There are diverse views regarding the status of women in society. Religion is among the factors that determine the role of women. Different religions including Christianity, Islam and Buddhism have varying aspects that control how women should behave when it comes to religious matters. Some religions create constraints that discourage women from following their religious paths. For instance, Buddhists believe that men control women; therefore, for a woman to become a nun, she must attain approval from her husband or her parents. If they do not receive permission to become nuns, they can do so at old age. On the contrary, some religions provide opportunities for women to follow their religious callings. Because of this, they are encouraged to take up challenging tasks that enable them to become role models for other people in society. Religion is a basic tool that determines the role of women in society as some come with restraints while others bring opportunities to follow their heart desires.
How Religions Create Constraints
Buddhist men create religious constraints for women in their culture since they are the main determinants of whether they should or should not choose the pious path. In the early Buddhist life, women were unable to pursue a spiritual life until they were old. Similarly, when they wished to become nuns at an early age, the Buddha advised them to seek permission from their husbands who controlled them or their parents (Muller, 1910). A case in example is Mettika who became a nun at her old age as evident in her poem when she states that, “My clock thrown off… The breath of liberty! I win, I win ”.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Religion causes women following the pious path to drop their beauty because theirs is a life of service to humanity and not maintenance of beauty. Ambapali, a Buddhist woman is one of the nuns who lost her beauty while striving to serve God. In her poem, she writes that, “ Beauteous the arms of me once shone like twin pillars cylindrical. They with the waste of the years hang feeble as withering branches.” Klingorova & Haolicek (2015) state that Ambapali wrote this poem after she realized that with religion, one had to shed off their beauty because of the numerous tasks ahead. Besides, she realized that men desired to be the only religious people and not women. This was evident when she was walking in a procession with Bikkhunis, doing homage at a shrine, when an Arahant Their saw her and spat in the shrine.
In some religions, women suffer for unknown mistakes. For instance, in the Iroquois creation myth, one of the Sky Women realized that she was going to give birth to twins. On informing her husband, he became angry because during those times, no one ever died or gave birth (Abler, 1987). The Sky woman’s husband tore a tree at the center of the island that usually gave them light therefore creating a huge hole. Out of curiosity, the pregnant woman peeped into the hole and her husband pushed her making her fall towards the waters below.
How Religions Provide Opportunities for Women
Three young men of the bodyguard decided to take a test by stating the strongest thing in the universe and whoever pleased the king became the wisest. King Darius would reward him with rich gifts and honors of victory. The first one stated that wine was the strongest; the second man said that the king was the strongest, while the third man stated that women were the strongest. Coburn (1991) asserts that Zerubbabel, the third man won because he outlined reasons why women were the strongest. First, he stated that women were the strongest because they gave birth to the kings and made wine. Second, if men gathered gold and silver and saw a lovely woman, they would admire her and let the precious things to go. Third, at the end of the day, men went to their wives without even thinking of their own parents. Fourth, a man could go to war, steal, face lions, walk in darkness and bring items he stole to his woman. Fifth, women have made great men like kings to perish and even commit sin. With all these reasons, king Darius awarded Zerubbabel with the title of his relative. In this case, he changed his mind about women and regarded them highly.
Some religions consider women as great warriors. For instance, when the gods viciously fought and destroyed the defiant asura army. The Goddess Chandika struck Raktabija with her spear and Kali enjoyed drinking his blood. Raktabija retaliated but Chamunda devoured all the asuras born from blood in her mouth. She further hit him with his thunderbolt, swords and arrows that he finally fell to the ground and died. The goddesses had won the battle against the asuras who had conquered all the other armies of the land.
Roles of Female Deities in Society
The prevalence of female deities translated to women empowerment in society at that time because they led a life of virtue as well as a self-controlled one inspiring the rest of the women to chase after their dreams. Because of their exemplary work, people sung of their praises and they acted as role models to other men who desired to be in their place. A case in example is Matrona whose hard work inspired both men and women. She left her husband to live freely in the spiritual life. She committed her whole life in vigils and prayer. In addition, she shaved her hair, dressed like a eunuch, changed her name to Babylas, and went to the monastery of the holy Basianus, a place of monks who are only men. At the monastery, Matrona participated in spiritual competition and soon elevated herself to the perfect life according to God. She endured hard labor and surpassed the monks by observing obedience because nof her humility .For this reason, the other monks admired her and wanted to imitate her.
In conclusion, religion was a factor that defined the role of women in society in the olden times. Some religions provided constraints for women to promote inequality while others provided them an opportunity to display their religious prowess and act as role models to other people in the society. In the modern world, most religions like Christianity have embraced equality among women and men while others like Islam still constraint women in terms of religion and regard them as the inferior sex. All said and done, what matters in religion is a persons relationship with God and not their sex.
References
Abler, T. S. (1987). Dendrogram and celestial tree: numerical taxonomy and variants of the Iroquoian creation myth. The Canadian Journal of Native Studies, 7 (2), 1987.
Coburn, T. B. (1991). Encountering the Goddess: A translation of the Devi-Mahatmya and a Study of Its Interpretation. SUNY Press.
Klingorova, K., & Havlíček, T. (2015). Religion and gender inequality: The status of women in the societies of world religions. Moravian Geographical Reports, 23 (2), 2-11.
Müller, E. (1910). Psalms of the Early Buddhists.—I. Psalms of the Sisters. By Mrs Rhys Davids MA London: published for the Pali Text Society, 1909. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 42 (2), 536-539.
