Here is a passage from Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class:
…the effective middle-class congregation tends…to become a congregation of women and minors. There is an appreciable lack of devotional fervour among the adult males of the middle class…
This peculiar sexual differentiation…is due…to the fact that
the
middle-class women are in great measure a (vicarious) leisure class.
The same is true in a less degree of the women of the lower, artisan
classes. They live under a regime of status handed down from an
earlier stage of industrial development, and thereby they preserve a
frame of mind and habits of thought which incline them to an archaic
view of things generally…For the modern man the patriarchal relation
of status is by no means the dominant feature of life; but for the
women…confined as they are by prescription and by economic
circumstances to their "domestic sphere," this relation is the most
real and most formative factor of life. Hence a habit of mind
favourable to devout observances and to the interpretation of the facts
of life generally in terms of personal status. The logic, and the
logical processes, of her everyday domestic life are carried over into
the realm of the supernatural, and the woman finds herself at home and
content in a range of ideas which to the man are in great measure alien
and imbecile.
That’s from chapter XII. The implication is that women in the work force should be less religious, adjusting for income and education. Is that true? Here is Bryan Caplan on said topic. Here is another article. Here is another comment. Here is my previous post on Veblen.
So why are women more religious than men? Is it just greater risk-aversion?
1. Women are more intelligent than men.
2. Childbirth gives women intuition into creation.
3. There are inherent difficulties in surveying religious outlook.
4. Women have more time to reflect on eternity and ultimate meaning.
I suspect a lot of theories will be heavily conditioned by the religious view of the theorist. There is also a difference from professing belief, actually believing, going to Church, living a Good life, etc; i.e., there may be inherent difficulties in measuring the religiousity of society.
Caplan – ‘On a deep level, then, men are more inclined to want some hard proof that religious claims are true, while women are more willing to take religious teachings on faith because they sound nice.’
I agree with that, women are simply more emotional than men. Although on the other hand they are more inclined to depression than men, which in my own experience leads to a retreat from religion. Although it could also lead to a hankering for ‘another world.’
The Holloway PDF pointed out that the higher levels of female religiosity were confined to the Christian faith. That may be for two reasons.
1. Men never liked religion in the first place, all the morality, time wasted in Church etc, and they only went along because of social and community pressures. Maybe most men really viewed religion like Homer Simpson did – a chore. Once the whole thing became optional they quickly abandoned it. Women are more like Marge and will keep up appearances for a while, but may abandon it at a future date.
2. At heart Christianity is a kind of girly, touchy-feely faith, and this has been magnified somewhat in recent decades as mainline Churches become increasingly liberal. I was raised Catholic and abandoned choir singing, and eventually mass entirely, because my peers considered it ‘girly.’ I doubt Muslim boys have such a problem.
I also agree with Susan Jacoby that the causation runs from higher education (not IQ) to less religiosity.
I would like to distinguish between “abstract/theological” religion and the “social/community” religion from which I believe it derived (in the course of millenia); call them Aquinas-religion and Mother-Teresa-religion respectively. My bias suggests that more males will tend to spend time trying to reconcile free will with Divine omniscience, and more females will tend to spend time trying to make sure that somebody (whatever her theology) is handling the Christmas pageant and the presents distributed by Catholic Charities, but that bias could easily be wrong; all I’m sure of is that I’d like to see data collection that tries to separate these, even though I doubt they can be fully separated.
What statistical evidence is there that women are more religious, and how is “religious” measured? And does this vary cross-country and over time?
Perhaps men might be more comfortable on their knees before a female figure, such as Mary. The rough, tough medieval knights were certainly so inclined.
Is it relevant that every womens magazine has horoscopes, and no mens magazines do? Some of the atheist women I know swear by them. Are women more superstitous generally?
Religion is a social activity; philosophy (math) is not. Women prefer the former and men the latter.
I think another reason is that traditionally it is considered a credit to women if they are religious or inclined to charity. Men, on the other hand, are rewarded if they are ‘tougher.’ For instance, gullibility in a woman would be considered charming and soft but would be despised in a man.
All the really scary religious people seem to be men.
Poor people is more religious than people with large income.
Poverty is higher among women.
Ergo..
John Goes, although Rushton claims women have lower average intelligence, most studies show them to have about the same average as men (despite less brain volume on average, possibly explained by the white vs gray matter composition of brains) but less variance (fewer idiots and geniuses both). What evidence is there that women are more into horoscopes & astrology? Here’s Half Sigma on the latter.
Same reason women read romance novels. They like to idealize relationships. That’s why they like to skip over the nasty parts of the old testament and cast Jesus in such a feminine and nurturing light.
Since we have free market in religion, here in the U.S., we see denominations that cater to women rather quickly lose men. It is hard, even for men who believe strongly, to feel connected in such an atmosphere.
Religion requires self-discipline and self-control, which men lack relative to women. Also, women are more moral than men, so a religion that requires them to adhere to a strong moral code is appealing.
