Throughout history, it has generally been said that women are more religious than men. A new study, recently published, analyses the reasons behind this trend.

The study Gender and Religion: A Survey, was led by Professor Sascha Becker, of the University of Warwick (England), alongside co-authors Jeanet Sinding Bentzen of the University of Copenhagen (Denmark), and Chun Chee Kok of the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium).

They “synthesize findings from numerous studies”, focusing on “those with credible causal identification, such as natural experiments, instrumental variable approaches, and policy changes”, to “provide an academic survey of the literature on gender and religion”.

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The survey has two main parts. The first one addresses the question: why are women more religious than men in many societies?, while part two explores how religion impacts gender-related outcomes.

Gender religiosity gap

The analysed data show that “women are generally more likely than men to report a religious affiliation, to engage in daily prayer, and to consider religion an important part of their lives”.

However, “patterns of participation differ across religious contexts: while women attend worship services more frequently than men in predominantly Christian societies, the reverse tends to hold in Muslim and Jewish contexts”, point out the researchers.

Why are women more religious than men?

According to the study, there are three main reasons why women are more religious than men: time allocation and the division of labor; risk management; and what the authors called “compensation for deprivation”.

“Traditionally, religious participation was modeled as a 'household-produced' good, and wives had a comparative advantage in producing it”, but “evidence from more recent data points to lower levels of religious practice among women who work outside the home”, so that, in general, “the gender religiosity gap is smaller in societies with higher female labor-force participation”.

Regarding risk management, the survey reveals that women are “more risk-averse” than men on average.

“The safety net aspect of religion could appeal to risk-averse individuals and those vulnerable to shocks. And if women are more risk-averse, they may be more inclined to be religious to avoid existential uncertainty”, states the study.

Furthermore, “under the deprivation for compensation theory, women who are disadvantaged or confined by societal structures might turn to religion for fulfillment and status”.

Although that hypothesis “is difficult to test directly, qualitative accounts and historical trends lend it plausibility”, underline the authors.

“A multi-faceted phenomenon”

The study presents two minor explanations for greater religiosity in women. One is the “physiological and life-cycle factors” (pregnancy, childbirth and caregiving, women’s longer life expectancy); and the other the “secular competition”, which occurs because “men are more likely to substitute religious participation with non-religious communal activities, such as sport or social clubs”.

“The gender gap in religiosity is a multi-faceted phenomenon that has yet to be fully explored. It will be interesting to see whether the traditional religiosity gap persists or converges”, concludes the first part of  the survey.

Religion impact on gender-related outcomes

“Religion can influence a wide array of outcomes for women, from how much and what type of education children receive, to women’s participation in the workforce, to fertility choices and family structure, to legal rights and social attitudes”, reads the study.

However, “the influence of religion is far from monolithic, sometimes yielding contradictory findings. In some contexts, religious movements promoted female empowerment – for example, Protestant missionaries expanding girls’ schooling – whereas in others religious conservatism hinders women’s economic and social progress”, it adds.

For the authors, “this duality suggests that religion can both reinforce and relax traditional gender roles under different conditions, a nuance that current scholarship has not yet fully resolved”.

Considering all the data, “it is clearly a puzzle that women are, on average, more religious than men despite most religions promoting and entrenching patriarchal norms which impose significant costs and burdens upon them”, points out the study.

“Understanding whether these gaps will close with further social change, or whether deeper psychological or socialization factors will sustain a female religiosity surplus, is an area ripe for future inquiry”, it concludes.

You can read the full study here.

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