Push, Pull, and Fusion

Abstract

Women’s activism has focused not only on state institutions, such as the military, electoral politics, and education, but also on religious institutions. At the same time, participation in organized religion has helped women develop organizational and leadership skills that they can then draw on for their activism, both in movements directed toward religious institutions and in other, non-religious movements. Further, religion provides cultural frames that can be used in making sense of activism and in recruiting others for various causes. This chapter presents an overview of research on women’s activism and religious institutions, with a focus on U.S. activism. It discusses research on the ways in which participation in religious institutions provides resources for women’s activism, including organizational skills and resonant framings. Finally, it notes how women’s activism may exist in tension with religious institutions and identities, but that these tensions may be addressed by what the authors call “fusion.”