Why are women more religious? I don’t know, but I’m betting its the same set of reasons why more women than men buy into psychics and similar charlatans.
In reply to Chris Luddite who wonderd about the religious predisposition of other groups, such as gay men:
Funny you should bring this up because I was just thinking about it. I am a middle aged gay man and I go to church every Sunday. Just from my anecdotal experiences, there do indeed seem to be alot of gay men attending church. Sometimes, it seems to be old ladies, and gay men, sort of like at Las Vegas shows. There also seems to be alot of gay men in the clergy, not just Catholic priests, but the Protestant clergy as well. And as one of the earlier commenters said, it seems that all of the really scary religious people are men. That also is definitely true. Men (who claim to be straight) are in charge of and control Chrisitan institutions, which are then peopled mosstly by older and elderly women, plus a number of gay men. Thanks
I suggest that women feel a greater pressure to demonstrate how virtuous they are, and men feel a greater pressure to show how tough and controlled they are. So I would expect women to make more efforts to demonstrate their virtues eg vegetarianism, campaigns to save fluffy animals, and of course religion.
These explanations are all preference-based, which seems strange given this is an economics blog. I was expecting more actual economic theories – some reference to different prices or incomes, for instance. Or something testable. Most of these are just saying “women are more religious because they are more x, y or z” which is pretty lazy if you ask me.
Men figure that if they were God, they’d spend all their time in … staff meetings
I loved Steve Sailer’s answer in general, but this line made me wonder: do men think that God is an associate Dean?
Coming from a Muslim culture, I don’t feel that this affect is any less visible in Muslim societies, there is a very clear line between Muslim men and women when it comes to religion. On the other hand, due to certain social pressures Muslim men are generally prone to overstating their bond with religion.
Pascal’s wager is an absolutely terrible argument. Saying that women are more risk averse with regard to Pascal’s Wager is like saying that women are more irrational or less able to spot obvious fallacies.
Another potential factor worth considering is the effect of developmental differences in men and women. My understanding is that men and women develop both physically and emotionally at different rates, with women tending to develop earlier. This lines up with my experience that women generally tend to explore religion earlier in life than men. Is it possible that women are ready to consider religious affiliation at a time when the choice is more likely to be permanent, say in high school, where men might tend to engage religion when their lives are in more transition, perhaps in college?
Tyler, two more data points that buttress your claim–
1) I remember TIME’s survey of American religion. I noted that twice as many women as men (18% to 9%) believed in _astrology_.
2) From political science, women have a tendency to (initially) support much more conservative parties. The GOP was the party of women from 1920 up through Eisenhower. Kuwait, after it allowed women to vote, saw major gains for its Islamist, ‘anti-women’ parties, from female voters.
Only after it is socially acceptable for there to be a ‘women’s movement’ will the majority of women gravitate away from what was previously socially acceptable.
Perhaps men don’t equate religiousity with church attendance or other measures, which would bias the measure in the first place.
I’m surprised nobody’s brought up comparative advantage.
In the strictest Leave-it-to-beaver or caveman sort of way, he keeps her in a house, car and cash, and she keeps him connected socially.
Why are women so religious? I guess most women have a tendency to be more whimsical and enjoy fantasizing about a perfect world or the perfect man. Religion and the idea of heaven and Jesus Christ give a woman just that. I believe alot of women have a strong sense of faith in general, be it for religion or for another person or an idea as a whole. Religion also gives women this through belief and trust in the unseen. Also, religion can be considered the toal opposite of risk. Besides being questioned about their faith or being made fun of for their beliefs, religion poses literally no risk to women. It’s more of a sancturary or second home for them. It provides shelter, love, and care and definitely a more perfect world. But, then again, I think it can just depend on the person. Why can’t one man be more religious than one woman and vice versa? That could happen, but then it also could not. It all just depends on one’s own beliefs and values about the nature of religion and faith.
Unbelievers are right in most of their thinking
You might be one of those who are abandoning Christianity; or one for whom religious beliefs are not just irrelevant, but baseless. You might be right, at least to some extent. Some traditional beliefs are not true, and the “God† of main line traditions simply does not exist. Most people don’t dare to confront their religious beliefs, opt for the status quo, or become marginalized.
Bishop John Shelby Spong says that “Christianity Reformed From its Roots – A Life Centered in God† “rightly points out that those who seek to defend Christianity’s past are also killing Christianity’s future.† I accepted the challenge of finding the One who may be recognized even by Gnostics and atheists: the Existence! Eminent philosophers and thinkers might give you an idea if this book be an insightful reading for you (links below). You may look also at excerpts at Amazon.com.
Jairo Mejia, M. Psych., Santa Clara University
Retired Episcopal Priest
Carmel Valley, California
http://www.mbay.net/~jmejia/Grudzen.htm
http://www.mbay.net/~jmejia/Churcher.htm
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