My Reflection On Religion, Women, And Gender

The role of women in Hinduism is also a very contentious topic in the world today. Although women are gaining some freedom in society in India, it is known that females have a history of being oppressed in India. Women of the Hindu faith in particular have been viewed as the minority sex as Hinduism is predominantly a male dominated religion. As Hinduism has no set sacred text Hindus are free to follow whatever text they want and each text or set of teachings have different views about women. For the purpose of this essay, I will be discussing the view of women according to the Vedas. As young children girls are under the protection of their fathers and when they get married they are under the protection of their husbands. The Vedas, which

In the Hindu religion women play a bigger role than many other women do in their own religion. In the Hindu religion women are seen to make good inputs on the earth, dharma, and sensual pleasure. They are viewed as initiating men’s spiritualizing life forces. When a man and women get married in this religion they are supposed to be spiritual partners and complement one another. Husbands take the task of being the women’s god and teacher.

Every society, culture, and religion has their own justification of what they believe women should do and what they symbolize. The role of women in society is constantly discussed because it is always changing. While reading and analyzing history books, artworks, and scriptures, we are able to see the changes women have encountered, for example what rights they have gained or lost. Focusing primarily on religion, I will analyze Hindu and Buddhist scriptures in order to compare and contrast what they believe is the role of women. Despite bearing some differences in the manner that Hinduism praise women more than in Buddhism, both scriptures acknowledge women’s equality with men and believe women can hold great power.

Throughout historic times and present times, cultural has been shaped and changed by various events and social reforms. Sir Edward Burnett Taylor an English anthropologist defines culture to be, “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." Different cultures encourage different perspectives and ways of thinking. Two themes covered in this essay include religion and gender. Gender roles in religion are not exclusively the same in each religion as they differ with within each religion. This essay will talk about the role of genders in religion and how it encourages different ways of thinking and different perspectives.

It is clear in Hinduism that a woman has the same religious and spiritual freedom as men. Like men, women can attain the same heights of spiritual awakening by taking the path of asceticism. The Sanskrit language possesses a female equivalent to the male renouncer: there is the sadhvı as well as the sadhu, the sannyasin as well as the sannyasıni. However, throughout time there have been many women ascetics in Hinduism who have been greatly respected.

The Hindu religion is very different to what we know, especially for women. To the people who live their lives devoted to Hinduism, it’s more than just a religion, it’s a culture. Women, though regarded as extremely important, are not given equal rights. This holds back the people in this culture as if so many people of the population aren’t give the same opportunities as men are the nation in itself could be missing out on so much. These women have the potential to do a lot more, yet are held back as all they’re expected to do with their lives are marry and have children. Part of this relates back to the caste system, if no one is equal there’s no place for the nation to develop.

As an avid seeker of knowledge and understanding, women's rights activist, Christian, scholar, and woman -- I enrolled in Women and Religion at Spelman College to further extenuate my intellectual and spiritual capacity in the context of the relationship between women and religion. On a daily basis I strive to uncover the true interpretation of what God desires for me, and other women and men in the world; in the interest that "every time we liberate a woman, we liberate a man." Considering this, before I enrolled in this class I already held some beliefs and ideas about women and religion, women’s leadership in various religious traditions, and women’s activism in different religious traditions. However, exposure to religious scholar’s

Historically, women have held prominent and influential roles in several religions, but women have been deprived of these roles as the majority of religions have become increasingly institutionalized. In this analysis, I will review women’s roles in Indigenous Religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to highlight how androcentric cultures have led to women’s diminished religious influence. I contend that women have been ostracized from religious hierarchies based on ancient cultural beliefs.

Studies of religious belief verify consistently that the female gender shows greater participation to religion than that of males. This greater commitment to religion described by sociologists such as Bensen applies throughout the course of the woman’s life, and as noted by Glock and Stark, their greater pledge to religion is consistent regardless of the religious organization, whether it be New Religious movements, New Age spirituality, or traditional faiths. Beit-hallahmy and Argyle state that whether it is a matter of private churchgoing or private prayer and regardless of religious belief women appear more religious than men.

Hinduism is a prevalently male dominated religion in which women assume an auxiliary part. In India, there are laws that prevent women from having their independence. During the earliest time, women’s legitimate rights to acquire property had been restricted. The ancient Hindu scripture, “Na stri swatantramarhati-’Swatrantam Na Kachit Striyah,” describe women to be unfit for any independence and was viewed as less than human. She was only to be preserved by her male guardians (Halder, Debarati, and K. Jaishankar 664-665). In the Traditional Status of Women in Hinduism, Jayaram V states that “Her father protects (her) in childhood, her husband protects (her) in youth, and her son protects (her) in old age.” Hindu

Spirituality is an important factor to consider when providing care to patients. Personal spirituality can influence one’s perspective of health care delivery. Specifically, it can impact how we feel about sensitive topics such as abortion, euthanasia, and advance directives can affect our ability to establish genuine connections with patients and families considering these options. Outlined below are my personal reflections to the Spiritual Assessment questions presented in this assignment.

Before taking American Religious Lives, I had previously taking Mystery and Meaning, that was my first encounter with religion. Essentially everything that we have learned in the class has been new to me because I do not have any prior experience with American religion, since my other Religious Studies class focused on Asian and Native American religions. Growing up I never went to church growing up, but I was baptized, but never understood what that meant. I do no think of myself who is involved or a part of any religion. The fact that I am unfamiliar makes the class very challenging for me, but it is also a good type of challenge because it makes me work harder to understand all the topics discussed in class and it makes me really have to think deeper about all the topics. Not being associated with any religion is also helpful because I can be an outsider and not have a biased opinion and not have to choose a side of the different religious perspectives. Religion seems like it is a very complex topic, where a lot of religions in America have different sects and each sect has a different background. I knew that Christianity was the most popular religion in America, but I did not know about all the different sects and that Christianity as a whole is the faith of over 70% of Americans and that most of the other 30% is made up of people who are unaffiliated with any religion. (Wormald, 1).

Prior to this class, I viewed religion the way most Anglo-Americans do. From a young age, I was raised around Protestant Christian churches. My family went to church once a week on and off throughout my childhood. At church, I tried to focus for an hour on the sermons based around ancient stories that may or may not have happened. I usually forgot the story within a few hours of exiting the church doors. Like many Americans, this was religion to me. Something you more or less endured in order to say you were religious. This class gave me a totally different perspective on religion. For many Native American tribes, religion is not a separate portion of life. Many tribes have no word for religion. That is because there are religious aspects seen in just about everything they do. While there are cultural differences across various tribes, this idea holds fairly constant through most Native cultures. From the Navajo to the Hopi to the Pueblo and Plains tribes, there is a clear effort made by the Native people to treat everything around them with respect in order to maintain balance in the cosmos.

The art of appreciating and learning about different religions allows one to use that information to look within and explore a deeper level of one’s own faith/values. According to Samir Selmanovic, an organizer of religions plunges provides insight on the importance of immersion which he states, “It is a matter of grasping your own identity in the presence of the other. You see yourself through the eyes of the other” (as cited in DeConto, 2013). Thus, understanding my reactions and examining where those attitudes come from compelled me to explore the values I hold and the traditions I follow.

Gender issues are on the international political, social, economic and academic agenda of many countries. Many organizations are worried with closing the injustices of vast gender gap in societies. Discussions in religious studies still give explicit recognition to epistemological and disciplinary changes brought about by gender studies. Gender studies concern men and women. Gender issues relating to religion are ubiquitous. The