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INTRODUCTION
Most religious traditions have subjugated womankind (Hawthorne, 2011; Armstrong 1986). All
in accordance with holy texts, religious laws and guidelines, the different religion have place
restrictions and taboos on womankind, which ranged from the openly oppressive and inhumane,
to subtle limitations. Women have been barred from leadership, land ownership, prevented from
religious learning and even secular education, forbidden to hold power, denied fair inheritance
and land ownership, denigrated, physically dominated, and sometimes even forbidden to speak
(Ruthven, 2007). No religion is exempted from these religious restrictions and taboos, the
monotheist religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have been worse; but
also Hinduism and Buddhism have played roles in the long-term subjugation of women. In Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s “The woman’s Bible” (1898) she complains that “all the religions on the face of the earth degrade her and so long as woman accepts the position that they assign her” her emancipation is impossible (Stanton, 1898). Feminist groups are being seen as anti-religion, simply because it is religion that has presented itself as the most consistent oppressor of womankind. The problems from traditional religions are not historical: even today, religious organizations and powerful religious lobbies hold back gender equity across the world (National Secular Society, 2015). Religious texts, symbols, doctrines and moral teachings of various religious traditions made references to children. Religious teachings and practices regarding children are shaped partially by the form and content of the religion. Although all of these religions articulate norms and moral codes about children and childhood, they have distinctive ways of expressing them. For example, Judaism specifically represents itself as a religion based on law with identifiable legal teachings about children, education, and the duties of mothers and fathers. However, even though this law is seen as revealed by God, Judaism has not perceived it as static and unchanging. The
Throughout the novel “The House of the Spirits” by Isabel Allende the reader sees many instances that exemplify the antagonistic nature of man verses woman. Through Esteban Trueba’s raping of many of the women at Tres Marias, his marriage with Clara, his relationship with his daughter Blanca and her with her lover Pedro Tercero Garcia and with Alba Trueba’s relationship with her lover Miguel and her Grandfather Esteban, much of what Allende wants the reader to know about the nature of man verses woman is exposed. Nature pits man against woman, in marriage, love, sex, work, and war. Women can choose their battles and fight them subtly, without really seeming to, because all women know that the men like to think they are in charge when they really aren’t, and that men will fight every battle just to prove that they are men. Triumph over a weaker opponent does not make men stronger. It only makes them feel powerful. Allende writes about women who are able to quietly persevere, always managing to get their own way, without seeming too, because they know the only way to keep men happy is to let them feel powerful and in charge.
Womanist biblical hermeneutics centers Black women’s experience and identity, social location, historical memory, a hermeneutics of suspicion, and a hermeneutics of affirmation. In addition, womanist biblical hermeneutics are radical and subversive forms of biblical interpretation that provide multi-dimensional systemic analysis and critique, acknowledge and affirm a multiplicity of voices and identities. Womanist biblical hermeneutics provide a means for Black women to critique unjust forms of oppression, discourse, and practices, especially in relation to the use of scripture in order to facilitate social transformation. This bibliographic essay will map the various conceptual frameworks and methods of religious scholars engaging in womanist’s
Ancient Greek mythology has made its way into public conscience and knowledge. So much so that any person on the street would be able to name at least one deity from their pantheon. From this public knowledge, much is known about the religions including its stories and mythologies. But less is known about a person’s role in Ancient Greek religion and even less about a woman roles in their religion. What roles the Ancient Greek people did play can be gathered from the Greek stories and myths. But more specifically what roles did Ancient Greek women play in their religion. The Ancient Greek myths and stories tell of priestess and women who remained virgins as a way of worshipping their gods. But more questions come from these, why did these women become priestess and what rituals did they perform? Both the reasons behind these motives and the process one goes through to become a priestess must be explored to better a woman’s role in Ancient Greek religion.
Henrik Ibsen once said, “A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view.”(Notable Quotes) Ibsen’s statement exemplifies what life was like for women during ancient times. In many of the organized ancient civilizations, it was very common to find a primarily patriarchal civilization in government as well as in society. The causing factors can be attributed to different reasons, the main being the Neolithic Revolution and the new found dependence on manpower it caused. As a result of this, a woman found herself to be placed into an entirely different view in the eye of society. In comparison to the early Paleolithic matriarchal societies, the kinds of changes that came about for women due to the introduction of agriculture are shocking. Since the beginnings of the Neolithic era, the role and rights of women in many ancient civilizations began to become limited and discriminatory as a result of their gender.
