is possible because religion has universal principles such as tolerance, love, sacrifice, trust, honesty, and dedication. The principles lead to unity of purpose and social progress among people sharing same values. However, some religions have been source of social disintegration, hatred, intolerance, gender discrimination poverty and oppression. Therefore, religion should be treated with utmost care. It should be encouraged if it brings cohesion and social progress but discouraged if it disrupts peace because conflicts hampers development and social progress. Gender refers to male or female. Male population is considered favored yet female population continues to struggle with gender intolerance, heavy and less productive work as well as marginalization. Most feminist proponents argue that women are denied opportunities for advancement and are petitioning policy makers to give priority to women issues. They further explain that women are contributing greater percentage to country’s gross domestic product as compared to men in developing countries yet receive little economic power in return. Therefore, women are asking for equity to accelerate social security and rural development and get what they deserve. Consequently, development can be accelerated by considering different levels of needs, constrains, threats, opportunities as well as priorities of both sexes. 3. How religion is used in support of the achievement of gender equality According to Al-Sadawi (1982), Islam religion acknowledges that though there are physical differences among men and women, both are spiritual before God. The Quran clearly states that the issues concerning ones gender have no correlation with the reward or the punishment one will receive in the next life. According to Watt (1988), fundamental rights are strongly assured in the Quran and are not meant for men only. Equality in the Quran is justified using the following verses; individuals who strictly follow righteousness and be full of faith, whether male or female will qualify to enter heaven and they will not face injustice (Quran 4:124). In the Islam religion equality exists between men and women and is valued alike before the eyes of God. Individuals can only be differentiated through righteousness. Moreover general rules which deals with legal and practical expressions are similar for all human beings. According to Sabbah (1984), In the Islam religion acts of worship are similar for all men and women though done separately. Both men and women face similar legal penalties incase of breaching the law. According to Kandiyoti (1991), these rights are embedded in humanity hence denying or even violating them results in negation of what makes people human. According to the Islam religion, these rights came to being to enable human beings to actualize their potential. According to religion, these rights apart from providing human beings with appropriate chance to develop their inner resources, they also give direction of what God intended humans to be. In the Quran, different rights to all humans are emphasized. According to Roy (2004), firstly is the right for everyone to be regarded in a manner that shows complete value of every human life. Every individual has right to respect apart from that of life. These rights are not based on whether one is a man or a woman; instead, it is by virtue of one being a human being. This is illustrated in the Quran whereby it states that, every human being has been honored (Surah 17: Al-Isra: 70). Human beings are considered to be worthy as compared to the rest of creation. This is because unlike the rest of creation, they accepted trust of the liberty of the will. (Surah 33: Al-Ahzab: 72). Another important right according to the Islam religion is the right to have freedom from traditionalism and authoritarianism. In the Quran, great emphasis is on every individual right to seek knowledge. Religion stresses that acquisition of knowledge helps an individual to be able to assess life’s condition and helps to strive towards creation of a just world. In restricting assess of knowledge Muslim women are deprived of justice which is their own right. Considering Muslim women status, equality should be seriously considered. This is because all the human beings have the right to work, to earn from ones labor, and to be in possession of certain properties. It should be clearly understood that this rights are not meant for men alone but for all. According to the Islam religion, God owns everything hence equal rights to all human beings. Moreover, women according to the Quran are deemed as persons who have their own and not associates to men. Having a right to earn a living is essential to women. Both men and women are entitled to the wages of their labors. Another important right of human being s is the ability to increase visual sensibilities and in addition, the right to thrive and be able to enjoy good life instead of just surviving. Self-actualization or development is required which is obtained through social justice. Women’s rights are essential factors of social justice and it help in bringing about a society which is just and enables every individual to be able to actualize their own God given potential. In religion, it is stressed that rights necessitates responsibility, this refers to the individuals not