Gender differences in religious practice and significance

Abstract

This paper discusses the slowly-progressing influence of gender studies on the sociology of religion, and discusses key publications in the Anglophone tradition. It shows that the introduction of a gendered perspective has far-reaching consequences. These include rethinking the concept of ’religion’ and what counts as ’real religion’ (not just those forms in which men are most visible and powerful), adjusting methods, and reconsidering dominant theories like those of secularization. Moreover, the religious history of modern western societies can be re-read in terms of changing gender relations, and their linkages with religion. The paper proposes a new framework for thinking about religion and gender, which highlights the way in which power relations established in each confirm or contest one another.