18.2 Women in the religions

In many religions across the world there are movements to liberate women from oppressive religious structures but there is also resistance from traditionalist sectors in each religion since they see gender roles as divinely sanctioned.

If we consider the way in which gender roles are assigned to women and to men in particular religions we should investigate the sacred scriptures and the tradition of these religions. Without exception we will find that the sacred scriptures – even of those religions where women are assigned a relatively high status – contain passages in which women are relegated to an inferior status.

Judaism

In Judaism the two versions of how humans were created in Genesis 1 and 2 has to be reconciled. While Genesis 1: 27 states that God created male and female in his image, and implies their equality, Genesis 2 tells the story of how God created Eve from the rib of Adam as a help for Adam, which implies Eve's inferiority. When Eve eats from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and also gives the fruit to Adam (which he eats) the result is that as a punishment women are forever relegated to an inferior position.

The Tenach (the sacred scriptures of Judaism) has countless texts that illustrates the subordination of women and in the Jewish tradition women are never seen as on a par with men. The attitude is clear in the daily prayer that was common among Jewish men in the first century: "Praise be to God that he has not created me a woman!" and the famous phrase "Happy is he whose children are sons and woe to him whose children are daughters".

The Reform movement which emerged in the nineteenth century has called for full equality for women. Since 1972 women can be ordained as rabbis and this movement has also instituted a rite of passage for girls to become members of the community (in the same way that boys have done for centuries). The Orthodox tradition, however, has continued in the traditional practices and the role of women remain secondary.

Christianity

As in Judaism, Christianity also has to contend with the two versions of creation, and as in Judaism, this has also had an adverse effect on women for millennia. During the life of Jesus he broke with tradition in many ways by allowing women to participate in religious life, even though none of his disciples were women. In the same way, St Paul wrote in Galatians 3:28 "In Christ there is neither male nor female", but then also prescribed very submissive and limiting roles in for instance 1 Timothy 2 and Ephesians 5 and 6. (Bear in mind that Paul also had much to say about how slaves should be treated – but today none of us think that implies that keeping slaves is morally acceptable.)

All of this set the scene for the Church Fathers to warn against the dangers posed by women and to limit their role in Church structures severely. Many of these limitations continue into our time with the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches and some Protestant denominations still denying women the right to ordination as priests and pastors. What is so ironic is that in all of these churches women far outnumber men in membership and in active participation in the faith.