The Gender Gap in Religion

[dogsgod]

Apparently there's a correlation.

There is a powerful correlation between fundamentalism and lack of education. According to Pew, 45 per cent of Americans with no education beyond high school adhere to biblical literalism, while only 29 per cent with some university education - and 19 per cent of university graduates - share that old-time faith. Republicans have tapped into the fundamentalist resentment of educated, sceptical elites to form the party's right-wing Christian base.

Religion remains fundamental to US politics | Susan Jacoby - Times Online

 

[Oberon]

Apparently there's a correlation.

There is a powerful correlation between fundamentalism and lack of education. According to Pew, 45 per cent of Americans with no education beyond high school adhere to biblical literalism, while only 29 per cent with some university education - and 19 per cent of university graduates - share that old-time faith. Republicans have tapped into the fundamentalist resentment of educated, sceptical elites to form the party's right-wing Christian base.

Religion remains fundamental to US politics | Susan Jacoby - Times Online

And yet it was christianity which gave us the institution we call the univeristy.

Maybe woman are less educated in the US.

It is a cross-cultural and world wide phenomenon.

 

[MoonWater]

Apparently there's a correlation.

There is a powerful correlation between fundamentalism and lack of education. According to Pew, 45 per cent of Americans with no education beyond high school adhere to biblical literalism, while only 29 per cent with some university education - and 19 per cent of university graduates - share that old-time faith. Republicans have tapped into the fundamentalist resentment of educated, sceptical elites to form the party's right-wing Christian base.

Religion remains fundamental to US politics | Susan Jacoby - Times Online

Correlation does not equal causation. Besides those quotes only have to do with "fundamentalism and biblical literalism" which make up only small portions of the religions listed in the stats for this thread.

 

[Bitterfly]

Lonely, boys? Ask for a subscription to Watchtower Magazine today!

 

[Smoke]

I'm a little bewildered by some of the responses revolving around the idea that "women are more religious."

So, again:

In the U.S., Christianity in all its forms has more women than men.
All other major religions have more men than women.

The question is not, Why are women more religious? There is nothing in the OP that suggests that women are more religious. There's not even anything in the OP that suggests anything about how religious the adherents of any particular religion are. It is conceivable, as far as this thread goes, that Christian men are far more religious than Christian women -- and that Hindu women are far more religious than Hindu men -- but there are just fewer of them.

The data in the OP indicates that in the U.S., Christianity has more female adherents than male adherents, and all other major religions have more male adherents than female adherents. That's what I'm asking you to think about.

Is there something about Christianity -- especially Jehovah's Witnesses -- that's more attractive to women than to men? Is there something about the other religions that's more attractive to men than to women? If so, what do you think it might be? If not, what other factors do you think may be at work?

 

[cardero]

The ideas contained within chrisitianity appeal to women more than men?

I have a different theory. I believe there is more of a chance that women are smittened by Jesus.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I have a different theory. I believe there is more of a chance that women are smittened by Jesus.

That certainly does seem to be a common thread among cult leaders.

 

[Imagist]

The question is not, Why are women more religious? There is nothing in the OP that suggests that women are more religious. There's not even anything in the OP that suggests anything about how religious the adherents of any particular religion are. It is conceivable, as far as this thread goes, that Christian men are far more religious than Christian women -- and that Hindu women are far more religious than Hindu men -- but there are just fewer of them.

This seems a bit like splitting hairs. You're drawing a distinction between, "Why are more women religious?" and, "Why are women more religious?" Given that the context of the discussion was a "gender gap", the intended meaning, "Why are more women religious?" seemed clear to me.

 

[dogsgod]

Correlation does not equal causation.

So there's no correlation between falling objects and gravity.

Besides those quotes only have to do with "fundamentalism and biblical literalism" which make up only small portions of the religions listed in the stats for this thread.

According to Pew, 45 per cent of Americans with no education beyond high school adhere to biblical literalism,

45 % seems rather significant.

 

[MoonWater]

So there's no correlation between falling objects and gravity.

, what? Yes there is a correlation. What's your point?

According to Pew, 45 per cent of Americans with no education beyond high school adhere to biblical literalism,

45 % seems rather significant.

Of americans with no education beyond high school not americans in general which makes your quote a percentage of a percentage, reducing the number a great depending on how many americans have no education beyond high school. And again biblical literalism makes up only a small percentage of the adhereants of the mentioned faiths.

 

[Smoke]

This seems a bit like splitting hairs. You're drawing a distinction between, "Why are more women religious?" and, "Why are women more religious?" Given that the context of the discussion was a "gender gap", the intended meaning, "Why are more women religious?" seemed clear to me.

That was not the intended meaning, and neither was the issue of whether more women than men are religious.

I don't know if you've ever belonged to any religion, but anybody who has can tell you that membership, and even active participation, is not necessarily an indication of how religious somebody is.

We are talking -- or I had hoped we would be talking -- about why Christianity in the US has more female than male adherents and all other religions have more male than female adherents.

Speculation that "women are more religious" or "more women are religious" is not only off-topic, but makes no sense at all in this context. Remember, in all major religions in America besides Christianity, males outnumber females. I don't expect members of this forum to make the mistake of thinking that "religion" equals "Christianity."

 

[sojourner]

"Salvation was universally considered to be much more becoming in women than in men." (Marilynne Robinson)

Christianity in the United States has a lower ratio of men to women than any other religion. Why do you think that is?

