Gender, Faith, and Development
Edited by Emma Tomalin
Publication date:
01 September 2011Length of book:
160 pagesPublisher
OxfamDimensions:
234x156mmISBN-13: 9781853397264
Faith-based organizations have long been involved in charitable and development activities. However, the emerging openness to thinking about and engaging with religion in development raises some important questions. Does religious engagement in development policy and practice risk harming already fragile gender relations? What are the challenges and opportunities in negotiating the relationships between religion, gender, and development? Gender, Faith, and Development explores in different ways the relationships between religion, gender, and development. Subjects covered include attitudes towards sexual behaviour in areas with a high prevalence of HIV and AIDS; household disputes over the control of income; constraints on women’s time; the difficulties of introducing Western models of gender equity to those in Muslim societies who see feminism as a threat; and changes in abortion legislation. This book is essential reading for academics and researchers in development, gender, political science, sociology, or religious studies, and of interest to development policy makers and practitioners, voluntary sector workers, and social movement activists.
‘The timely, thought-provoking essays of this book provide valuable evidence of the impact of different gender and faith perspectives on practical development issues while also highlighting the complexities and ambiguities of religious influences. Development workers, researchers and social activists will gain from these studies a greater awareness and more critical understanding of how different religious beliefs and practices, whether of Christianity, Buddhism or Islam in the Middle East, Asia, Africa or Latin America, can either be a potential barrier or alternatively a strong incentive for social change.’ Ursula King, Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Bristol
‘The collection’s particular contribution is that it cautions that the links between religion, gender and development are always complex and sometimes contradictory, with ambiguous implications for realising gender equality. The nuanced analyses in the individual papers and the editor’s contributions advance our understanding of the links between religion, gender and development in particular contexts and cultures.’ Carole Rakodi was Director of the Religions and Development Research Programme from 2005 to 2010 and is currently Emeritus Professor in the International Development Department, University of Birmingham.