Answer to Question #169830 in Sociology for RICHARD OWUSU

Question

The church is a major social institution in Africa. Analyse four (4) ways in which the church perpetuate culturally constructed gender inequalities and explain how these could be addressed.

 

Answer 1

·        It is unfortunate that most churches, even in modernity, still acknowledge the African cultural beliefs that instituted gender roles. There is a disparity in the number of women who take responsibilities for men in the current churches. Most priests, pastors or signatories of high-level offices in the African Church organizations are men.

·        Religious beliefs that designate men as the head of most families are greatly encouraged by most churches to exalt men to be more superior gender than women. This vice tolerates the traditional African beliefs that undermine the voices of women.

·        Christianity and Islamic religion, among other faiths, are examples of entities that embrace gender insensitivity when it comes to freedom to the attire. There are designed specific clothes allocated for women to put irrespective of weather conditions or anyone’s wish.

·        Violence against women originates from other African and religious beliefs that are wrongly interpreted, such as the submission of wives to their husbands. Indeed, it is a moral value to submit to anyone, but it should be two-way traffic whereby submission is mutually exercised between men and women.