Wilfully Disempowered: A Gendered Response to a 'Fallen World'

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Day, Abby. 2008. Wilfully Disempowered: A Gendered Response to a 'Fallen World'. European Journal of Women's Studies, 15(3), pp. 261-276. ISSN 1350-5068 [Article]

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Official URL: http://ejw.sagepub.com/content/15/3/261.abstract

Abstract or Description

Two cases from the UK are discussed to explore why, in the author's terms, women wilfully disempower themselves in religion and spiritual contexts. A case study of a women's prayer group shows how they resist acknowledging their own power or the idea that they are engaging in informal ritual equally important to their male counterparts. Second, qualitative data from a large study of people's beliefs are used to show how women willingly submit to a higher male power through a process of self-denigration. It is argued that the women are making rational, strategic choices in an increasingly secular and patriarchal world.

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Article

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https://doi.org/10.1177/1350506808091507