SIX MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORT OF PhD & PRE SYNOPSIS PRESENTATION TERM 16

SIX MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORT OF PhD & PRE SYNOPSIS PRESENTATION TERM 16.

Religion and Women: A Study in Feminist Philosophy.

Fulfilment for Synopsis Submission. One paper published in UGC Scopus Indexed Journal Title of Paper : The sacred and the profane: Menstrual flow and religious values Name of Journal : Journal of Human Values Year of Publication : 2021 Pages : 261-268 Another paper is in the making.

Fulfilment for Synopsis Submission. Two papers presented in Seminars Presented a paper titled ‘Religion and Women: A Feminist Perspective’ at seminar on Doctoral Research in Social Sciences on 22 nd March, 2017 at Goa University. Presented a paper titled, ‘Menstruation: Journey of attitudes from Abomination to Malady’, at a two day national seminar held on 14 th and 15 th February, 2018 at Dhempe College of Arts and Science, Miramar, Goa..

TITLE OF THESIS. No change in Title of Thesis Religion and Women: A Study in Feminist Philosophy.

CHAPTERIZATION. OLD TITLES. Charting the Course of an Ideology Feminist Modes of Knowledge Feminist Construal of Reality Feminist Perceptions of Religion Conclusion.

Objectives of the Study. Religion is one of the societal structures which has played a pivotal role in suppressing and dehumanizing women The study explored the attitudes of the Indic and Semitic religions towards women Using the conceptual structures of feminist philosophy, it sought to uncover the prejudices perpetuated by patriarchy against women in religions S ix chapters study the core philosophical areas of feminist philosophy, religious feminism, metaphysical feminism and feminist epistemology.

Chapter 1: Charting the Course of an Ideology. T his chapter discusses feminism as an ideology and a philosophy Sub topics are history of the movement through the wave model approach, the varieties of feminism, nature of feminist philosophy and some of its basic concepts Feminism can be defined as a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women Feminist philosophy is an approach to philosophy from a feminist perspective and also the employment of philosophical methods to feminist topics and questions. It places importance on the role of gender in the forming traditional philosophical problems and concepts It analyzes the ways in which traditional philosophy reflects and perpetuates bias against women.

Chapter 2 : Women in Indic Religions. In this chapter, religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism and religious practices in some of the tribal cultures are the subject of study focusing on their attitude towards women The sub-topics are the religious account of origin of women, attitude towards women in the scriptures and rituals, role of women in theology, the sacred feminine and the feminist responses to religion. Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism are patriarchal religions, wherein men are at the helm of affairs at home, societal and religious affairs The last section of the chapter discusses the views of the feminists on the religions.

Chapter 3 : Women in Semitic Religions. In this chapter, religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam as well as some of the little traditions of religious cults are the subject of study The chapter examines the attitude towards women by these religions and traditions The sub-topics are the religious account of origin of women, attitude towards women in the scriptures and rituals, role of women in theology, the sacred feminine and the feminist responses to religion. J udaism, Christianity, Islam are also known as semitic religions They share similar attitudes towards position of women in religious discourse. Their societal and religious structures are patriarchal. Men occupy important positions in the clergy and places of worship. Women are admitted in religious orders but at lower ranks. The sacred feminine is restricted to mother figures or important women in religions, unlike the female deities found in Indic religions. The chapter concludes with views of feminists on the semitic religions..

Chapter 4 : Feminist Deliberations on Religious Ontology.

Chapter 4. The last section deals with feminist response in terms of feminist theology and feminist philosophy of religion Feminist Philosophy of religion – poses feminist questions about religious texts, traditions, and practices, often with the aim of critiquing, redefining, or reconstructing the entire field in light of gender studies Feminist Theology - the goals of feminist theology include increasing the role of women among the clergy and religious authorities, reinterpreting male-dominated imagery and language about God, and studying images of women in the religion's sacred texts and matriarchal religion..

Chapter 5 : Women and the Problem of Religious Knowledge.

Chapter 5. 1) Feminist Epistemology Lorraine Code in her article, “Taking Subjectivity into Account”, critiques the approach of traditional epistemology (knowledge claims in the form S -know-that- p ) on the grounds that it neglects the social and individual dimension of knowledge. Traditional epistemology she says claims to offer a ‘view from nowhere’, meaning making a knowledge claim from a place of ideal observation, which could be from anywhere and everywhere “Feminist epistemology can be regarded as the branch of social epistemology that investigates the influence of socially constructed conceptions and norms of gender and gender-specific interests and experiences on the production of knowledge.” The lived experiences of the privileged male and the marginalized vastly differ Knowledge being social in nature, a knower’s situatedness affects hers/his cognitive abilities. Embodiment, first-person vs. third-person knowledge, emotions, attitudes, interests, and values, personal knowledge of others, know-how, cognitive styles, background beliefs and worldviews, relations to other inquirers are the factors identified by Anderson.

