6-Gender,Culture and Religion1

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Religion and Culture: barriers to

gender and development?



To begin…

Individually: – Do you have/belong to a culture?

– How do you define culture?

– Think about three things that characterise yourculture

– Who ‘belongs’?

In groups, – talk about what you have said – are there

commonalities and differences within‘cultures’/across cultures?



overview

Religion and culture – often conflated, often confused

James D. Wolfensohn, former President of the WorldBank: ‘‘However you define culture, it is increasingly clear that those of us working in the field of sustainable

development ignore it at our peril’’ in 1999 (WFDD,2001)

Culture can thus be defined as the social, political,economic and religious systems that interact to create

society. Can we talk about gender culture or the ‘gender system,’

where widely held gender beliefs function as effective‘cultural rules’ or ‘instructions’ (Ridgeway and Correll,

2004)?



What is culture? (Jolly, 2002) diverse and dynamic formed by internal and external influences

structured by representations and power

There is no homogenous fixed northern culture toimpose on a homogenous and fixed southernculture

Temporal – ‘tradition’ does not mean static – work

Local interpretations of ‘culture’ are disputed – ‘othered’ groups within society – compulsory heterosexuality

north and south are already interacting and

influencing each other - structured by north-southpower imbalances.



How is culture formed on an

individual level? International interacts with local – globalisation

‘Imagined community’ relies on gender symbols

(Anderson, 1983) Gendered socialisation process – normative

behaviour for men and women.

Policing of women’s sexuality – women’s sexual

behaviour as marker of collective group – honour/shame/punishment

Symbolism of women in war• Hilter youth: women – ‘be faithful, be pure, be German’

• Men – ‘Live faithfully, fight bravely, die laughingly’



Culture and Development Culture is the forgotten dimension in development.

For a long time ‘other’ cultures and not ‘ours’ havebeen promoted through, among other things,foreign development paradigms…However,

rejecting western paradigms does not entailuncritically returning to the past. What is called foris a critical fusion of the two, to construct a world

which is friendly to contemporary Africa. On the

importance of the healthy link between the past andthe future, Verhelst (1989: 63) observes that, ‘wemust hold the past sacred, but the future even moreso.’ (Makuvaza, 1998:43 in Jolly, 2002: 2)



Culture and Development

A basic principle of development co-operation strategies on gender equality is to

broaden decision-making processes so that women, as well as men, have full input intothe definition of what is important and whatneeds should have priority. All too often the

‘cultural argument’ is mobilised by men (bothnorthern and southern) who are opposed tothat basic goal.



Women and culture – the

importance of myth

‘Myths are neither true nor false. To see them in

these terms is to miss the point… Myths arenarratives that do more than tell a good story. They are composed of a series of familiarimages and devices, and work to produce an

order-of-things that takes shape and has itseffects through resonance with the affectivedimensions of deeply held values and norms’(Cornwall, 2007: 151)



Women and culture – the importance

of myth cont Women reproduce nation – biologically, culturally and

symbolically (Yuval Davies) Women as mothers – motherhood key indicator of being

female – informs development policies. Development is not simply an activity, but an approach

which brings with it a whole system of knowledge andpower.

Cultural values are implicit in both statutory and customary

law. Role of women in religious and ethnic wars Those with power appear to have no culture; those without

power are culturally endowed. Western subjects are definedby their abilities to make choices, in contrast to Third World

subjects, who are defined by their group-based determinism.



people within a community will explaintheir actions through their cultural identity. Alternatively, people outside a particular

community may mistakenly identify certainpractices within that community as theresult of culture. Often these two occur intandem, so that, for example, a criminal

defendant will invoke "culture" as theexplanation for his sex-subordinating behaviour (Volpp, 2001: 1193)



Women, „culture‟ and citizenship

Customary, religious law often negatively affect women – MATERIAL effects

• land tenure• Divorce/marriage/fidelity

• access to benefits, children

• Mobility

• Right to work

• pre-natal policies

women’s response to change: war, economic crisis

etc



Gender, Culture and Development

cont. Culture and tradition can enable or obstruct, and be

oppressive or liberating for different people atdifferent times. There is nothing sacred about

culture, and value judgements need to be madeabout which aspects of culture to hold on to, and which to let go of.

who makes such judgements is important.

