Women, Religion and Politics - Essay Example

WOMEN, RELIGION AND POLITICS The attitude of women to politics has been ed to some major changes in recent times. Nowadays, the number of women candidates participating in election has significantly increased. The percentage of women who get elected as members in parliament also has increased subsequently in recent years. But the religious doctrines often hinder the women from actively participating in politics. A notable example is the women in Arab countries who particularly remain under-represented in parliaments. When the percentage of women constitutes 16.3% across all the parliaments, it is very low in Arab countries. In Iraq women population constitutes 50% while their representation in parliament is only 31%.It may be because of the strict influence of religion on women folk. But there is a remarkable change in Africa and in Latin America where there has been an increase of more than 5 points during the past 10 years. In these countries religious rules are more liberal that enable women to participate actively in politics. The reservations allotted to women in all the parliaments are controversial even now. This is made clear by Gila Stopler when the author states: "Though modern liberal theory is commonly understood as guaranteeing similar rights to both men and women, I will argue that there exists a tremendous gap between this understanding of liberal theory and the reality of both liberal theory and liberal practice in relation to discrimination against women. A similar gap exists between the liberal attitude toward sex discrimination and the liberal attitude toward racial, ethnic, and religious discrimination." (Stopler, p. 154). For instance, Rwanda (2003) represented the highest percentage of women in parliament (48.8%), whereas the women representation in other countries was only between 25-30%. The given analytical data throws light on the percentage of women under-represented in parliaments. The different religious ties hinder women from entering politics. Recently conducted interviews as part of the Gallop Poll Daily election tracking in US Shows that 57% of white Democrats who attend church support Hilary Clinton; only 29% support Obama. It shows that in US, religious women tend to follow the Republicans party. In USA, the Republicans could keep clear view about women, religion and politics. Their female candidate Hillary Clinton launches a contemptuous attack against the current insurance industry in USA .She accuses that the covetous reforms deliberately lying in all reform plans are based on defending their profits. She may be the first lady who publicly attacked any Americans or American industries. In USA we can't find a clear cut margin between US women's religion and politics even though the female candidates of Republican party including Hillary were the followers of Roman Catholic Religion. Structured religion in the world always has been and remains the enemy of women's rights .Roman catholic churches fought with tooth and nail against the developments of woman .Today the most dreadful enemy of women - socially, politically, and economically - is the religious constraints. Even the sexuality of women is under religious scrutiny. Religion overpowered the equal right debate. The Bible establishes women's inferior status, her unseemliness, and the god practiced a master/servant relationship. Even the Bible itself produces the evidence for gender discrimination. Ferrara and Wilson make it clear when they state: "Jesus Christ took the flesh of human nature and made it wholly his own. In the unity of the Church, a Gentile is as much an image of the Jewish Christ as a Jew; a slave is as much the image of the freeborn Christ as a citizen; a woman is as much the image of the male Christ as a man. It is arbitrary to slice up the unities in one way and not in the other. It is a bizarre fixation on gender that requires male body parts to represent Christ. In fact, it is a denial of Jesus' incarnation and resurrection alike to say that women cannot stand in persona Christi." (Ferrara and Wilson, P. 33). A study proves that religious values are impossible for women's political activities and against the welfare of the society. If the religious women reach in politics, they have a tendency to stick on to politics. Religion itself is bound with religious rules, and they try to apply the same religious values, that are truthfulness, kindness, co-operation, sympathy etc. in politics. Though they are blessed with these qualities, which are comparatively lesser found in men, they always assume the status of a petitioner, and not decision maker .Moreover, they are not at all encouraged to run a public office .Their main complaints are focused only on issues related to women's healthcare, conditions of families, reproductive choice, domestic priorities, equal pay for equal work. Lack of proper political awareness and disinterest in political ideologies also affect their political debut. In many Muslim countries, women are not at all permitted to mingle with men, other than their husbands. Their strict religious norms, to an extent, shut up their windows to politics. Now in USA, the catholic women face the problem of inequality. There is an important practical difference between the patriarchal society and state Church alliance working to suppress woman's right .The state has no specific role in this problem. The following data explain the status of women in elective office in USA in 2006. In 2006, 81 women serve in the US Congress. Fourteen women serve in the Senate and 67 women serve in the House. The number of women in state wide elective executive posts, the proportion of women in State Legislature is at 22.8 percent. One can find that most of all the western countries including USA, the Catholic countries are more flexible and Muslim countries are more opposing to women's freedom. An evaluation of major religious traditions has impacted the progress and development of women in different way. Even in USA, some religious traditions misuse the women's right. There are some minor aspects that affect the political beliefs of women, such as motherhood, disinterest in political ideologies, gender problems, etc. If someone, works in politics he or she must fully devote in it .But a woman cannot devote herself completely in politics; motherhood and domestic responsibility discourages her. The great gap in pregnancy takes her away from politics nearly for ten months. Above all, her gender inequality prevents her from politics. Among them religion plays a vital role. Majority of the women in Muslim countries and even in America do not enter politics because of the religious restrictions and beliefs. Moving away from the traditional concepts of politics, there emerged a new political ideology by the 1960's. As Janet A. Flammang (1997) rightly puts it, "Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, established women's groups in Washington, D.C., were still relatively new arrivals compared with their more powerful counterparts, especially economic interest groups, whose efforts were more a part of politics as usual. By contrast, groups representing the political movements of the 1960s, for the most part, were not as entrenched, did not have as many resources, and had to spend relatively more energy mobilizing their constituencies." (Flammang, p. 57). Thus, one cannot expect women to come to the forefront of politics as long as the religious constraints are thrust upon her. A separate independent identity is not allowed to women, though they are worshipped as mothers and wives in different religions. The patriarchal society brought an ideal image of women, according to them, she is obedient, chaste, quiet, self-effacing, ignorant and devoting herself only to the service of the family. However, one can notice changes in women's attitude towards politics and religion with the feminists' attempt for women empowerment. As the Chinese saying puts it, 'women are holding half of the sky' and they "have the power to change societies if they introduce the concept of justice and love wherever they are present." (Ping). This saying rightly comments about the status of women in society. Even the religious women in China, who are still small in number, weak in power, are capable of fighting for the well-being of their fellow sisters. It is hopeful that the attitude of religion to women has been subjected to some major changes. For women empowerment, there should be better educational opportunities for women and modern feminist groups have a lot to contribute for this. Even though many countries have made valuable amendments in their political ideologies about women reservation, this has not resulted in a remarkable emergence of women into the political field. Religion and politics thus stand in two extreme poles; however, they are mutually interrelated when it comes to women's politics as women may not develop effective and active political lives until they are offered religious freedom. Works Cited Stopler, Gila. Countenancing the Oppression of Women: How Liberals Tolerate Religious and Cultural Practices That Discriminate against Women. Columbia Journal of Gender and Law. Questia. Vol. 12, 2003. Ferrara, Jennifer and Wilson, Sarah. Hinlicky. Oradaining Women: Two Views. First Things. A Monthly Journal of Religious and Public Life. Questia, .2003. Flammang, A Janet. Women's Political Voice: How Women Are Transforming the Practice and Study of Politics Temble University Press. Philadalphia, 1997. Ping, Matthias Guo Xiao. Sr. Promoting the Well-being of Women: The Contribution of Women Religious in China to Societal Development. 21 Jul. 2008. . Read More