Chapter 5. 2) Feminist Science and Strong Objectivity There exists a sharp divide between science and social science (or any non-science). Harding questions many of the common notions of science and proceeds to prove that like social sciences, ‘pure sciences’ too are social in nature. The statements of science enjoy credibility because of their quantitative and formal nature Mathematics is posited as the language of science due to which scientific statements enjoy epistemic privilege Harding points out results need to be interpreted in order to be meaningful. These interpretations are reached by the community of scientists Sciences cannot also be defended on the grounds of having a critical attitude it is pointed out by thinkers as Thomas Kuhn, every theory has some background assumptions which are treated as beyond doubt and can never be questioned. Contrarily she holds the view science is as social in nature as social sciences, “We could say that the natural sciences should be considered to be embedded in social sciences because everything scientists do or think is part of the social world”.

Chapter 5. 3) Standpoint theory Standpoint theories are at once epistemological and metaphysical viewpoints Nancy Hartsock - epistemology is, for the male the world is expressed through dualisms known through oppositions and require maintaining special social relations to acquaint with in order to survive. Females do not experience this duality but only a continuum. Sandra Harding - knowledge being socially situated, suppressed group produces distinctive knowledge than the dominant/dominating group. She argues socially situated knowledges and subjects of standpoint epistemology aid in creating stronger notions of objectivity as compared to the weak notions of objectivity created by ‘regular science’ Uma Narayan - The standpoint of the nonwestern feminists (speaking from the Indian perspective) is derived from a unique political position. Being the colonized, the feminists experience a unique predicament, on one hand they experience the innate desire to value their culture and traditions and on the other, they also experience them as oppressive from the colonized perspective.

Chapter 5. 4) Feminist Religious Epistemology A feminist philosopher of religion can level the following charges, “Whose beliefs are these that are given warrant, rational proof or justification? For whom are those beliefs been constructed?” O ne of the tasks of a feminist philosopher of religion is to develop critical tools for ‘assessing’ epistemological frameworks of belief and to ‘refigure’ reason Anderson holds that it is the epistemological framework by which one’s beliefs are constructed which makes all the difference One’s epistemology is of decisive significance Anderson holds, “My contention is that a feminist philosophy of religion has a crucial role to play in transforming the overall framework of belief in contemporary philosophy of religion This is an epistemological framework biased according to the sex/gender, race, ethnicity and class. Hereafter the essential task is to supplement and reform philosophy of religion with less biased methods developed from certain feminist insights.” (Anderson, 1998, p. 33) Anderson proposes to use new epistemological frameworks to assess rationality of beliefs formulated by empirical realism.

Chapter 5. Anderson clarifies that she doesn’t wish to replace reason with desire but rather to collapse borders drawn between the male’s disembodied rationality and his corporeality She identifies sex/gendered configurations of rationality as a major challenge for feminist philosophers of religion Embodied notions of rationality have yielded partial and biased forms of theistic beliefs shaded with patriarchy. “….. claims to true belief, such as belief in associations of virginity, purity, and male divinity, on the basis of weak objectivity have oppressed women and all other nondominant classes, races, ethnicities, since derived exclusively from a privileged male position of knowledge-makers” (Anderson,1998, p.74-75) She believes that for a feminist epistemology of religious belief, the content of female desire and expressions of sexual difference are crucial, which have been hitherto repressed by patriarchal conceptions of rational belief.

Chapter 6: Conclusion. The argument made in the study is that traditionally religion is an agent of oppression for women R eligions are patriarchal Women learn about themselves from the religious scriptures which were written/interpreted by men Modes of knowledge which are male centered have led to misconceptions and prejudices about women Women are said to be weak, feeble minded, overtly emotional, unable to take care of themselves, impure due to menstruation making them unfit to serve the divine ..

Conclusion. Women thus need an epistemological framework which makes them the subject of study This is provided by the feminist standpoint theory A feminist religious epistemology, which borrows the conceptual framework of standpoint epistemology Yields a Gestalt switch to perceiving the role of woman in religion By changing the epistemological frameworks, true empowerment of women in terms of her unique place in religion will be rightly claimed from the margins.