Religion and Gender in Europe: Thinking through Politico-social and Theoretical Challenges

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the state of the art in the study of religion and gender in Europe. It looks at theoretical and conceptual developments in the study of religion and gender by means of a dialogue with a recent overview of the field by Linda Woodhead. The chapter argues that future discussions about religion and gender in Europe should be interdisciplinary, conceptual, comparative, and intersectional. Woodhead observes a number of contemporary tendencies in the study of religion and gender as they take shape in the sociology of religion. It is often said that religion has returned to the political and public arenas of Western secularised societies. In current political populist rhetoric across Western European contexts, the prior described ‘us’ versus ‘them’ representational framework, which could be dubbed ‘civilisationalism’, is often constructed and reiterated for electoral gains, consequently reifying boundaries and polarising differences, erasing much more complex experiences, realities, and intersectional positions.