Church played an important role in the fight to bring positive social change in various parts of the world. Specifically, the church was concerned with racial and gender discrimination, violation of human rights and freedom, and even some of the social ills such as adultery as well as wife battery. However, Protestant Christianity and Protestant women played a major role in championing for social change, especially when compared to their Catholic counterparts. Protestants were relentless in the fight for social change.
There are many reasons why protestant women emerged as forces for social change. However, one of the major reasons was that Protestant denominations accorded women more power and equality than the Catholic Church ( Agadjanian, 2015) . Consequently, women were able to freely express their thoughts and opinions on some of the issues and problems that were affecting the society. At the same time, power and equality that were given to Protestant women enabled them to engage in activities that were previously reserved for men such as protesting against injustices in the society. The second major reason was that Protestant women were allowed to pursue education to learn how to write and read ( Bartkowski & Hempel, 2009) . Education also empowered women to understand issues that were affecting the society better their Catholic counterparts.
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Finally, Protestant denominations gave their followers the opportunity to have a direct connection with God. As a result, they were able to assess their conscience and follow the dictate of their convictions. The ability to follow individual's conscience made Protestant Christianity and Protestant women to emerge as forces for social change. Religious ideologies and practices have a significant influence on beliefs, actions, and behaviors of individuals ( Domínguez, 2017) . Therefore, Protestant teaching and practices motivated people to participate in social change movements actively.
References
Agadjanian, V. (2015). Women's religious authority in a Sub-Saharan setting: Dialectics of empowerment and dependency. Gender & Society , 29 (6), 982-1008.
Bartkowski, J. P., & Hempel, L. M. (2009). Sex and gender traditionalism among conservative Protestants: Does the difference make a difference?. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion , 48 (4), 805-816.
Domínguez, J. P. (2017). Introduction: Religious toleration in the Age of Enlightenment. History of European Ideas , 43(4), 273-287.