The position of women in Classical Athens has often been described as subordinate in comparison to men. Women were categorized in very particular ways: Athenian women were wives, while those who migrated to Athens from other city-states were slaves or prostitutes. Countless literature, from tragedy to comedy and political texts, reinforces the notion that citizen women were meant to serve their husbands within the confines of the oikos and produce legitimate sons in order to further the glory of men while non-Athenian women served their purpose towards men through sexual pleasure. While there may be partial truth to these views, Athenian women played a crucial role in the religious sphere. Religion was directly linked to civic identity and was a fundamental and sacred element of not only a city-state, but to Greece as a whole during the Classical period. Surviving documentation has demonstrated that Athenian women played a vital part to specific religious traditions, such as the participation in the festivals of Thesmophoria and Adonia. Furthermore, there exists evidence that proves women could also acquire the position of priestess for particular cults, a position that increased their reputation and status in a culture that considered them inferior. These marginalized women used religion as a way to carve out a sacred and protect space for themselves, using it to create a sense of freedom in their lives and to bridge the gap in equality between them and the dominant men.
states that men are to work and make money for the family. A woman's goal was to
...ction of Classic Texts." Special Issue: Feminist Philosophy of Religion. Hypatia. 9/22/94. Retrieved from Electronic Library April 16 2001. http://www.elibrary.com
Corinthians 14:34 states, “Let the women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but let them be in subjection, as also saith the law” (Holy Bible, King James Edition). Edith Hamilton, "recognized as the greatest woman Classicist", says that the Bible is the only book before our century that looked to women as human beings, no better nor worse than men (Tanner). However, it cannot be said that this book was consistently favorable to women. Maybe not absolutely, but conditionally in personal opinion, the Bible shows numerous examples of a woman’s inferiority to men, an assessment that has been translated into the cultures of generations. In this essay I will address briefly instances in the bible pertaining to women, and continue on with thoughts on how I believe these notions have been interpreted into society.
There has been an inconsistency between scripture and the role of women in society for hundreds of years now. As Elizabeth Cady Stanton once said, ”If the Bible teaches the equality of women, why does the church refuse to ordain women to preach the gospel, to fill the offices of deacons and elders, and to administer the Sacraments...?” And today many Muslim women view wearing a hijab as a sign of feminism in an otherwise sexually obsessed Western Culture. So how does religion affect women? How is it used to suppress? How is it used to liberate?
In the Paleolithic era, men and women equally contributed towards survival. Men and women were responsible for hunting and gathering respectively. Additionally, the birth rate was very low and there was no need for a large population during this time. Only a small group of people was needed for hunting and picking food from the environment. When agriculture was introduced about 10,000 years ago, it caused patriarchy due to the higher value men obtained due to ownership of land as well as being responsible for more of the labor. There was also a huge need for a larger population. The output of this seemed to favor male gods over female goddesses, and women found their freedom being severely limited.
A patriarchal social system can be defined as a system where men hold all authority over women in all aspects of life. Men also have the most influence on society and the way it functions. When this kind of philosophy exists within a civilization, it can very well form the way each gender is treated. This is extremely clear in John Wyndham’s novel, The Chrysalids. I believe that the citizens of Waknuk hold a patriarchal ideology and that this ideology directly influences the way men and women are treated and represented in Wyndham’s novel.
D. Adamson, C. (2007, Winter). Gendered Anxieties: Islam, Women's Rights, and Moral Hierarchy in Java. Anthropological Quarterly, 80(1), 5-37. Retrieved May 24, 2008, from Academic Search Alumni Edition database.
In modern society, there is a large importance placed on women to be beautiful and poised. The ‘appropriate woman’ is supposed to be poised, elegant, and sophisticated. Whilst never inconveniencing anyone around them through voicing their ideas, or being anything more than an artificial figurine to display. “Barbie Doll” and “A Work of Artifice” are two poems, by Marge Piercy, which imply that women are tailored from a young age to fulfill the roles that traditional society has set for them. Each poem uses numerous literary elements to advance their purpose of showing how the public and society subdue women’s intelligence and hearty virtues in order to make them better fit the social norm of the domestic woman. Marge Piercy, in her poems “Barbie Doll” and “A Work of Artifice,” uses diction and metaphor to assert that society suppresses women’s intelligence and places an unjustified demand on women to be their idea of perfect.
My paper studies the three most significant and most commonly known western religion Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in terms of the role that the woman played and a brief synopsis of the religions itself. Religion is a system of human though which usually includes a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices that give meaning to the practitioner’s experiences of life through reference to a higher power, deity, or ultimate truth. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity are the only religions that are based on a single creator and that are why they are called western religions. These three religions are monotheistic faiths practiced by about half of the world’s population. Believers of the three religions are found on every continent but tend to be concentrated in North and South America, Europe, Australia, Western Asia and North Africa. Christianity and Islam are growing faiths in the sub-Saharan Africa, beginning to replace indigenous beliefs.
In the United States, fundamentalist religious movements flourish. Tuning into any news station in the last fifteen years, one can see and hear anti-Muslim rhetoric twenty-four hours a day. One of the most widely criticized elements of radical Islam is it’s portrayal and treatment of women, yet anywhere in North America, there are sects claiming the bible as their backing for institutionalized misogyny and abuse. Fundamentalist churches began as a backlash to the modern woman who rose out of the midcentury. Women began working, waiting to have children and defying the white, puritanical roles that had existed for them for generations. From suffrage to the Pill, many conservative movements began to see holes in the walls of their culture that