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Gender and Theology Summary for A-Level Christian Thought
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Gender and societyFeminism The name given to a wide range of views arguing for, and working for,
equality for women
Gender biology Physical characteristics that identify someone as male or female
Gender identification The way people identify themselves as male or female
Gender expression The ways people identify themselves as a result of their gender
identification
Socialisation The process by which people learn cultural norms
Patriarchal society A society dominated by men and men’s interests
Someone’s biological sex is determined by physical attributes such as chromosomes, sex organs and
hormone levels but the word ‘gender’ describes someone’s relationship between their physical
characteristics, their gender biology and the way people chose to perceive themselves as well as their
behaviour. Gender identification and gender expression are often heavily influenced by the way's
society expects its members to behave.
Most people are born with a distinctive biological sex, which is obvious from the moment they are born
and often obvious before birth. A small number are born with both female and male characteristics.
From a young age, people learn about the expectations associated with being a boy or a girl, and they
develop their gender identification and expression through socialisation. Our parents, siblings, peer
groups, and other members of our society all contribute to our socialisation.
In western society, socialisation traditionally puts a lot of emphasis on learning to make a distinction
between male and female. Greeting cards, for example, that congratulate parents on having a child,
are often decorated with blue for boys and pink for girls. A baby’s sleep suit may have trains or
dinosaurs in strong primary colours like red or blue, whereas a girls’ may have softer colours like pink
and yellow with flowers on. In English, we also use pronouns for people that denote their gender,
saying ‘he’, or ‘she’ so that our listeners are always aware of gender and we also have gendered roles
like ‘auntie’ and ‘uncle’. We also learn to address people formally using ‘Mr’ and ‘Mrs’. Our use of
language is gender-binary since it implies that there are two and only two genders.
In an effort to avoid restricting children’s aspirations through stereotyping, schools make an effort to
use textbooks and storybooks that show that girls can enjoy science or can be engineers and that
boys can be nurses and poets. However, it is still common for teachers to stereotype, such as asking
for pupils’ mums to sew their names into their PE kit. Traditional views of gender are deeply
embedded in Western culture. When young people reach an age where they can choose their school
subjects, more boys than girls pick science and more girls pick languages and arts. The gender gap
widens even further in education and the world of employment.
Patriarchy and feminism
Most societies in the world are patriarchal. Men hold most of the positions of power in governments
and in the workplace, men create most of the laws and are seen as the ' head of the household’ at
home. It is an accepted truth in patriarchal societies that men are stronger than women and that they
have different aptitudes which make them better suited to different roles in public and private life. Men
are seen as more rational whereas women are thought of as more emotional; this has been used as
an argument for allowing men to make important decisions involving governing, voting, and running
companies while women are expected to take caring roles such as looking after young children and
the elderly.
The feminist movement is a term used to encompass a range of different beliefs and ideologies that
share the aim of improving rights and opportunities for women. The movement became popular in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There have always been women who have resisted being cast in
traditionally subordinate roles and who have refused to express themselves in this way.
Feminism is often divided into three waves; the ‘first wave’ is the name given to the movement that
worked primarily for women’s rights to vote, the ‘second wave’ began in the 1960s and took on wider
issues, such as women’s sexual health, right to contraception, abortion as well as campaigning
against domestic violence and rape and for equality in the workplace. ‘Third wave’ feminism refers to
, movements that began in the 1990s and continue to today; calls into question the whole notion of
gender roles as well as aiming to be inclusive of all women of all ethnicities, sexualities and
backgrounds as a reaction to earlier versions of feminism that concentrated on the voices of affluent
heterosexual women.
Women were not allowed to vote on equal footing with men until 1928; by 1918 some over the age of
30 were allowed to vote, and reliable birth control was ot readily available until the 1960s. When the
contraceptive pill was introduced, it was originally prescribed only for older married women who
already had a number of children. It was not until 1974 that family planning clinics were allowed to
prescribe the pill for single women. This was controversial as it was thought that it would encourage
sex outside of marriage. Abortion was illegal until 1967 and it was not until 1970s that women were
legally entitled to the same pay as men for the same work. In France, a married woman could only be
employed to work outside of the home if she had her husband’s permission and this restriction was
not lived until 1965.
Liberal feminism is the feminism that seeks equality for campaigning for changes in the law.
Radical feminism takes the view that women cannot be liberated within a capitalist patriarchal
society and it advocates a total uprooting and rebuilding of society.
Marxist feminism sees women’s struggle for freedom through the lens of Marxism, so
women’s oppression is understood as a symptom of the oppression that happens where there
is private ownership of the means of production.
Black feminism, post-colonial feminism, and indigenous feminism are all strands of feminism
that aim to give voices to and further the interests of non-white women in their own countries.
Ecofeminism emphasises the connection between women and the natural world, seeing a
relationship between care for the planet and freedom for women and placing blame for
damage to the planet on patriarchal capitalism.
Separatist feminism seeks freedom for women in isolation from men, seeing heterosexual
relationships as inherently disempowering for women.
In the context of Christianity there are some feminists who argue that change needs to be made within
practices and leadership in order to give women more equality. Some argue that religious worship
should focus on God as feminine, using the language of motherhood rather than the language of
fatherhood. Others argue that Christianity and other religions are entirely incompatible with feminism,
because religion is a social construction that is heavily intertwined with patriarchy and they argue that
feminists should abandon religion altogether.
The view that men and women are not equal
Some believe that men and women are not equal, and that men are better than women in every way.
This is a view that dates back to Plato and Aristotle. Plato believed that women were inferior to men
since being born a woman was something that unfortunately happens to men who did not get it right
the first time. Plato did, however, support that women should be treated more fairly in Republic where
he discusses that women should be treated as possessions of men.
Aristotle’s opinions have been influential on Western society partly because they seemed to be
supported by science. He observed that women seemed to be naturally inferior and therefore
concluded that men should rule over them. According to Aristotle, reproduction happens because of
the male ability to produce semen; women cannot so he concluded that women are defective men.
The woman’s role in reproduction for him is passive whereas the man’s is active.
Aquinas believed that men are better since they are more intelligent and stronger. He thought that
women were created by God to be inferior to men as part of the natural variety and order of the world;
it had always been this way not because of the sin of Eve. However, Aquinas also noted that is a
special place in heaven for women such as the Virgin Mary and the women who waited at the foot of
the cross when Jesus died, and he commended them for their love of God.
The view that men and women are equal in worth
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