Gender differences in religiosity
- Created by: rebeccamellors
- Created on: 08-03-17 14:25
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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
- Women socialised to be more passive, obedient & caring
- Gender roles
- Women more likely to work part-time
- More scope for organising their time to participate in religious activities
- Risk
- 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''
- Miller & Hoffman argue there are 3 main reasons for women's higher levels of religiosity
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