Nicanor, Star Clanine Claire D.

Proposed Title: The Relationship of Faith and Women Empowerment: The Possible
Rise of Christian Feminism

The relationship between feminism and Christianity has been equivocal ever since. The
use of gender helped scholars analyze the different perspectives from the past and
contemporary period. While some studies say that religion and Christianity are
inherently incompatible with each other, others scholars have proven that Christian
Feminism exists in modern history. It was also believed that the relationship of those
two are deeply needed for mutual transformation. In an article by Ursula King (2004), he
indicated that Christianity and feminism were actually movements of liberation in 19th
until 20th century. Women have always been confined in traditional gender roles which
urges them to fight for their position in the society. The study about this topic will seek to
find the answers of what can religious significance cause in the women’s clamor for
equality. This paper aims to talk about the historical convergence of faith and women
empowerment eg. second wave of feminism, works of Florence Nightingale. The
argument that feminism and Christianity are linked together in origin, direction and
intrinsic dynamics will be challenged based on the trends of contemporary times which
are the globalization of women empowerment and the current status of Christian
Churches.

Hypothesis: If there is a direct relationship between faith and women empowerment

then there will be a possible trend for Christian Feminism.
Annotated Bibliography

Braude, A. (2004). A Religious Feminist—Who Can Find Her? Historiographical

Challenges from the National Organization for Women. The Journal of Religion,84(4),
555-572. doi:10.1086/422480
A journal article that tries to uncover the direct relationship between religion and
feminism with reference to the historical phenomena. It operationalizes the rise of
gender as a category of analysis to feminism to debunk early narratives portraying
religion as an enemy of feminism. This article makes a way for religion and feminism to
be lines in traversing divergent planes of American culture.

Ursula King (2004) Christianity and Feminism: Do they need each other?, International
Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 4:3, 194-
206, DOI: 10.1080/1474225042000299414
This article manifests the possible trend of Christian Feminism along with the
analysis of women empowerment in the context of past Christian Churches. It proves its
hypothesis that Christianity and feminism both challenge and need each other for
mutual transformation. The article also highlights the relationship of two variables in
contemporary period.

Stack, S., Wasserman, I., & Kposowa, A. (1994). The Effects of Religion and Feminism
on Suicide Ideology: An Analysis of National Survey Data. Journal for the Scientific
Study of Religion,33(2), 110. doi:10.2307/1386598
An article from the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Vol.33, no. (Jun.,
1994) that talks about the influence of feminism and religiosity on attitudes towards
suicide among national samples of 4,946 women and 4,475 men. One of the key
focuses of the paper is the link between feminism and religiosity levels.

Aslanbeigui, N. (2003). Toward gender equity: Policies and strategies. New York, NY:
Kluwer Acad., Human Sciences Press.
This article is going to be a tool to operationalize women empowerment as it links
the different policies and strategies
Feminism and Religion in the Pacific Region: Some Critical Reflections: International
Roundtable. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.fsrinc.org/article/699/
Critical reflections of feminism and religion centered in the Asia-Pacific region,
this article studies the possible contributions of theologists and feminists emanating
from the region. This article mainly focuses on events and groups that are active in
engaging the central issues and concerns for women and religion. It considers the geo-
political aspect of the region and its diversity.

Douglas, C. (1989). Asian Feminism. Off Our Backs, 19(8), 13-13. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/25796947
From the book Off Our Backs, Vol.19, No.8, this article gives an overview on
feminism particularly in China and Philippines. It highlights discrimination, how women
wanted autonomy, and how they were banned in the history.