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Religiosity and gender bias structure social networks.
Erhao Ge1, CaiRang DongZhi2, Ruth Mace1,3
1Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, University College London, UK.
Religious practices boost social support, but rewards differ by gender. Men gain more from costly rituals, while daily practices benefit both genders equally, highlighting gender inequality in religious reward systems.
Area of Science:
- Social Sciences
- Anthropology
- Sociology
Background:
- Limited research exists on gender differences in social relationship rewards from religious practices.
- Understanding these disparities is crucial for social and gender equality studies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate gender disparities in social support network development linked to religiosity.
- To assess the relationship between religious practice and personal network characteristics in a Tibetan village.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from 289 residents of an agricultural Tibetan village.
- Analyzed the association between religiosity, religious ritual participation, and personal network characteristics (in-degree values).
- Examined gender differences in network benefits derived from various types of religious rituals.
Main Results:
- Participation in religious rituals generally enhances social support networks.
- Males showed slightly greater in-degree network benefits from infrequent, costly rituals (e.g., pilgrimages) than females.
- Both genders experienced similar network benefits from daily, low-cost religious practices.
Conclusions:
- The social rewards of religious practices are gender-dependent, with males benefiting more from resource-intensive rituals.
- Daily religious engagement offers equitable network benefits across genders.
- Disparities in rewards from religious rituals contribute to gender inequality, underscoring the need to consider ritual characteristics and gender in social science research.
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