The Impact of Religion on Women Empowerment as a Millennium Development Goal in Africa (original) (raw)

Religion and Women Participation in National Development

Journal of Management and Social Sciences, 2021

The role of women in nation building cannot be overemphasized. In any nation, women's contribution to development is significant in the area of culture, economy and politics. Religion has been a strong influence on how women participate in society. With this, the impact has been both positive and negative. In national development discourse, little attention is paid to the influence of religion on women and how they participate in national development. In filling this scholarly gap, this paper gives an overview of religion and development in Nigeria. It examines African traditional religion and women participation in Nigeria, the new religions and women participation in Nigeria. It further discusses women's contribution to national development. This paper adopts Emile Durkheim's functionalism theory of religion. Data is collected from secondary sources such as books, journals and articles. Recommendations are made towards making women do more in contributing to national development.

Implications of Religion Engagement and Development Projects on Gender Equality

International Journal of Political Activism and Engagement

The study rationalized how development projects implemented through religion engagement (RE) implicates satisfactorily attaining gender equality. Reorganized establishment based on secondary data analyzed using qualitative and quantitative techniques found how social development projects implemented through RE increased gender equality, thus reducing gender gap index. And this is evidenced by how the gender gap index in Tanzania declined from 0.652 to 0.537 between 1995 and 2017. However, it was high, as by 2022 the gender gap index recorded 0.72 in Tanzania. This attributed by several factors, including agricultural and livestock development projects, increased gender inequality as men dominate more than women, and causal factors are that women lack capital and are inaccessible to credit services as they lack mortgage assets. The conclusion shows development projects implemented through RE are significantly increasing gender equality, but a gap remains a crucial problem facing Tanz...

RELIGION, GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT: EMERGING ISSUES

ABSTRACT The term gender simply means the classification of people into male and female, but it is more than that. Gender classification includes what society expects from each of the sexes: both biological and social responsibilities. Nature has bestowed upon the female gender certain natural and social expectations which include: child-bearing, household duties, planting, harvesting and processing of agricultural produce. This could be summarized as production and reproduction. Likewise, the male has the major responsibility, as the head of the household, of taking care of the family. It is in this light that this study looks at the religion perspective of gender to the development of Nigeria. The study made use of primary data via the administration of two hundred questionnaires to respondents. The result shows that both the males and females are essential in the development of Nigeria. Keywords: Religion, Gender and Development

A Review of Literature on the Role of Religion in Women’s Movements for Social Change in

2010

partnership that is exploring the relationships between several major world religions, development in low-income countries and poverty reduction. The programme is comprised of a series of comparative research projects that are addressing the following questions: z How do religious values and beliefs drive the actions and interactions of individuals and faith-based organisations? z How do religious values and beliefs and religious organisations influence the relationships between states and societies? z In what ways do faith communities interact with development actors and what are the outcomes with respect to the achievement of development goals? The research aims to provide knowledge and tools to enable dialogue between development partners and contribute to the achievement of development goals. We believe that our role as researchers is not to make judgements about the truth or desirability of particular values or beliefs, nor is it to urge a greater or lesser role for religion in...

Religion and Gender Equality Worldwide: A Country-Level Analysis

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.

Deciphering Gender Disparities in Socioeconomic Cum Cultural, and Religious Practices in Africa

Innovare journal of social sciences, 2023

Demographically, more than half of the African population are women. Nevertheless, disparities in allusion to gender lingers at the apex of contemporary issues, especially in Africa. For several decades, women have been longstanding and continuously sidelined from the socioeconomic, cultural, and religious leadership positions and participation. Gender disparities, therefore, seem to be deeply embedded in socioeconomic, cultural, and religious practices in Africa. Despite the multifarious national and international legislations endorsed against gender disparities, there remains a great lacuna of women's marginalization in governance. The study illuminated the gender disparities with the aid of historical and analytical evaluation as well as the social role theoretical framework. This was further combined with the explanatory and exploratory qualitative research design. This was effective in understanding the numerous drivers for gender disparities as well as the social gender roles and norms, the general exploitative nature of marriage, cultural legacies, politics, and religion in the African context vis a vis western world. This paper also discovered that although women are as intellectually capable as men, ostracism of women remains evident across diverse echelons of human civilization including democratic societies. The research found that some critical factors such as economic impediments, lack of or inadequate education, and religious belief, foster gender disparities in Africa. This research recommended an overhaul of the patriarchal education and curriculum, the analysis and study of religious books must be in accordance with the transformed sociological realities. Moreover, equality must be evidenced in the recruitment process of qualified men and women in governance. The paper concluded that the inflexible and barbaric cultural stereotypes and religious practices be reformed with consideration to gender parity. A standard shift is essential especially by women themselves, to ensure that women are both enlightened and empowered.

A cross-national investigation into the effects of religion on gender equality

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 2021

Purpose-This study aims to analyze the effects of religion on gender equality at the national level. Design/methodology/approach-The study distinguishes between the concepts of religiosity and religious affiliation and introduces a measure of religious diversity. The study defines religiosity and gender equality as multidimensional concepts and relies on a wide range of secondary data from credible sources such as the World Value Survey, the United Nations, Gender Gap Report and the World Economic Forum to analyze the effect of religious factors on gender equality in more than 70 countries. Findings-The analyses show that after controlling for the effects of socioeconomic development, religiosity tends to impede gender equality. It is found that Muslim and Hinduism affiliations are negatively and Protestant affiliation is positively associated with gender equality. Furthermore, Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox affiliations and religious diversity do not significantly affect gender equality. Originality/value-At the theoretical level, this study distinguishes between religious affiliations and religiosity and relies on the modernization theory to offer valuable insights into the relationship between religion and gender equality. This study's findings could serve managers and policymakers in dealing with gender disparities in different spheres of social life at the practical level.

Religion and Development Revisited: Comparing Islam and Christianity

To explain the level of difference between Muslim societies and the West, many refer to religious sources as if Christianity caused modern development; and Islam all present misfortunes. This paper challenges this common view of religious determinism arguing that rather than Christianity or Islam per se, it is the variation in social, historical, and ecological conditions that led to the persistence of integration of religion and state hence underdevelopment in many Muslim countries. Neither the realm of Islam was always behind nor was the land of Christianity always at the forefront. Major characteristics such as violence and sexism have been common in Islam and Christianity as well as other religions. That Islam emerged in violence and Christianity against state violence does not represent the entire history of these religions. Jihad in Islam and Crusade in Christianity justify massive violence in favor of their interests. Despite violent resistance of the church against modern reforms, Western societies succeeded in achieving a new civilization and forced the church into its domain of faith, rituals, and moral responsibilities, while Muslim societies have not succeeded yet in achieving similar developments needed to reform Islam. Consequently, unlike the West, religion in Muslim societies still continues to play its traditional roles, including exertion of political power that prevents structural and institutional changes and, most notably, the recognition of individuals' rights needed for modernity. Religious reforms, including separation from the state as a requirement for modern development and democracy in the Muslim world, must begin with multidimensional societal changes with the engagement of the global community.