Challenge assumptions. participation and leadership of previously excluded

groups



Religion and development

Marshall (1999: 3 – 4): The world of religion has been anunacknowledged and often unseen force for many development practitioners in the past . . . Yet religion is sucha pervasive and vital force, that the tendency to ignore it hashad important and even grave consequences in some

situations. Ver Beek (2002) ‘consciously avoided’ on multiple levels

Religion – (spirituality) and Religion (Material structures thatdefine and unify -? - groups)

Faith based initiatives promote development (missions) History of colonialism and religious domination

Religion/culture as markers of ‘backwardness’(modernisation and secularisation)

Context of fundamentalisms – respected local ‘customs’



Political context of fundamentalism?

‘unsecularisation’ of the global community since1990s.

widespread crisis in secular materialism in both the Western industrialised countries and in the third

world Increase of religious nationalism (fuelling conflict)

Focus on women’s rights in Islam but not in

Christianity – West seen as secular conservative Protestant coalition has been gradually

influencing government policy in the US since the1970s.



Fundamentalism

Fundamentalist suggests primary,unquestionable features of religion

Masculinist interpretation of Qu’ran and bible

Development as opposite to fundamentalism Primary focus on women and the family

Emphasis on purity, honour, dignity

Society idealised – public/private Culture or religion?

Use of culture to justify structural inequalities



Gender as focal point in fundamentalism

(religion or culture?)

‘ideal woman and ideal society’ (Papanek inMoghadan)

Complemetarity – biological essentialism Women and culture as ‘other’ ( cf: Guatemala) Women as symbol of community – reproductive

role, symbolism of ‘mother’ Assumption og ‘unipolar relationship between

women and religion in Islam’ (Shaheed Contradictions eg: veil contributes to issues of

representation; women as ‘other’ since symbolisesoppression?



Secular v Sharia law

Shar’ia – ‘those institutions which Allah has

ordained in full or essence to guide the individual inhis relationship to God, his fellow Muslims, his

fellow men and the rest of the universe’ (Yamani) Men’s exclusive right to construction of Shar’ia

Room for interpretation but prescriptive for women

Inconsistency between Shar’ia and Qu’ran Alternative argument: use of pure Shar’ia to

guarantee women’s rights (Women living under

Shar’ia Law – reinterpretation of spiritual texts)




Cont. Kohut et al. (2000): although the

constitutional barrier between church andstate in the US remains intact, the boundary

between religion and politics has becoming increasingly blurred since the Carteradministration. Conditionality on funding for

development projects esp concerning issuesof family planning/ HIV-AIDs (Obamaglobal gag)




Cont.

Religion = women’s subordination orpatriarchal reading of religious doctrine?

Women’s role in revolution (Iran – mobilisation, literacy, employment esp of WC women – see: Baharamitash, 2004; CatholicChurch – women in Latin America)

Cannot homogenise women’s experiences of religion – class issues



GAD: “White women saving Brown

women from Brown men”‟ (Spivak).

Enabling women to raise their own status insocieties, and tackle their own cultural

constraints Local agenda setting and capacity building

Long term investment and research as

‘altering culture is by definition a long -termprocess’ (page 10).



Case Study: Between you and me: a

different life (Oxfam America, El

Salvador) http://www.oxfamamerica.org/articles/a-new-campaign-led-by-women

MULTI-SECTORAL APPROACH targeted in local municipalareas since 2005 – integrated educational communities.

Coalitions of actors: state institutions on local and nationallevels, NGOs, Schools and Universities – working together –

Ventanas Ciudadanas. Research – evidence based policy making allowing both

qualititative and quantitative methodologies.

Advocacy and awareness raising: – public campaigns (buses, press, internet etc), Alliances with women

parliamentarians, judiciary, schools

Training –

judges, police, staff of judiciary, womenparliamentarians, local community leaders (over 1000 since2007)

Replication across institutions

Youth Programme –camps, theatre, music, video all aimed atprevention and awareness raising



What helps women is having someone to openthem up to knowledge, to take away that littleblindfold that they have in their eyes to say ‘I

was mistaken, I said that it couldn’t be done’ or

‘I was mistaken, I thought that it was normalbut I am realising it is not’, but because their

self esteem is so low, they think that everything

that is happening is ok and that it happens toeveryone so why would they feel different



Concluding thoughts Religion and culture ‘matter’ but need to separate out Issue of interpretation – religion and culture to justify

women’s subordination

Religion as empowering – comforting? (Growth in

Pentecostalism) World Faiths Development Dialogue (initiated by the World

Bank in 1998)

Gendered constructions often reinforce subordination of women – naturalise women’s position

Is it culture, religion or male privilege?

Link – are human rights universal?

6-Gender,Culture and Religion1

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