Over the centuries, billions of people have fallen prey to religion run amok-How many Jews and Gypsies suffered in Nazi concentration camps while churches in Germany turned their heads? How many people were murdered in the Crusades during the middle ages in the name of God?
This research is urban-based, as we are looking at young urban women to provide us with a picture of change and transformation. The activity and public role of these women are key : They are working women and young students who embody and illuminate issues of sexuality, marriage and paid employment (rather than motherhood, children and housework). The challenge for us is to read these discussions in a way that brings out the empowering factors in young women's testimonies, to look at how they are reframing the cultural contours that surround them.These women's negotiation of the new spaces that religion has createdcan be empowering, but the nature of these spaces remains defined by patriarchy. This element is not being contested or denied; rather, what women seem to be doing is negotiating for great rights within patriarchal structures. |
