Religion And American Women: Influence On Politics By Women

Dr. Ann Braude from Harvard Divinity School claimed in1997that Americanwomen’s history is American religious history if women were the characters of Americanreligious history and their religious lives and roles were narrated, because women made upa majority of church members and achieved spiritual equality with men. In addition, theyhave been the guardians of public morality in different historical contexts. So, therelationship between American women and religion is closely related. Any research onAmerican women’s social and political role could trace the roots in their religious beliefs.This paper aims to discuss women’s influence on American politics in the context oftheir religious life and beliefs. Research shows that in most religious organizations, womengo to church more regularly and show greater piety. Their religious faiths in turn affecttheir attitudes toward social issues. However, even though women have a numericaldominance, even though they are more religiously observant, even though they havecontributed tremendously to their churches, women found themselves inferior to men interms of their church status, and also their needs and roles were marginalized in theirchurches. When women participated in religiously based activities that aimed to makechanges in the society, they felt that they were powerless. It is the sense of “powerlessness”that not only made women become aware of their gender and their needs but also provideda political identification for women to participate in political life. Meanwhile, women’sendeavor to seek their leadership in their churches provided references for their fight forequality in political arena.Moreover, the Second Great Awakening motivated women to participate in public lifeby providing justifications for female presence in social changes. Apart from that, socialreforms played a significant role in equipping women with necessary capacity and skillsrequired for their effective political participation. Their social network and supports werealso broadened.Since the ultimate aim of women’s political participation is to gain legislative resultsby amassing widespread supports for their agenda, they need to have more like-mindedrepresentatives who embrace their claims, recognize their concerns and favor their elections, office appointment, presidential nominations, and most important, presidentialcampaigns. To become deeply and widely involved in decision-making bodies, women andtheir supporters have had a significant impact on American politics.This paper will have three chapters. Religious influence on and motivations forwomen’s political presence will be discussed first. Then, the focus is that religion plays asignificant role in women’s political participation by affecting their issue positions, byinvolving in the advocacy for political parties and also by influencing the dynamics ofelectoral politics. Finally, women’s political gains and limitations are also discussed withregard to the interactions between women, religion and politics.