Religion, Gender and Development in South Asia

This research paper is based on the powers of religion and how it is being wielded as a weapon in order to subjugate the rights of women. However, by writing this research paper I neither want to start a holy war nor create chaos unto the lives of many who have a different perspective towards religion. Men since ancient times have been dominant as recipients, interpreters, and transmitters of divine messages, while women have largely remained passive receivers of teachings and ardent practitioners of religious rituals. In India too, where politics uses religion as a tool to manipulate the masses, women bear the brunt of the consequences of cultural attitudes and the impact of religion and politics in their particular milieu. The core issues that arise are one, violence against women and, two, sexuality and the politics of gender. Religious structures have a negative impact on victims of sexual abuse, too. Women internalize scriptural interpretation that describes the woman as a sinner, manipulator, and temptress. This contributes to their silence on abuse. Moreover if one looks into the Hindu scriptures, one can find various notions that out of the 33 million gods and goddesses of Hinduism majority of them are females and yet women are regarded as impure and are not allowed to pray in many temples. Therefore my journey of research begins by identifying the core problems faced by women due to religion not just in the modern era but also since ancient times and all the while trying to take a stand for this ill-fated group that has suffered enough under the existing patriarchal society. Furthermore one must keep in mind that the entire foundation of this research is mostly limited to the Indian subcontinent and the problems faced by women in this society.

2015

Asian journal of comparative politics, 2020

Jindal Global Law Review, 2019

Gender & Development, 2011

International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social …, 2008

Religious patriarchy works as a vehicle for encouraging women to accept gender oppression through religion, in order to maintain the cohesion of the male-dominated gender system in India. Religious patriarchy brings to the forefront many theoretical and political questions regarding the location of women in religion. Examining the politics of location also requires an exploration of the historical, geographical and cultural boundaries which provide the groundwork for political definition. The position of women in religion is actually based on multiple locations that have evolved through integration of complex configurations of language and power. In this presentation, the presenter likens the position of women in patriarchal religion to the control exerted over individuals during the colonial period and continuing during the imperialistic era. This presentation examines religious discourse on women’s position in India by investigating the conditions that produced this discourse, its correlation with male supremacy, and the many ways in which its ideas were deployed to keep women oppressed. The presenter will also explore the intersection of colonial and religious discourses which has produced different meanings of religious patriarchy in India. The presenter will also analyze the growing resistance by women in Kerala, India to dowry-related issues and violence, and the lack of support they are receiving from religion institutions.

Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, 2020

The report addresses gender-based violence and discrimination in the name of religion or belief. In a number of States worldwide, religious precepts underlie laws and State-sanctioned practices that constitute violations of the right to non-discrimination of women, girls and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) persons. In other States, claims of religious freedom are being used to roll back and seek exemptions to laws that protect against gender-based violence and discrimination. This study provides emblematic cases of both these phenomena and their impact on gender equality and freedom of religion or belief worldwide. It explores freedom of religion or belief and non-discrimination as two and mutually reinforcing rights and clarifies the existing international legal framework that governs their intersection. It concludes by emphasizing the responsibility of States to create enabling environments to advance the non-discrimination and freedom of religion of belief rights of women, girls and LGBT+ persons.

Does religion help or hinder gender equality worldwide? Are some major world religions more conducive to equality than others? This study answers these questions using country-level data assembled from multiple sources. Much of the research on religion and gender has focused on the relationship between individual religious belief and practice and gender attitudes. This study, alternatively, compares the macro effects of the proportion of religious adherents in a country on two indicators of material gender equality: the United Nations Gender Inequality Index and the Social Watch Gender Equity Index. Comparing the world’s four largest religious groups reveals that the largest distinction is not between any of the three largest faiths—Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism—but between the religious and the non-religious. The more non-religious people in a country, the more gender equal that country tends to be. This finding holds when accounting for human development and other country-level factors, as well as in instrumental variable analysis.

Religion and Gender, 2019

This article examines the intersection of religion, gender and development through an analysis of religious practice and development engagement among women activists in two religio-political aid organizations in contemporary Pakistan. Situated on the margins of the mainstream aid and development field, these women are rarely conceded agents of development. Yet focusing on improving women’s position and wellbeing, their activities are similar to those of many other development NGO s. As part of religio-political movements advancing gender complementarity and segregation, women’s activism and conceptions of development reflect a particular intersection of religion, gender and class. A close read of women’s discourse and practice reveals how women interpret and appropriate Islamic teachings, local cultural practices, and global norms by balancing ideology and pragmatism. In the process of negotiating, upholding and resisting norms and practices, these activists can be seen as active ag...