Has the growing presence of religion in politics made it harder for women to pursue gender equity? This article explores how religion as a political force shapes the struggle for gender equality in developing and developed countries. It is based on studies in Chile, India, Iran, Israel, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Serbia, Turkey and the United States. The political influence of religious actors and movements worldwide has increased post-Cold War. The ‘private sphere’ has become politicised and is often the focus for conflict between religious actors and human rights advocates.
The past 30 years have witnessed increasing political influence of religious actors and movements worldwide. This increasing prominence has coincided with neoliberal policies and with post Cold-War emphasis on democracy and rights. Positive developments in political and legal rights have not been matched by improvements in social justice. Income inequalities have increased and poverty remains.
Against this background religious precepts have been mobilised for nationalist and ethnic politics. Religious authorities commonly insist on regulating the private arena of sexuality, reproduction, marriage, gender roles, and the family. They view moral principles as divine, ‘natural’, absolute and valid for all times and places. Feminist and other human rights activists argue for democratic, pluralist, rights-based alternatives. The private sphere has become politicised and is a highly contested terrain. But in this situation women lose out. Even in nominally secularist states, few have been willing to risk their political survival by radically interfering in matters of family, marriage and personal laws, which are widely seen as the domain of religious authority. The country studies found that:
- The struggle for gender equality is compromised where religion is used to support nationalist and ethnic politics
- Religion can be used to support authoritarian rule
- In new democracies, the process of democratisation both empowers feminist groups seeking reform of the ‘private sphere’ and simultaneously strengthens religious institutions that are opposed to such reform
- Broad-brush explanations of the assertiveness of religions (for example seeing it as a response to the failures of ‘modernisation’) often miss the specific political junctures which have provided fertile ground for their prominence.
The interaction between religion and politics is usually seen as centred on state power dynamics and formal institutions. But much of the power of religion is based on the informal way in which its norms and ideas shape people’s attitudes and lives. When religion becomes politicised in multi-religious or multi-ethnic societies, gender issues and women’s status can be used as an instrument to further discriminate against or admonish minority/disadvantaged groups. It becomes very difficult in such contexts to critique forms of gender inequality practiced by different religious or ethnic communities without feeding into identity-based conflicts. Some would consequently advocate ‘internal reform’ as the most appropriate approach to making religious communities more responsive to gender justice and equality concerns. It is questionable however if internal reform movements can, on their own, offer a more promising avenue for egalitarian change, considering the significant social authority of many religions, and the power they can wield against dissident voices. Internal reform (or women-centred interpretation of religious laws) should therefore be considered not as an alternative to secular and democratic demands but as a component of a more holistic agenda of social change.
An enabling environment for women’s substantive rights therefore requires both a rights-based agenda that guarantees individual rights and autonomy, as well as an economic agenda that upholds social and economic rights. It also involves:
- Transnational alliances and supports: Links through regional and transnational networks, and using international conventions (e.g. CEDAW) and processes such as key United Nations conferences, can also play an important role.
- Reformulating the women’s rights agenda in language that has greater social resonance: Linking it to liberal and popular traditions can facilitate connections with constituencies of poorer and more marginalised women.
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