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Religion and Gender Equality Worldwide: A Country-Level Analysis

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  • Landon Schnabel

    (Indiana University)

Abstract

Does religion help or hinder gender equality worldwide? Are some major world religions more conducive to equality than others? This study answers these questions using country-level data assembled from multiple sources. Much of the research on religion and gender has focused on the relationship between individual religious belief and practice and gender attitudes. This study, alternatively, compares the macro effects of the proportion of religious adherents in a country on two indicators of material gender equality: the United Nations Gender Inequality Index and the Social Watch Gender Equity Index. Comparing the world’s four largest religious groups reveals that the largest distinction is not between any of the three largest faiths—Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism—but between the religious and the non-religious. The more non-religious people in a country, the more gender equal that country tends to be. This finding holds when accounting for human development and other country-level factors, as well as in instrumental variable analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Landon Schnabel, 2016. "Religion and Gender Equality Worldwide: A Country-Level Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(2), pages 893-907, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:129:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-015-1147-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-015-1147-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Noland, Marcus, 2005. "Religion and economic performance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(8), pages 1215-1232, August.
    2. Seguino, Stephanie, 2011. "Help or Hindrance? Religion's Impact on Gender Inequality in Attitudes and Outcomes," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 1308-1321, August.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Basedau, Matthias & Gobien, Simone & Prediger, Sebastian, 2017. "The Ambivalent Role of Religion for Sustainable Development: A Review of the Empirical Evidence," GIGA Working Papers 297, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    3. Laurie Fields DeRose, 2021. "Gender Equity, Religion, and Fertility in Europe and North America," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(1), pages 41-55, March.
    4. Matthias Basedau & Simone Gobien & Sebastian Prediger, 2018. "The Multidimensional Effects Of Religion On Socioeconomic Development: A Review Of The Empirical Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(4), pages 1106-1133, September.
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    7. Carter, David A. & Shank, Corey A., 2023. "Do religiosity and political beliefs affect female representation and firm performance?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    8. Kimitaka Nishitani & Akira Kawaguchi, 2022. "Mitigating Gender Inequality in the Workplace: Toward Sustainable Development Through Institutional Changes," Discussion Paper Series DP2022-07, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University, revised May 2022.

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