Editing Gender role (section)

==In religion==
{{main|Gender and religion}}

Different religious and cultural groups within one country may have different norms that they attempt to "police" within their own groups, including gender norms.

===Christianity===
{{Further|Gender roles in Christianity|Christian views on marriage|Sex and gender roles in the Catholic Church}}
[[File:Cranach the Younger, Lucas - Christ and the adulteress.jpg|thumb|''Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery'' [[Hermitage Museum]], Russia]]
The roles of [[women in Christianity]] can vary considerably today (as they have varied historically since the first century church). This is especially true in marriage and in formal ministry positions within certain Christian denominations, churches, and [[parachurch organizations]].

Many leadership roles in the organized church have been restricted to males. In the Roman Catholic and [[Eastern Orthodox]] churches, only men may serve as priests or deacons, and in senior leadership positions such as [[pope]], [[patriarch]], and [[bishop]]. Women may serve as [[abbess]]es. Some mainstream [[Protestant]] denominations are beginning to relax their longstanding constraints on ordaining women to be ministers, though some large groups are tightening their constraints in reaction.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Masci |first=David |title=The divide over ordaining women |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2014/09/09/the-divide-over-ordaining-women/ |access-date=2024-03-30 |website=Pew Research Center |date=9 September 2014 |language=en-US}}</ref> Many subsets of the [[Charismatic]] and [[Pentecostal]] movements have embraced the ordination of women since their founding.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Langford |first=Joy |date=2017 |title=Feminism and Leadership in the Pentecostal Movement |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0966735017714402 |journal=Feminist Theology |language=en |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=69–79 |doi=10.1177/0966735017714402 |issn=0966-7350}}</ref>

Christian "[[saint]]s", persons of exceptional holiness of life having attained the [[beatific vision]] ([[heaven]]), can include female saints.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yarrow |first=Simon |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780199676514.001.0001 |title=Saints: A Very Short Introduction |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-19-178130-8 |language=en |chapter=Gendering the saints |doi=10.1093/actrade/9780199676514.003.0005 |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780199676514.003.0005}}</ref> Most prominent is [[Mary, mother of Jesus]] who is highly revered throughout Christianity, particularly in the Catholic and Orthodox churches where she is considered the "[[Theotokos]]", i.e. "Mother of God". Women prominent in Christianity have included contemporaries of Jesus, subsequent theologians, abbesses, mystics, [[doctors of the church]], founders of religious orders, military leaders, monarchs and martyrs, evidencing the variety of roles played by women within the life of Christianity. [[Paul the Apostle and women|Paul the Apostle]] held women in high regard and worthy of prominent positions in the church, though he was careful not to encourage disregard for the [[New Testament household codes]], also known as New Testament Domestic Codes or ''Haustafelen'', of [[Greco-Roman world|Greco-Roman law]] in the first century.

===Islam===
{{Further|Gender roles in Islam|Islam and gender segregation|Marriage in Islam}}
According to Dhami and Sheikh, gender roles in [[Muslim]] countries are centered on the importance of the family unit, which is viewed as the basis of a balanced and healthy society.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dhami |first1=Sangeeta |title=The Muslim family |journal=West J Med |date=Nov 2000 |volume=173 |issue=5 |pages=352–356 |pmid=11069879 |pmc=1071164 |doi=10.1136/ewjm.173.5.352 }}</ref> Islamic views on gender roles and family are traditionally conservative.

Many Muslim-majority countries, most prominently [[Saudi Arabia]], have interpretations of religious doctrine regarding gender roles embedded in their laws.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Offenhauer |first1=P. |title=Women in Islamic Societies: A selected review of social scientific literature |website=[[Library of Congress]] |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-files/Women_Islamic_Societies.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-files/Women_Islamic_Societies.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}</ref> In the [[United Arab Emirates]], non-Muslim Western women can wear crop tops, whereas Muslim women are expected to dress much more [[modestly]] when in public. In some Muslim countries, these differences are sometimes even codified in law.

In some Muslim-majority countries, even non-Muslim women are expected to follow Muslim female gender norms and [[Islamic law]] to a certain extent, such as by covering their hair. (Women visiting from other countries sometimes object to this norm and sometimes decide to comply on pragmatic grounds, in the interest of their own safety , such as "[[Modesty|modest]]" dress codes which failing to abide by risk being perceived as a [[Prostitution|prostitute]].)

[[Islam]]ic prophet [[Muhammad]] described the high status of mothers in both of the major [[hadith]] collections ([[Muhammad al-Bukhari|Bukhari]] and Muslim). One famous account is:
<blockquote>"A man asked the Prophet: 'Whom should I honor most?' The Prophet replied: 'Your mother'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your mother'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your mother!'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your father'"</blockquote>The Qur'an prescribes that the status of a woman should be nearly as high as that of a man.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://quran.com/2/228?translations=22,101,18,17,84,19,21,85,95,20|title=Surah Al-Baqarah [2:228]|website=Surah Al-Baqarah [2:228]|language=en-US|access-date=15 November 2018}}</ref>

How gender roles are honored is largely cultural. While some cultures encourage men and women to take on the same roles, others promote a more traditional, less dominant role for the women.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Global Connections . Roles of Women {{!}} PBS|url = https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/questions/women/|website = www.pbs.org|access-date =5 February 2016}}</ref>

===Hinduism===
{{main|God and gender in Hinduism}}
Hindu deities are more ambiguously gendered than the deities of other world religions. This informs female and males relations, and informs how the differences between males and females are understood.<ref>Gopal, Madan (1990). K.S. Gautam, ed. India through the ages. Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. p. 69.</ref> [[File:God marriage AS.jpg|thumb|upright|Image of [[Ardhanarishvara]]]] However, in a religious cosmology like [[Hinduism]], which prominently features female and androgynous deities, some gender transgression is allowed. This group is known as the [[Hijra (South Asia)|hijras]], and has a long tradition of performing in important rituals, such as the birth of sons and weddings. Despite this allowance for transgression, Hindu cultural traditions portray women in contradictory ways. Women's fertility is given great value, but female sexuality is depicted as potentially dangerous and destructive.<ref name="Peletz">Peletz, Michael Gates. Gender, Sexuality, and Body Politics in Modern Asia. Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Asian Studies, 2011. Print.</ref>