- Feb 11, 2004
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As most religions that are practiced today were created in the Agrarian age, they tend to reflect the dominant gender roles and relationship models associated with that particular era in global history:
A patriarchal family, with husbands and fathers in a position of uncontested authority, and women in a subservient role that is more or less confined to the role of motherhood and housework.
The need to repress and control female sexuality in particular was also strongly embedded in most societies (and hence, in the religions that arose in the same), as inheritance lines, limited means of birth control and the absence of paternity tests meant that there was virtually no other way to ensure that a man was raising his own children within this arrangement.
Even seemingly egalitarian world views such as Buddhism cannot quite shake their historical and cultural context.
And younger religions such as Wicca (which are often even seen as feminist) communicate very stereotypical and traditional gender conceptions in their concept of the Mother and the Horned God.
There were some exceptions to this rule - such as *very* early Christianity and its radical egalitarianism, which started to fade as soon as female emancipation became associated with Gnosticism.
And - here's where this discussion starts - even these traditional religions have sometimes tried to outgrow their cultural baggage, particularly within the last two hundred years.
So - how does your particular religion or denomination address the topic of gender? Are women still expected to be housewives and mothers, first and foremost? Can they serve in clerical roles? Are men treated as superior (whether openly or through the traditional "equal but different"-rationalization), or do partners genuinely enjoy equality?
A patriarchal family, with husbands and fathers in a position of uncontested authority, and women in a subservient role that is more or less confined to the role of motherhood and housework.
The need to repress and control female sexuality in particular was also strongly embedded in most societies (and hence, in the religions that arose in the same), as inheritance lines, limited means of birth control and the absence of paternity tests meant that there was virtually no other way to ensure that a man was raising his own children within this arrangement.
Even seemingly egalitarian world views such as Buddhism cannot quite shake their historical and cultural context.
And younger religions such as Wicca (which are often even seen as feminist) communicate very stereotypical and traditional gender conceptions in their concept of the Mother and the Horned God.
There were some exceptions to this rule - such as *very* early Christianity and its radical egalitarianism, which started to fade as soon as female emancipation became associated with Gnosticism.
And - here's where this discussion starts - even these traditional religions have sometimes tried to outgrow their cultural baggage, particularly within the last two hundred years.
So - how does your particular religion or denomination address the topic of gender? Are women still expected to be housewives and mothers, first and foremost? Can they serve in clerical roles? Are men treated as superior (whether openly or through the traditional "equal but different"-rationalization), or do partners genuinely enjoy equality?