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This
paper authored by Ann Phillips and José Casanova addresses the relationship
between religion, politics and gender equality through four aspects: (i) what
authority, if any, states can cede to religious communities or groups without
beginning to threaten gender equality; (ii) the informal impact of religions on
attitudes and lives, beyond any institutionalized power; (iii) the
possibilities and limits of internal reform; and (iv) the possibilities and
difficulties of alliances between religious and secular groups.
In feminist, as in mainstream, thinking, there has been a reassessment of
the relationship between religion and politics. For much of the twentieth
century, it was assumed that religion was at odds with gender equality, and
campaigners for women’s rights looked to the spread of secular principles and
attitudes as an important engine of change. But the notion that secularism,
understood as the complete separation of politics from religion, is the
precondition for progressive politics has been challenged by critics of the
secularization thesis, including José Casanova. Specifically within feminism,
it has been challenged by the importance attached to women’s agency, and the
need to respect the choices of religious as well as non-religious women.
Yet religions can and do threaten gender equality, and particularly so when
their authority over their members is enhanced by a formal or informal role in
the political system. The essay argues that Casanova does not engage sufficiently
with the severity of this issue, and that his resolution is too complacent both
in its celebration of the democratic engagements of civil society, and its
reliance on movements for internal reform. Civil society is not a neutral zone,
and the associations that constitute civil society can reproduce social
hierarchies and exclusions as often as they contest them. Internal reform,
moreover, will be hardest to mobilize precisely where it is most needed.
This paper addresses the relationship between religion, politics and gender
equality through four aspects: (i) what authority, if any, states can cede to
religious communities or groups without beginning to threaten gender equality;
(ii) the informal impact of religions on attitudes and lives, beyond any institutionalized
power; (iii) the possibilities and limits of internal reform; and (iv) the
possibilities and difficulties of alliances between religious and secular
groups. The central theme running through the essay is that religions most
threaten gender equality when they are conceived of—and conceive themselves
as—corporate bodies, capable of speaking with a unified voice. The key
protection for women is a strong politics of individual rights. In arguing
this, however, this paper stresses the difficulties surrounding the politics of
rights. It is crucial both to recognize the centrality of individual rights and
acknowledge the problems in their interpretation and implementation. This is
not something that can be resolved at a purely theoretical level. It alerts us,
rather, to the political issues.
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