Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to enlighten and explore the concept of oppression in a holistic manner. The core objective of the paper is to discuss oppression of women. Moreover, the paper aims to discuss the concept in the context of religion and theology. The paper will enlighten diverse aspects of oppression of women and converse the conception in terms of religion.

Table of Contents

Introduction3

Discussion3

The Role of Religion4

Conclusion6

Works Cited8

Organized Religion's Role in the Oppression of Women

Introduction

Women of color in the United States have a long history of resistance and collective action against the oppression and injustices in their lives and communities. However, the contributions by women of color to America's political and social histories are often invisible or devalued. It is important to examine the historical relationship between U.S. women of color and feminism; the major tenets of multiracial feminist thought and action; and some of the particular histories, organizational forms, and issues of African American, Chicana and Latina, and Asian American feminism.

In addition, one must consider the alliance between U.S. feminists of color and women of color in the developing world. Positioned both within and outside of the women's rights and civil rights movements, African American women critiqued race and class biases in the mainstream women's movement and sexism and homophobia in the civil rights and Black Nationalist Movements. These criticisms led to the development of a perspective on gender oppression that was distinct from that held by most middle-class, white women.

Discussion

Emerging in the mid-1980s, womanist theology is the work of African-American women theologians, church historians, ethicists, sociologists of religion, and biblical scholars. The term was coined by Alice Walker, who offered a definition of the word in her 1984 book In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens. Walker described a womanist as a "Black feminist or feminist of color" who is bold and assertive, relishes African-American culture, and is committed to the flourishing of the entire African-American community. Womanists explore the Christian faith in view of the unique experience and contributions of African-American women. Their focus is both historical and contemporary. It therefore gives voice to the particular concerns of African-American women, celebrates their strength and creativity, and is a form of resistance to the oppression they have suffered. Their goals include developing and transmitting insights that will lead to justice, revising theological doctrines so as to make them more inclusive, and, ultimately, making connections with other groups (The Spark).

Webber also observed that women served as prayer leaders, preachers, and worship leaders for the entire community. During the slavery era a few black women evangelists were given safe conduct into the South to conduct revivals and to speak at camp meetings—meetings that slaves also attended. As members of a somewhat self-contained network within slave communities, women supported one another in their child-rearing responsibilities, and they also served the entire slave community as healers and midwives. Within this women's network, according to Deborah Gray White, women convened their own prayer meetings and developed autonomous women leaders, some of whom were able ...