The church justifies its ideas by basing them on nature; insisting that it is part of human nature for women to be caretakers while men are the breadwinners. Instead of women changing their roles they insist on collaboration. This idea insists that men and women each have gifts, therefore they should work together in order to fill up the part the other lacks. Feminists do not see this as benefiting “they fear it undermines collaboration, because it tends to promote separation and practical inequality” (Kaveny 17). This idea promotes separation rather than togetherness.
The fostering of the cult of domesticity derived from the movements that seemed to be giving them a sense of equality. Movements that can be see between the American Revolution and the Civil War includes that of the second Great Awakening. The equality that this movement brought for women though was limited to the the Church, showing how women had become more faithful and religious than men. Men lost the distinction that they were superior to women spiritually, but it remained that they were both physically and intellectually dominant. “Woman is by nature inferior to man... in passion...intellect...and in physical strength.” These ideals
Marriage is not a religious institution. Overall, the argument would focus on the idea that all Americans should be treated equally and how religion should not be a factor for this decision. On the other hand, the opponents would disagree with most of what the proponents had to say. Their main argument would be the idea that same sex marriage is “not natural” and is against the whole purpose of marriage. The argument would revolve mostly around religious beliefs and the fact that they think homosexuality is believed to be “sinful” and that God’s whole purpose was to create marriage for a man and woman to procreate and raise a family.
Who is Carol Gilligan and what does her research say about possible gender differences in moral reasoning Who is Carol Gilligan and what does her research say about possible gender differences in moral reasoning? Carol Gilligan is a renowned psychologist in the field of women's studies who challenged Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning by suggesting that Lawrence Kohlberg's theory is inaccurate because he did not consider the woman's affinity to caring in the context of making moral decisions. He instead only considered moral development from the male perspective of justice and rights. Gilligan argues that Kohlberg's theory "does not adequately represent the morality of girls and women" (Berk, 2010, p 409). She also suggested that his research was flawed because his research participants were Caucasian males that were well off, and therefore could not present an accurate theory with such limitations on his research.
Secondly, some theologians claim that the whole unwillingness to female priests is caused by the so called “Representation of Christ”. It is a religious dogma stating that a priest represents Christ when he ministers to individual members of his flock. Since Jesus was undeniably male, then the ideal form of the pastor or priest is to also be male. As one theologian said: That one male is best represented by another male is a matter of common sense. What is more, as there are many conflicting feelings and completely opposite views on the issue of legalising female ordination, any radical change in the current canon law code would certainly act against the unity and unanimity of the Church and of
Then if religious texts promote equality, why are women still discriminated against? Despite religion guiding them as to how to treat their women,
It was assumed that True Womanhood would be naturally adopted because of women’s deeper religious connections and because of her purity. These were two qualities that men were not assumed to have possessed naturally. Christian Motherhood was a part of the fuel behind the propaganda of True Womanhood. Protestant leaders made women the leaders in cleansing of society from evil. Men were seen deviating from religious values and it was up to the women’s “purifying passionless love”(barbera Welter) to salvage the men’s relationship with God.
Feminist philosophers critique traditional ethics as pre-eminently focusing on men's perspective with little regard for women's viewpoints. Caring and the moral issues of private life and family responsibilities were traditionally regarded as trivial matters. Generally, women are portrayed as ethically immature and shallow in comparison to men. Traditional ethics prizes masculine cultural traits like “independence, autonomy, intellect, will, wariness, hierarchy, domination, culture, transcendence, product, asceticism, war, and death,”[2] and gives less weight to culturally feminine traits like “interdependence, community, connection, sharing, emotion, body, trust, absence of hierarchy, nature, immanence, process, joy, peace, and life.”[2] Traditional
Since we haven’t reached that point, affirmative action for women is seen as more or less acceptable. However, these “sameness criteria” have nothing to do with authentic gender equality, and instead introduce an element of confusion when discussing this subject. Assuming that equality means sameness is inherently problematic since if you want men and women to make exactly the same career choices, family choices and lifestyles choices, then you are basically trying to fit individuals into your own preconceived notion of reality. A Better Definition Equality between the sexes simply means that men and women have equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities. According to this definition we need to remove all legal discrimination as well as break down stereotypes that prevent people from leading the lives that they want.
They argue that religion is patriarchal in that women are exploited by men and seen as subordinate. Feminist sociologists are interested in how women have become subservient and how religion has promoted patriarchy. This view is not just shared by female and feminist sociologists. Anthony Giddens argues that; " The Christian religion is a resolutely male affair in its symbolism as well as its hierarchy. While Mary, the mother of Jesus may sometimes be treated as if she had divine qualities, God is the father, a male figure, and Jesus took the human shape of a man.