Disciplining the Female Voice: A Foucauldian Analysis of the Lairam Isua Krista Baptist Church’s (LIKBK) Gender Dynamics

Abstract

This study interrogates the Church's professed commitment to human rights and gender equality, with a specific focus on its treatment of women and women theologians, using the LIKBK Church as a case study. Despite women's significant contributions to the Church's sustenance and growth, their voices and participation remain marginalized. Employing Michel Foucault's theoretical framework, this research critically analyzes the LIKBK Church's role in perpetuating gender inequality, highlighting the ways in which its power structures and discourses silence and exclude women. By examining the contradictions between the Church's rhetoric and practices, this paper reveals the institution's complicity in sidelining women's agency and perpetuating gender-based oppression. The case study of LIKBK Church provides a nuanced understanding of the complex dynamics at play and offers insights into the ways in which religious institutions can perpetuate gender inequality.