Across the globe, women consistently demonstrate a stronger affiliation with religion than men, a trend that persists even in faiths where traditional gender roles limit their freedoms. This intriguing phenomenon is the focus of a recent study led by Professor Sascha Becker from the University of Warwick, in collaboration with Jeanet Sinding Bentzen from the University of Copenhagen and Chun Chee Kok from the Université Catholique de Louvain.
The research, titled Gender and Religion: A Survey, features in the Journal of Demographic Economics. Its publication coincides with a landmark event for the Church of England, which has appointed its first female Archbishop of Canterbury. The study consolidates years of research from various disciplines to explore why women generally exhibit higher levels of religiosity and how this impacts their societal and economic roles.
Data from global surveys reveal that women are more likely than men to identify with a religion, engage in prayer, and consider faith a central aspect of their lives. This pattern is consistent across different cultures and major religions. However, the study notes, “patterns of participation differ across religious contexts: while women attend worship services more frequently than men in predominantly Christian societies, the reverse tends to hold in Muslim and Jewish contexts.”
One reason cited for Christian women’s higher engagement in prayer is their “greater emotional expressiveness and caregiving roles.” The study reviews various explanations, including historical ties of religious participation to domestic life and the influence of women’s economic roles over time. Recent data indicates that women who work outside the home tend to engage less in religious activities, narrowing the gender gap but not closing it entirely.
Another factor involves attitudes towards risk. Historical perspectives, like those from philosopher Blaise Pascal, suggested that belief in God offers a rational choice with no downside. Modern studies find women generally more risk-averse than men, possibly making religion more appealing to them.
Religious communities often serve as a social safety net, providing support against economic and personal challenges. Furthermore, in societies where women face limited access to status or employment, religious institutions can offer avenues for recognition and leadership, as evidenced by early 20th-century Korea’s Christian leadership involving women.
Life-cycle events such as pregnancy and caregiving, along with women’s longer life expectancy, are also linked to deeper religious involvement. Despite modernisation and secularisation trends narrowing gender gaps, the study notes, “the gap does not vanish entirely – even in highly secular countries women remain more religious than men.”
The study also addresses how marital status affects religiosity, noting that “married women are more religious than single women, possibly because marriage and motherhood elevate the social expectation of religious involvement (being a ‘good mother’ may be viewed as aligning with raising children religiously).”
Men, in contrast, often replace religious activities with secular communal pursuits like sports, especially when these compete with traditional worship times.
In addition to examining participation, the study evaluates religion’s influence on women’s outcomes. The research employs empirical methods to distinguish religious impacts from cultural or economic influences. Religion significantly affects women’s education access, marital timing, labor market participation, reproductive rights, fertility, and societal gender preferences.
Religious doctrines and their sway over lawmakers shape laws and public policies, sometimes reinforcing inequality or, conversely, empowering women. Historical examples include Protestant movements promoting literacy and the Taliban’s restrictions on female education.
A generational shift is also observed, where the religiosity gap between men and women is most pronounced among older generations. In countries like Australia, Europe, and North America, younger men are increasingly religious, while young women are moving away from organized religion.
Professor Becker highlights the ongoing puzzle: “Women’s participation in formal employment, their reproductive rights, and their legal rights and responsibilities are still shaped openly by religious teachings and indirectly through the influence of faith on legislators. Against this background, it is clearly a puzzle that women are, on average, more religious than men despite most religions promoting and entrenching patriarchal norms which impose significant costs and burdens upon them.” He further notes, “While the research we reviewed offers partial explanations, no single theory or study explains this paradox.”
This article was originally written by www.christiantoday.com
