Woman and Religious Tradition

In this essay, I will assess the claim that traditions are parallel in regards to woman by comparing the common beliefs and practices in Hinduism, Confucianism and Islam. I will be concentrating on the commonality of traditional religious practice that is exceedingly male dominated. As Young states, “The tendency toward male domination in the world’s religions (called patriarchy) has inspired movements that have touched virtually all religions in an effort to liberate women from what are considered oppressive religious structures.” He goes on to say, “These campaigns have also sparked resistance among traditionalists, who view attempts to elevate the status of women as an assault on an ordering of life and gender relations that has sacred sanction” (Young, p.371). The foremost sexist practices in the past were established through religious tradition. Even today, sexual discrimination prevails in eastern and western culture even though women’s status has been greatly improved in modern world.

The Confucianism doctrine “The Three Obediences and The Four Virtues” places men superior over women. Emphasizing a pure woman is to obey men, do all the housekeeping, and have no claim in vital choices (Jiang, 2009). Also women were limited to education and taught only practical skills like sewing and caring for men. Symbolizing the significance for a woman’s place in the home, the Chinese symbol for wife has a broom in it (Young p.379). In our text, Confucian states “the female was inferior by nature; she was dark as the moon and changeable as the water, jealous, narrow-mined, and insinuating. She was indiscreet, unintelligent, and dominated by emotion” (Young p.378).

A study was done by Xu, Xiaohe in 1997 on the social issue of wife ab...

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...eved from Academic Search Premier. (Accession No. 38802378)

Novak, P. (2011). . In The world’s wisdom: scared text of the world’s religions (pp. 219-221). [Nookstudy]. Retrieved from

Smith-Spark, L. (2013, July 23). Report: Millions of girls still at risk of female genital mutilation [Press release]. Retrieved from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/23/world/female-genital-mutilation-report/index.html

Xu, X. (1997). The Prevalence and Determination of Wife Abuse in Urban China. [Entire issue]. Journal of Comparative Family Studies. . Retrieved from http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-20391836.html

Young, W. A. (n.d.). The world’s religions and contemporary ethical issues. In C. Campanella, & S. Touborg (Eds.), The world’s Religions Worldviews and contemperay issues (4th ed., pp. 374-379). One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458: Pearson Education, Inc.