I’m sure we could name countless ways religion oppresses
women. Women are not allowed to become priests. Women have to wear the burqa.
Women cannot get abortions because religion calls them “murder.” Overall, women
seem to be inferior
human beings in the eyes of God, and this gives men the excuse to rape
women, beat their wives, and pay their female employees a lesser rate than men.
In the recent book I read, Homeless Bird—Koly
underwent a lot of the suffering she did because she was a woman. Hari only
married her because of her dowry, and the dowry basically conveys the message,
“That’s how much it costs to get rid of you.” Women don’t have any means of
supporting themselves in India, so when Koly’s Sass left her after her Sassur
died, she was left homeless and had to go to a home for widows. Salvation only
came for her when a man offered to marry her again.
Yes, that is all in the holy books and the traditions, but
can we blame religion entirely for
the oppression of women? I don’t think so. After all, we don’t listen to
everything the holy books say. For example, there are seven examples of suicide
in the Bible that go unpunished, but we still insist that suicide is wrong. We
pick and choose what we like and what we believe to be moral from those holy
books. Men happened to think that the oppression of women was moral and
enforced it ever since.
Although religion may seem to have a lot to say about what
women can and cannot do, it is primarily people
that establish these rules and traditions. Religion can be a force for good
and equality or a force for evil and inequality. Yes, people murder others in
the name of religion, but there are also nuns that go where no other people
have dared to go before just to help people and spread the word of God. There
are countless other examples where religion is a tool to do both good and bad
things.
Things that include the oppression of women. Religion is not
entirely to blame as at the end of the day, it is all just about community and
a belief in a higher power(s). I believe people are to blame for inequality and
oppression.
Do you agree with me when I say this? What is your own
perspective on religion and the oppression of women or any minority group?
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