WOMEN’S RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY IN A SUB-SAHARAN SETTING Dialectics of Empowerment and Dependency
View/ Open
Issue Date
2016-03-21Author
Agadjanian, Victor
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, author accepted manuscript
Rights
Copyright SAGE Publications
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Western scholarship on religion and gender has devoted considerable attention to women’s entry into leadership roles across various religious traditions and denominations. However, very little is known about the dynamics of women’s religious authority and leadership in developing settings, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, a region of powerful and diverse religious expressions. This study employs a combination of uniquely rich and diverse data to examine women’s formal religious authority in a predominantly Christian setting in Mozambique. I first use survey data to test hypotheses regarding the prevalence and patterns of women’s formal leadership across different denominational groups. I then support and extend the quantitative results with insights on pathways and consequences of women’s ascent to formal congregation authority drawn from qualitative data. The analysis illustrates how women’s religious authority both defies and reasserts the gendered constraints of the religious marketplace and the broader gender ideology in this developing context.
Collections
Citation
Agadjanian, Victor. "Women's Religious Authority in a Sub-Saharan Setting." Gender & Society 29.6 (2015): 982-1008.
Items in KU ScholarWorks are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
We want to hear from you! Please share your stories about how Open Access to this item benefits YOU.