Confronting the Gap: Why Religion Needs to be Given More Attention in Women’s Studies

Abstract

This essay comes out of my experience of finding my work marginalized in both Religious Studies and Womenââ¬â¢s Studies. It seems that religion is not a primary concern in mainstream Womenââ¬â¢s Studies scholarship. When I talk about taking religion seriously, I am pointing to both aspects of religious/spiritual life. I am calling for an inclusion of religion/spirituality in feminist scholarship which does not necessarily say religion is all good, but rather recognizes that it exists and can, and in fact does, have multiple meanings for womenââ¬â¢s lives. Feminist scholars who are concerned with intersectional analysis and addressing womenââ¬â¢s lived experiences need not radically change their theoretical approaches in order to take into account the integration of religion/spirituality with other aspects of womenââ¬â¢s lives. Addressing womenââ¬â¢s religious lives/experiences very simply adds another category of analysis to a theoretical approach which already calls for multiple categories of analysis.