Which religion treats women the worst?

Sikhism only provides equal rights to ‘women who become male’ - they wear a turban and are permitted to work and dress as a man does, but I don’t know any Sikh woman who has done this and been able to marry a Sikh man.

A very difficult question to answer because it relies not just on the religion but also on how that religion is manifested in both the cultural norms and the legal framework of the countries it’s practised in.

So for example Christianity doesn’t cover itself in glory but in the UK (which doesn’t have separation of church and state) things are better because the rule of law overrules religious practices that discriminate.

Countries where religion and politics are more strongly linked tend to be more towards the ‘total basketcase’ end of things (Pakistan, Saudi etc.)

There are still some small pockets of matrilineal societies in places like Tibet but in most of these they are matrilineal rather than matriarchal and they tend to have a more animist type religion.

Monotheism seems rather bad for women.

No religion treats women badly, it’s the traditions and the culture of the people who practice the religion who treat women badly - because women are just treated badly everywhere.

If you’re going to base things on what is written in holy books and their analysis - Torah, Talmud, Koran, Hadith, Bible etc etc etc then the best religion for women is Sikhism as the Guru Granth Sahib explicity states how everyone including women are equal.

The worst are Judaism and Christianity. Read Texts of Terror by Phyllis Tribble as a good starting point for a feminist analysis of the misogyny included in the OT in particular. Islam is quite progressive in terms of the treatment of women in comparison.

Problem is that religion is only one tiny part of how women are treated and valued. For example, the Christian Right, which will elect child abusers like Roy Moore and stamp all over a woman’s right to body autonomy, is just as misogynistic as some of the more strict traditions regarding women in Islam, and is just as comparable to the Jewish women left in limbo as they can’t divorce if their husbands say no.

Religion is a handy excuse for the patriarchy to keep women as a sub class of humans.

Crumbs1: "The Catholic Church doesn’t have laws on abortion or contraception.....it has teachings."

Except in countries where the Catholic Church is a powerful influence, those things are illegal. See e.g. the Republic of Ireland from its inception to just a few years ago. Abortion is still illegal there of course.

Islam needs to be condensed, so it can be regulated. Too many sects right now to police the education of Imams.

Islam, per the Qu’ran affords women more rights than any other Abrahamic religion. Women can inherit, women can divorce, women can give evidence in court against a man (yes in Qu’ranic law 2 women = 1 man, but in old Christian and Jewish law there was no parity at all).

What Islam’s issue is, is that it hasn’t had it’s reformation / enlightenment period yet. That is what Saudi (and Prince Mohammed) is trying to achieve - they want to create a dominant form of Islam which will take over the rest of the sects.

It’s not the research I was thinking of but
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/12136531/Religion-can-make-you-happier-official-figures-suggest.html

Those nasty religions making people happy and protecting people from depression, eh?

sashh by your very arguement women who do not have a religious faith cannot have a valid perspective of the lives of women who do as assumedly you haven’t lived the lives of those you wish to ‘ save from oppression’.

‘few skills and a basic education if they choose to leave ‘ mmmmnnn doesn’t come much more patronising, does it? Those skills might well include degrees and postgraduate qualifications in medicine, STEM subjects, dentistry, teaching, HR, languages, international development, nursing, physiotherapy, military strategy, literature or fine arts.

Add on to those the emotional intelligence and flexibility to maintain committed and equal relationships, the skills to support communities and it’s looking like women who have a faith aren’t doing too badly. Hey, some of us can even swim and dance.

I think and will try to dig out the research that shows those with faith are happier too.

My sister was a Baha'i. She was fondof telling me how good its treatment of women was. The religious elders still told her to go back to her abusive husband because marriage was sacred. In practice it's every bit as patriarchal as the rest.

Yes because they do not have the experience to gauge their life. If you have lived all your life in a prison then how can you know what it is like not to be in prison?

Thank God we have you to enlighten us then eh?

Talking down to women of faith helps no one. Religious women, (I include myself in that) are sometimes oppressed and accept it because they are uneducated, or because their afraid. Their abusers justify their actions by using their books. In the same way, a woman is killed by a partner or ex partner once a week (I think), who is blamed for that? It's not broken down by religion and its unlikely they are religious or it would be splashed all over the papers.

Religions especially the three abrahamic ones are massively under attack. Jews, Muslims and Christians are literally made a joke off and are made to look oppressive and backwards, but women don't let go of their faith. Stereotyping an entire community as the op has done completely wrongly just goes to show how ignorant people still are.