Data:

Jehovah's Witnesses: 40% male, 60% female
Historically Black Churches: 40% male, 60% female
Mormons: 44% male, 56% female
Mainline Churches: 46% male, 54% female
Catholics: 46% male, 54% female
Orthodox: 46% male, 54% female
Other Christians: 46% male, 54% female
Evangelical Churches: 47% male, 53% female
Jews: 52% male, 48% female
Buddhists: 53% male, 47% female
Muslims: 54% male, 46% female
Other Faiths: 54% male, 46% female
Unaffiliated: 59% male, 41% female
Hindus: 61% male, 39% female

Source: Religion in American Culture -- Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

Of the religions you list, only Xy is either 1) inherently non-patriarchical in nature, or 2) prevalent in non-patriarchical cultures.

 

[Kathryn]

You need to get a clearer picture of the demographics to start with.

First of all, in the United States, there are 86 men per every 100 women between the ages of 18 and over. So we're already talking about 14% fewer men than women in the US population of adults overall.

http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/p20-544.pdf

If you factor that 14% difference in population between men and women, the gap between the male and female participants in most religious groups listed is lessened considerably - basically to a figure that's simply not very remarkable.

Until of course, we come to the religious groups that are male-dominated - then the gap widens CONSIDERABLY when we take into consideration the fact that adult women outnumber adult men in the US by 14%.

 

[Kathryn]

Jews: 52% male, 48% female
Buddhists: 53% male, 47% female
Muslims: 54% male, 46% female
Other Faiths: 54% male, 46% female
Unaffiliated: 59% male, 41% female
Hindus: 61% male, 39% female

So, if adult women outnumber adult men in the US by 14%, then the non Christian groups are SERIOUSLY male dominated.

Another question might be - why are NON Christian religious groups so predominately male, while Christian religious groups tend to attract more even numbers of male and female affiliates?

 

[Smoke]

Of the religions you list, only Xy is either 1) inherently non-patriarchical in nature, or 2) prevalent in non-patriarchical cultures.

I think it's quite a stretch to say that Christianity is -- inherently or otherwise -- non-patriarchal in nature. A majority of the world's Christians are Roman Catholics, and a substantial number belong to the other historic churches -- Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and the Church of the East. None of these churches ordain women, and all of them actually use the title Patriarch for some of their hierarchs.

There have been female Protestant bishops (Methodist) for fewer than thirty years, and many Protestant churches with bishops still don't allow female bishops. The largest Protestant denomination in the US -- the Southern Baptist Convention -- used to allow the ordination of women, but no longer does. The Equal Rights Amendment was defeated almost entirely because of Christian activism, with many Christian women among the activists opposing equality for women.

As for culture, women have made great strides toward equality, but the vast majority of doctors, lawyers, elected officials and clergy are still men. In the case of clergy, women are less likely to be selected by hiring committees than equally qualified men, and are likely to be paid less than their male counterparts.

Whatever it is that attracts women to Christianity, it's not its non-patriarchal nature.

 

[Smoke]

You need to get a clearer picture of the demographics to start with.

First of all, in the United States, there are 86 men per every 100 women between the ages of 18 and over. So we're already talking about 14% fewer men than women in the US population of adults overall.

http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/p20-544.pdf

If you factor that 14% difference in population between men and women, the gap between the male and female participants in most religious groups listed is lessened considerably - basically to a figure that's simply not very remarkable.

Until of course, we come to the religious groups that are male-dominated - then the gap widens CONSIDERABLY when we take into consideration the fact that adult women outnumber adult men in the US by 14%.

A male:female ratio of 86:100 means that 46.2% of the population is male. I'm not sure where you're getting that figure, though. I don't see it in the report you linked to. As near as I can figure out from the data here, the population of the US aged 18 and over is about 48.6% male, with a sex ratio of about 94.6:100.

I'm not sure why children are excluded from your consideration, though, since most reports of religious adherents include children in their figures, and most Christian churches, including the churches that don't practice infant baptism, baptize children. The only Christians I know of who routinely postpone baptism till adulthood are the Amish.

 

[Kathryn]

Funny how two people can look at the same report and see something totally different. If you add up the figures of men and women age 18 and older in the US, there are significantly fewer men than women. A lot of those age ranges are older of course - but that shouldn't matter in this scenario.

I excluded children because it seems that the tone of the OP implied that people CHOOSE their religious affiliation and if so, WHY do more women than men choose Christian faiths?

Adults are more apt to voluntarily choose religious affiliation than children - as your own post clearly points out in the case of baptism. It seemed to me that since we were discussing religious choices, it made more sense to look at adult participation since so many minors have little choice in their religious environment.

 

[Smoke]

Funny how two people can look at the same report and see something totally different. If you add up the figures of men and women age 18 and older in the US, there are significantly fewer men than women. A lot of those age ranges are older of course - but that shouldn't matter in this scenario.

What figures did you add up?

I excluded children because it seems that the tone of the OP implied that people CHOOSE their religious affiliation and if so, WHY do more women than men choose Christian faiths?

Adults are more apt to voluntarily choose religious affiliation than children - as your own post clearly points out in the case of baptism. It seemed to me that since we were discussing religious choices, it made more sense to look at adult participation since so many minors have little choice in their religious environment.

Fair enough, though a lot of people choose religions -- not necessarily their parents', either -- before the age of 18.

 

[Peggy Anne]

There is a lot of social pressure when it comes to religion. We are somehow supposed to be part of a herd. And that indicates safety ? I don't want to be part of a herd. I don't like doing things in unison.

 

[Humanistheart]

And yet it was christianity which gave us the institution we call the univeristy..

Yes, and these early universities were based on christianity, and taught christian dogma more than they did science. The universities your thinking of do not resemble the ones of today. Also they originally limited students by color and gender. Dogsgods statistic is accurate, the more educated one is the less likely they are to hold superstitious beliefs.