Religion and the Mental Health of Women

Abstract

Abstract Whether the religious heritage be Judeo-Christian, Islamic, Hindu, or Buddhist, its institutional forms have bound people into coherent social orders. To achieve this end, existing social, political, and economic structures have been sacralized and therefore legitimated. Among the most central of such considerations is the relationship between the sexes. For example, the perspectives of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, have been described as “uncompromisingly male monotheistic” (Gaba, 1987, p. 190). Power and authority are clearly vested in men: the position of women is secondary. This pattern also holds for Buddhism and Hinduism. With religious backing, the sexual stratification of society is pervasive and regarded as the natural state of affairs. The psychosocial ramifications of such systematic patterning have yet to be fully appreciated.