Gender differences in religiosity

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  • Gender Differences in Religiosity
    • Miller & Hoffman argue there are 3 main reasons for women's higher levels of religiosity
      • Risk
        • Not being religious = risking being condemned to hell
        • Men = less-risk averse so take risk of not being religious
      • Socialisation
        • Women socialised to be more passive, obedient & caring
          • Qualities valued by religion
      • Gender roles
        • Women more likely to work part-time
        • More scope for organising their time to participate in religious activities
    • Bruce - Paid Work
      • Women's religiosity is result of their lower levels in paid work
      • Over past 2 centuries, religion has become confined to private sphere of family & personal life
        • The sphere women are more concerned with
      • As religion has become privatised, men's religiosity has declined more quickly
      • However, by 1960s many women had also taken on secular, masculinised roles in paid work
        • Brown (2009) calls this 'the decline of female piety' - women too were withdrawing from religion
    • Religion remains more attractive to men then women for 2 reasons
      • Strong affinity with women values, such as caring for others
      • Churches have gradually become feminised that emphasise women's concerns
    • Women & the New Age
      • Women are associated with nature (childbirth) & healing so may be more attracted to new age movements
      • Women may be attracted to new age because it emphasises importance of being authentic
      • The Individual Sphere
        • Women in paid work may experience role conflict
        • Woodhead (2001) suggest new age beliefs are attractive because they appeal to a third sphere - the individual sphere
        • This sphere is concerned with individual autonomy & personal growth
        • NA beliefs bypass role conflict by creating new source of identity for women based on their 'inner self''

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