Beliefs in Society (4)

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIFFERENT SOCIAL GROUPS AND RELIGIOSITY 

Gender 

• Women were first ordained in 1995.  
  
• Male full time clergy has fallen by 24% in the last 10 years and has risen by 41% for women. 
• In 2018 54% of those ordained were women. 
• In 2010 more women were ordained than men. 
• Why are women seen as more religious than men?:
  • Davie: women feel closer to God because they are involved in the creation of life through pregnancy. However she does say that there is no biological evidence for this, and links to religion and womens natural roles are more likely to be a product of gender socialisation in a patriarchal society. 
  • Bruce et al: many women act as carers to the sick or elderly. Therefore they may have a larger role in thinking about death and the afterlife than men. 
  • The overrepresentation of women may be due to age rather than gender- with many Church go-ers being elderly women who enjoy a longer life expectancy than men. 
  • Parsons (functionalist) sugests that women are more likely to suffer from double-alianation as they lack an occupational identity, and feel dissatisfied with their life within the home. This draws them to God. 
  • Miller and Hoffman: women work less than men- therefore they have more time for Church related activities and seek religion as a source of identity. 
  • Sherkat (risk theory) argues that men are more willing to take the risk that God does not exist and and the afterlife does not exist. (Miller and Hoffman found that both men and women who are risk adverse have high levels of religious belief and practise. 
  • Aune (postmodernist) decline in female church attendance could be due to women having fewer children- therefore the older female generation is not being replaced by equal number of females. Since the rise of feminism, women may dislike the Church for the patriarchal traditions which are central to it. Women are also more present in the workplace and have less time for Church. 
• Women and alternative religions:
  • Women tend to participate more in sects (Bruce estimates 2:1 women:men). 
  • Cults encourage personal improvement which appeals to women. 
  • Thompson: women are more likely to suffer from poverty, and sects offer salvation and enlightenment. 
  • Glock and Starck:women may lack power and status, so look for this in a sect. 
  • Woodhead and Heelas found that more women were converting to fundamentalist religions- such…