The Relationship Between Religion and Gender: Are Women More Religious Than Men?

The relationship between religion and gender disparity at national, regional, and global levels is a significant topic of interest in social and political research. The complexity of this relationship has led to differing and contradictory views surrounding it. Studies and surveys conducted have largely confirmed a meaningful relationship between gender and attitudes towards religion, indicating that women are relatively more religious than men. However, this result is not uniform but rather presents a summary of findings. In specific geographical regions or certain subcultures, this may not hold true, and the opposite may be the case, but overall trends and aggregates support this claim. There is no consensus on the origin and cause explaining this phenomenon. There is agreement on its multi-causal nature, but it is not definitively clear which factor—biological, genetic, cultural, environmental, upbringing, economic variables, lifestyle, etc.—plays the dominant role. It can be said with a high degree of certainty that the gender gap in religious orientation is not inherent and natural but rather an acquired phenomenon. It does not matter whether this orientation is internal or external, meaning it could be influenced by prior beliefs and fundamental aspects of human existence or pursue an instrumental view as a means to achieve more significant goals. The Pew Research Center recently conducted a global public opinion survey on the relationship between religion and gender. The results of this project provide a new perspective on the gender-religion relationship in understanding how this phenomenon operates. The research was conducted across six categories: Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and non-religious. Data from 192 countries were collected from censuses, surveys, and other national research from 2010 to the present and processed. Data regarding religious beliefs and practices were extracted from public opinion surveys conducted by the Pew International section in 85 countries between 2008 and 2015. The final result of this research reveals that women globally place more value on religious indicators than men. At the same time, the research indicates that the complexity of the relationship between religion and gender is greater than previously assumed. Although women appear to be more religious than men globally, men in specific parts of the world and in certain religious communities hold stronger religious beliefs than women. According to this report, in Catholic Christianity, women are more religiously inclined than men. However, among Muslims, the ratio of religious women to men is nearly equal. Since the level, scope, and type of religious practices vary across different regions of the world, this study utilized several criteria, including religious affiliation, frequency of attendance at religious centers (participation in public religious ceremonies), the number of daily religious practices, religious symbols, and the importance of religion in daily life. The sample sizes in target communities also varied depending on the available data. The research findings indicate that regardless of the type of religion, 83.4% of women worldwide consider themselves affiliated with a religion, while this ratio for men is 79.9%. Based on the 2010 world census, this approximately five percent difference translates to 97 million more religious women than men. In 61 out of 192 countries, the difference is around two percent. In some countries, the threshold is equal, and there is no gender gap in religious affiliation. However, no country or religion was found where men consider themselves more religious than women. In terms of participation in public religious ceremonies, different behaviors were observed among followers of the target religions. This criterion is considered an exception to the superiority of women's religiosity. While in Catholicism, women attend church more than men, Muslim men and Orthodox Jews attend mosques and synagogues more frequently. The higher attendance of men is related to the greater importance of men's presence in Islam and Judaism in religious practices. For example, men's attendance at Friday prayers is obligatory for Sunni Muslims, while women are not required to attend and can pray individually. In Orthodox Judaism, a minimum of ten men is necessary for prayer gatherings. The findings of the Pew research project reveal that the most significant gender gap in performing daily religious practices individually is present. In 86 countries studied, in half of them, women noticeably perform daily prayers more than men. In other countries, except for Israel, the ratio is equal. Among Orthodox Jews, the number of men performing daily religious practices is relatively higher than that of women. Even among those who do not belong to a specific religion, in countries like the United States and Uruguay, the number of women who engage in daily religious practices and prayers is greater than that of men. In this research, respondents from 84 countries were asked to specify the importance of religion in their daily lives in one of the following options: very important, somewhat important, of little importance, or not important at all. In 46 countries, the ratio of men and women who consider religion to be very important in their daily lives is equal. However, in 36 other countries, women have significantly regarded religion as more important. Only in Israel and Mozambique is this ratio higher for men than for women. Data collected from 63 countries show that both women and men have similar beliefs regarding heaven, hell, and angels. In 47 countries, men and women have similar beliefs about heaven, and in 52 countries about hell. However, in 15 countries, women pay more attention to heaven, and in 10 countries, their belief in hell is stronger than that of men. Additionally, in 14 countries, women have a greater belief in angels. The overall findings of this research confirm the hypothesis that women worldwide, on average, hold more religious beliefs than men, but it clarifies that this ratio is not entirely and uniformly established; rather, it varies across different parts of the world and among various religions, making it impossible to make a unified judgment. Specifically, the gender gap is greater among Catholic Christians than among Muslims. However, an interesting result of this research is revealing a significant relationship between employment type and religious behavior in women. Women who work outside the home have weaker religious beliefs compared to housewives. This finding indicates that the gender gap in religious belief is not inherent, internal, and fixed but rather dependent on other factors that make it variable. In fact, factors such as employment, economic status, and education can shape the relationship between gender and religion. In other words, the gender gap in the world concerning wealth, education, and social status may be a fundamental explanatory factor for the gender gap in religion. Another important output of the research is the lack of a determining relationship between gender disparity and religion itself. The difference between the relationship of gender and religion within each of the six categories considered and in the major world religions varies depending on geographical region and demographic context. This finding clarifies that the gender gap is more a function of culture, specific environmental conditions, and historical developments in individuals' places of residence than a product of the religion and its principles. However, the complexity of the issue does not allow for definitive judgment in this regard. Nevertheless, the numerical superiority of religious women in the world or their relatively greater intertwining with religion indicates that the gender gap in religion is a cross-cutting gap. In the major world religions, particularly the Abrahamic faiths, traditional and well-known interpretations of religions are based on gender discrimination. However, in confronting this gender gap, which does not stem from the essence of these religions and is more a contemporary issue related to temporal and spatial necessities, a reverse gender gap has emerged, with religious women appearing more committed than men or seeming to hold stronger beliefs. Attention to this issue is crucial for ending gender-based religious discrimination. In fact, in the mindset of some women, these inequalities seem natural or justified. Therefore, addressing them does not align with maneuvering on gender justice but rather emphasizes the importance of religious reform or addressing the religion-gender relationship.