WOMEN AND RELIGION. Contemporary and Future Challenges in the Global Era

This edited collection provides interdisciplinary, global, and multi-religious perspectives on the relationship between women’s identities, religion, and social change in the contemporary world. The book discusses the experiences and positions of women, and particular groups of women, to understand patterns of religiosity and religious change. It also addresses the current and future challenges posed by women’s changes to religion in different parts of the world and among different religious traditions and practices. The contributors address a diverse range of themes and issues including the attitudes of different religions to gender equality; how women construct their identity through religious activity; whether women have opportunity to influence religious doctrine; and the impact of migration on the religious lives of both women and men. The 12 chapters included in this book – written by senior and junior leading scholars from different continents – Asia, North and South America, and Europe – present unique studies to explore tensions and opportunities in the intersection of the different concepts: gender, gender equality, religion, activism, feminism and social change. By using a variety of ‘qualitative’ and ‘quantitative’ methods, the authors address a number of questions: What are the present attitudes of different religions to gender equality? How do women construct their identity through religious activity? Is there a way to reconcile faith and feminism? Do these processes change within different religious traditions? How are contemporary processes of change affecting religious identities and practices for women and men in different contexts?