Women, Religion and the Development Problem

Abstract

The article refers to the women status in four great religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianism and Islamism. In Hinduism, despite changes from religious reforms, Hinduist women still suffer many losses from a religious tradition of five thousand years. Buddhism has treated women in a relatively equal manner. The attitude of Christianism toward women is very complicated, though this religion holds high equality, human personality. The status of women in Islamism has a double aspect. On the one hand, the determination of women’s relations to marriage and inheritance of property had brought them a social status they had not in the past. On the other hand, Islamism conceives women as low. The author also refers to the movement of women’s right in the West, where many people follow Christianism. Theology on women’s right in Christianism and Judaism has criticized the partiality toward men over women. The following part of the article refers to the widespread problem in relation to women and religion. Full text in Vietnamese Religious Studies Vol.6 2005 p.15-25