misusing rights in order to warrant destructive behaviour. Another kind of responsibility involved in the rights, is the duty of individuals not disregard them. Rights given to human being by God have to be practiced because God provides guidance on how people should live in this world. Human beings having a covenant relationship with God should always strive to protect the rights given to them by God; hence temporal authorities will not be able to revoke them. According to the Christian religion both men and women are equally created by God. Paul in the book of Galatians3:28 stressed that all human beings are one in Christ hence there is no classification of people as male and female. Therefore, it shows the importance of equality. According to Cullen (2005), in the Christian religion natural biological distinctiveness of both male and female is highly regarded 4. Example of a religious discourse, institution or faith-based organization supporting gender equity An example of faith based organization which supports gender equity is UNFPA. This stands for United Nations Population Fund. Its core practices involve empowering women and promoting gender equality, which include every right of a woman, man and child. 5. How religion is used against the achievement of gender equity. Religious leaders and the followers clearly argue that there should be no existence of prejudiced actions within the religious belief, which involves books that are honored such as the Bible or the Koran. However, religion has commonly been used to validate principles that are focused towards women. According to Jane et al (2003), these principles include issues on dress codes that make them invisible. Women are also required to shave their heads, association inside and outside the home being restricted, and inability to hold authoritative positions both in the church as priests and ministers and even in work places. Moreover, denying them the access to education and the opportunity of working outside home in order to fulfill their potential. According to King (1995), religion can also influence social and economic development negatively. This is because its values are involved in determining and preserving social hierarchy and exclusion. The extent in which women empowerment is limited by religion has been derived from unwillingness of various religions to let women have positions where they will be able to exercise different responsibilities within religious and other social organization. Limitation of empowerment is also viewed from the different ways in which women are defined by religious values concerning the domestic responsibilities. The worst violation occurs especially concerning family and marriage. Woman are denied the opportunity to make informed choices especially when deciding whether to choose a partner or not, have children or not to and be able to decide on the number of children one will have and how to space them. Another crucial decision is whether to divorce one’s husband or not and concerning divorce being able to access rights and privileges similar to those of the husband. An illustration of inequality in the issue of divorce for women in Orthodox Judaism is whereby religious divorce certificate is withheld. The divorcing husband has freedom to make his own decisions unlike his wife who remains joined to him. In order to be released under the Jewish law the husband may require some payment for the release. Female sexuality is controlled by religion with greater harshness unlike men, condemns expression of women, and denies them the opportunity to enjoy their own sexuality. Sexual relationships are also condemned by most religions; respect is only allocated to relationships between husband and wife. Moreover, in some societies women are stoned for committing adultery and even killed for what is referred to as honour crimes. In addition, men do development of doctrine in most religions. According to Phillips (2002), women have little or even no opportunity to determine religious doctrines. Therefore by increasing the impact of religion in the society and processes women rights will be less respected because they have minimal representatives. According to Casanova (1994), most theologians have concluded that women are morally inferior to men and that they are the key source of temptation to men especially sexual temptation. Considering traditions where God is taken to be male. Men at times are viewed to resemble God unlike women. This can be illustrated in 1 Corinthians 11:7 where Paul declares man as having the image and glory of God; he further suggests a woman to be man’s glory. This statement in some cases leads to men being viewed as superior while women are seen to be inferior. According to Young (1993), in most religions women have continually been deprived even though they are considered to be more religious than men. In the US, major denominations do not permit ordination of women or even female to serve in capacities equal to that of men. Among denominations which do not allow ordination of the female are the Roman Catholicism, Southern Baptists and the Mormons. The main reasons of not ordaining the female include, first is biblical literalism. This is whereby bible is not taken as being historical work done at different times; instead it is taken to be Gods literal