Gender is the state of reference on which status differences are based, unlike sex, which is biological; gender is a social code of conduct specifying the social and cultural roles that men and women are expected to follow, making Gender Roles a very controversial topic.
Images of women, mostly old statuettes representing women whose wombs and hips are extremely exaggerated, all dating to the Stone Age, outnumber images of men throughout evolution and history. This has led to speculation about the place of women in society and religious faiths. Some have argued that these female figurines signify, or once signified, the existence of a prominent female deity identified as the “Earth Mother” ...view middle of the document...
Being expected to be the homemakers and caregivers, women existed to bear the children and be submissive to men. As the research for this topic continues, one can safely say women are treated less than equal to men in most religious settings. Below I will touch upon women’s roles in Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, the Rastafari Movement, Mormonism and Islam and how they have in fact, gotten the “short end of the stick” and have been belittled in every major religion.
Women are making great strides towards being treated fairly. In present time, you can see more women leaders. For example, there are now women rabis in the Jewish faith. In Catholism, you can now see female altar servers. This was not the case years ago when these roles were predominantly attributed to men.
Many people have argued that God has no gender and that women should be able to represent God equally. In all of the religions noted below, women have been prohibited from obtaining certain roles. Although most of these religions described women as equal, they were not given equal opportunity to educate themselves and thrive in situations like men did. Women were not allowed to do much but take care of their families and cater to their husbands. This was the case in most religions, even Rastafarianism where single women are not allowed to practice the religion, as the religion needs to be introduced by the husband.
Christianity is a religion based on the life teachings of Jesus Christ. Followers of this faith, Christians, believe that Jesus is the son of God, referring to him as Christ or the Messiah. There are many denominations within Christianity, such as Catholicism, Orthodox and Protestant. The Roman Catholic Church is headed by the pope. Catholics believe that there is one holy catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus. The Protestants are people that separated from the Catholic Church in the 16th century and often refer to themselves as being born again.
Women have been most heavily impacted in the Christian religion when it came to marriage and ministry. In Catholic Churches men serve as priests and women serve as nuns. Even though women are allowed to serve in highly honored positions within the church; there can never be, for example a woman pope. In Christianity, both men and women have the same right to be considered as saints and there are many women saints, however, few women are recognized in the Christian world. Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene are among the most famous women in Christianity. Mary Magdalene, woman who is commonly known and portrayed as promiscuous was a leader in the Christian movement that helped put women in leadership roles. Due to the efforts of Mary Magdalene, women continued to thrive in the leadership positions within the Christian faith, despite it being maintained that Christian ministers should be men because they need to represent Jesus Christ who was the son of God.
Judaism is the way of life of the...