Yes, I live in a cave.

It's good that you have decided all religious women are oppressed based on your one Muslim friend. Should I assume anybody with the word 'as' in the their username is an idiot based on your posts? No, because that would be stupid.

Is you 'friend' educated?

I stand by my previous comment, educated women of all religions tend to then understand their religion and not allow men to dictate it for them or impose it on them.

I think women being happy within their religion depends on one of two things: how liberal their immediate culture is in interpreting the religion, or how good they are at deluding themselves that they have power and autonomy.

I don’t mean the latter bit in a patronising “they’re so brainwashed” way because I think all of us whether in religious or secular cultures are brainwashed and that isn’t a sign of stupidity at all but of simply negotiating your way in a culture without going insane.

We all find rationales to explain the world around us. If we didn’t we’d go bonkers.

Is the view of those women living that life less valid?

Yes because they do not have the experience to gauge their life. If you have lived all your life in a prison then how can you know what it is like not to be in prison?

If you try to leave you have (and this applies tot he men too) a basic education and few skills that can be applied in the outside world.

It's a bit like when North Koreans defect, many struggle to adapt to South Korea, you go from having everything about your life dictated to. 'get on eith it'.

As for which is worse. I believe the majority have been developed exactly to keep women 'in their place'.

Most of my Catholic friends are not oppressed ‘good little homemakers’ ; they are doctors, teachers, lawyers, CEOs, artists, social workers and whatever else they choose to be.

Unless they want to be a priest.

Some real examples of rape culture on this page!

There are certainly some blinkered views. The Catholic Church doesn’t have laws on abortion or contraception.....it has teachings. The teaching of the Catholic Church is actually that God created all people equal - man and woman. The belief is that in marriage the two (man and woman) are equal parts of the union, they complement each other and whilst they tend to bring different things to the marriage there is absolutely no suggestion that woman are only required to cook, clean and look after the men folk. I am not oppressed. I can think of a few women who have been but that is about individual men rather than Catholicism per se. Most of my Catholic friends are not oppressed ‘good little homemakers’ ; they are doctors, teachers, lawyers, CEOs, artists, social workers and whatever else they choose to be.

advice. I agree - that is what I've noticed too.

To add, I have noticed the professional and educated women of all religions (I know Muslim and Christian women mainly) are not remotely oppressed, the less educated ones are more likely to suffer abuse.

I also read the statistic on rape in Pakistan is 47% of women. This was from a blog about a woman who’d been beaten black and blue on her honeymoon by her husband for refusing him sex and the men in her family were on her husband’s side. It was an awful read.

This is terrible, however Pakistan is a secular country, many Pakistani Muslims have traditions linked to Hinduism, they are definitely more cultural than Islamic. They also incidentally have the highest usage of porn.

Adviceplease - of course. Where I grew up white people were a minority and for this reason the vast majority of my friends were Muslim girls. I follow a fair few blogs by feminist Muslim women and can certainly confirm from the threads on these blogs whereby both men and women are commenting, the angels cursing is still used by men a lot to coerce women into having sex. I also read the statistic on rape in Pakistan is 47% of women. This was from a blog about a woman who’d been beaten black and blue on her honeymoon by her husband for refusing him sex and the men in her family were on her husband’s side. It was an awful read.

My friend, who's a Hindu, is not oppressed, or doesn't appear to be. She talks about her religion with me and she's told me about all the goddesses they have and how she appreciates them more because she's a woman.
Having grown up in a multicultural area, with Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and Jewish friends I really haven't found them to be more oppressed than non-religious people on the whole. But then I don't know everything about their lives.

There's a lot more to the way religious people live their lives than their holy books though.
I seriously doubt that the Muslim women who I know stick to that thing about the angel curses and the sex.
Maybe I'll ask my work mate tomorrow. On second thoughts I don't think I will!

Genuine question, have any of you ever spoke to women of these religions who you feel are oppressing them? By that, I mean the Christian/Jew/Muslim/Hindu woman on the school run?

OP it is okay for people to pick and choose the aspects of their religion to follow. It’s how religions become modernised. As far as which is the worst (in regards to what is written on the scriptures and still widely followed) in the West I’d say Islam for the simple fact that women aren’t allowed to deny their husbands sex without the angels cursing them until the morning, and when women are on their period they are impure. However, you’d have to be pretty well versed in all of the holy scriptures if you were going to make an accurate comparison.