RELIGION: ALLY, THREAT, OR JUST RELIGION? (Draft)

Author(s): Anne Phillips
Programme Area: Gender and Development
Project Title: Religion, Politics and Gender Equality
No. of Pages: 22

This is the draft of a thematic paper in the Religion, Politics and Gender Equality Project.

The paper is a feminist response to José Casanova’s thematic paper on “Public Religions Revisited”. It argues that women should mutually recognize and respect each other’s agency and freedom of conscience. Those women who are not religious should not assume false consciousness or attribute victim status to those who choose to live their lives by religious precepts; those women who are religious should not assume that the others lack ethical conviction or are slaves to a material culture. The paper, secondly, maintains that the relationship between religion, politics, and gender equality should not be conceived in quasi-corporatist terms as a relationship between democratic and religious authorities, but always viewed through the lens of individual rights and needs. It furthermore discusses how religion differs from culture and non-religious political belief, particularly considering the complicated intersection of individual choices and bowing to external authority. The paper, finally, warns against a demonization of religions as inherently at odds with gender equality as well as against complacency that too readily accepts compromise on matters of equality between women and men.

================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to: wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com. Thank you.