Critical Essay: Role of Religious Institutions in Gender Discrimination and Equality

Critical Essay: Role of Religious Institutions in Gender Discrimination and Equality
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Critical Essay: Role of Religious Institutions in Gender Discrimination and Equality
Introduction
Gender discrimination and equality constitute the most pulsating topic in public discourses. It is an elusive theme that has left people divided. It is a matter that has remained highly contestable along with economic, political, and social circles across the globe. The notions of sex, gender, and sexuality in various cultural and social contexts manifest in contemporary social and political issues. More often, gender and sexual identities are embodied and performed in everyday life, including a forming framework for discriminative, bias, and prejudicial practices.
Equality and discrimination along gender lines are often influenced by many factors rooted in culture, including religion. Religion is one of the cultural dimensions and systems in society, has been used to advanced patriarchal and hegemonic communities. Discrimination and other related oppressive practices have been propagated based on the system of beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, and practices provided by religion. This paper dissects the role of religious institutions in influencing gender discrimination and equality in society. Religious systems play a binary role by facilitating gender-discriminatory practices and enhancing equality. Clashing concerns have been reported. Are religious institutions promoting gender discrimination and bias? or are they promoting equality? Arguments and counterarguments have been advance from either side of the debate.
Concept of Gender and Religion
Connell (2009) defines gender as a dimension of personal life, social relations, and culture where individuals face practical challenges regarding justice, identity, and even personal survival. The concept of gender is one of the most misunderstood topics laced with outright prejudice, discrimination, and falsehoods. A significant portion of the population would believe men and women are psychologically opposite, and men are more intelligent than women (Connell, 2009). It must be noted that gender issues are not merely about women, but its scope expands to cover men and homosexual community and other forms of sexual orientations. Human life is not supposed to be diverted along dichotomies because there are more than two gender groups or identities. There is a connection between gender and religion. Are feminists compatible with the major world religions? How do religious concepts shape social understandings of gender, sex, and sexuality? In what ways has Western feminisms had to accommodate the reality of the continuing adherence to religions by millions of women and men worldwide?
The concept of religion is culturally intertwined with the broader societal environment and plays a crucial role in defining gender roles and expectations. Gender-convention religions such as Catholicism, conservative Protestantism, Orthodox Judaism, Mormonism, and Islam, are associated with strict gender relationships anchored on male headship and women’s submission (Burke, 2012). The author observes increased emphasis on ontological differences between men ...