Christian Sandoval, & Dr. Lindsey Trimble O’Connor
As envisioned by Émile Durkheim, religion is an ancient moral force that reinforces social unity and stability; it gives meaning and purpose to life itself. Despite this, sources suggested that in some areas of the world, higher levels of religiosity exhibit higher levels of gender inequality. Social issues like gender inequality are frequently discussed within sociological academia, however, its connection to religion is lacking research. That is why I sought to understand how one’s religious denomination or lack of it, influences one’s subscription to gender conservatism or gender egalitarianism within the scope of the Abrahamic religions with those being Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. I hypothesized that those who practice religions like Islam would have more gender-role conservative attitudes than Christian groups, like the Protestants and Catholics. I utilized secondary data analysis which used data from the General Social Survey from 2021, a nationally representative survey occurring every year since 1972. The sample size is 4032 and consists of both religious and non-religious Americans. To conduct my analysis, I utilized a bivariate analysis method known as ANOVA on the statistical software: SPSS. The findings supported my hypothesis partially, however, it is clear that there is a significant correlation between religion and gender attitudes. While none of the denominations resulted in extreme conservatism, those practicing Islam were shown to have the most conservative gender beliefs. Contradicting my hypothesis, the Christians were not as egalitarian as I thought, they were the second most conservative group following the Muslims. The most gender-egalitarian groups were the Jews first and then the Atheists. The findings prove that there is a significant difference in gender ideology between the Abrahamic religions and the Atheists. Religion denomination or the lack of it is an important factor to consider when studying the broader issue of gender inequality.