Patriarchal Conditioning and Religion

“Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” - Genesis 2. This was the excerpt from the bible, describing the creation of women from a Christian perspective. The Bibles interpretation on the creation of women is clearly that of a patriarchal nature, as it implies that a woman was made in the image of a man. Although it is not only Christianity that nurtures this type of view on women, Islam also shares the same fundamental deprecation. I plan on bringing awareness to how these two religions greatly influenced the world’s general understanding on women as subjective to men.

Throughout history society was spoon-fed religion, its influence is can be tremendous, and many times society blindly accepts the social norms conventional to ones spiritual views. Christianity and Islam are the two major religions in the world today, the two religions account for approximately a little over 30% and 20% of the worlds population respectively. Therefore its authority spans over more then half of the worlds population making these institutions the two most influential religions in the world. Like most religions, each has a book of teachings that its followers adhere to, for Christianity it is the Bible and Islam the Quran, in each the role of women is widely understood to be submissive to a man therefore fostering a patriarchal religious institution.

I myself grew up in a Christian home, thus I understand the nature of patriarchy in Christianity. Yet I have always believed that all, regardless of social class, race, or in this case gender should share equality. I believe that the best way to combat such old fashioned schools of thought toward women is by simply bringing awareness through education and application of knowledge gained. I plan on bringing awareness to such structural deprecation toward women by writing a research paper and providing power point slides to support my thesis.

link to paper

Patriarchal agenda

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