word. Secondly is sacramentalism. This involves beliefs that an individual conducting sacramental rituals has to be Jesus representative in his manliness. These reasons were defined by Chaves in his own book on female ordination. However he stresses that this is similar to obvious reasons and he further insists that the hidden reason is that religions maintain in order to be able to provide a given market niche, those in resistance of modernity. According to Reuther (2002), generally fundamentalist religions comprising of fundamentalist Islam and Christianity have the main objective to preserve men power and be able to overpower women. Even in religions where women rights importance is recognized, women are still discriminated against . According to Swatos (1994), in the creation myths, women are portrayed to be unequal to men, and in addition they are viewed to be weak, naturally sinful and human beings who cannot help themselves. Women in most cases do not pastor a congregation; instead they become assistants unlike men. Moreover women mostly are allocated congregation in rural areas which are smaller and pay less. According to Jaffary (2007), the Jewish legacy and the Christian religion, women are unequal to men and wives are considered as being equivalent to their husband’s property. One can easily realize the low status given to women in the Islam communities. This is clearly portrayed through polygamy, honor rape, and young girl’s sexuality. In the Islamic law, when a girl attains nine years it is considered to be the consent age. According to Mormons one was allowed to be polygamous but polyandry was illegal. 6. Example of a religious discourse, institution or faith-based organization or actor against gender equity The opposition of gender equity can be illustrated using Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan when they came to power in 1996.they introduced strict limitation on women rights. These involved not being allowed to contribute to communal life, partial education access, limitation on job opportunities, and even access to health care. 7. Conclusion It is a fact from most religious doctrines that both men and women are considered equal in the eyes of “God”. Religions such as Islam and Christianity recognize the fact that all persons need to be treated with respect and equality. However, it is obvious that most female persons are trapped in the chains of segregations, economic marginalization and violence as compared to men. Therefore, there is no gender equality in absolute terms. As a result, socio-economic development is greatly hampered. Religion has massive influence on the progression of communities. If well conceived and proactively practiced, it can help accelerate global development. However, some religions are considered obnoxious because it creates tensions and war among people of religious divides. Therefore, it should be practiced with a lot of caution. Gender also plays major role for advancing society’s progress. However, when female feel unprivileged as compared to men, it cause some tensions and unwarranted gender based competitions that may cause more problems. Opinion leaders and community educators should promote aspirations, needs, wants and opportunities of both male and female to allow for harmonized roles in the society. References Al-Sadawi, N (1982), Women and Islam. Oxford: Pergamon Press, Bayes, J& Tohidi, N (2001), Globalization, gender, and religion: the politics of women's rights in Catholic and Muslim context, Newyork: Palgrave Macmillan. Casanova, J (1994), Public Religions in the Modern World, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Cullen,S (2005), Religion and gender, Australia: Veritas Co. Ltd. Jaffary, N (2007), Gender, race and religion in the colonization of the Americas, USA: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd Ruether, R (2002), Gender, ethnicity, and religion: views from the other side, Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Jane, B, Nayereh, T & Melanie, R (2003), Jewish Feminism in Israel: Some Contemporary Perspectives. London: University Press of New England. Kandiyoti, D (1991), Women, Islam and the State. , Philadelphia: Temple University Press. King, U (1995), Religion and gender, USA: Wiley-Blackwell. Nye, M (2008) Religion: the basics, 2nd edition, Routledge, Oxford. Phillips, A ( 2002), Gender Justice, Development and Rights, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Roy, O (2004), Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah, New York: Columbia University Press. Sabbah, F ( 1984), Women in the Muslim Unconscious, New York: Pergamon Press. Stopler, G (2005), “The liberal bind: The conflict between women’s rights and patriarchal religion in the liberal state.” Social Theory and Practice, Vol.31, No.2. Swatos, W (1994), Gender and religion, Transaction Publishers. UNFPA (2004) Culture Matters: Working with Communities and Faith-based Organisations (Online). Available from: http://www.unfpa.org/upload/lib_pub_file/426_filename_CultureMatters_2004.pd [Accessed 21st May 2010]. Watt, M (1988), Islamic Fundamentalism and Modernity. London: Routledge. Women’s Rights in Catholic and Muslim Context, New York: Palgrave. Young, K (1993), Planning Development with Women: Making a World of Difference, London: Macmillan Press Ltd. Read More