Why are less woman non-religious?

samb

I noticed in the 2002 census that their was about 80,000 non-religious men but only about 50,000 non-religious women. I was wondering does anyone have any theories about why this should be. A response from any atheist/agnostic women would be particularly welcome.

It seems to me that their are many staunchly catholic woman in Ireland who are much more active in their faith than their husbands. I find this particularly strange, since the Catholic church and Bible are in my opinion both very sexist.

peckerhead

samb wrote:

I find this particularly strange, since the Catholic church and Bible are in my opinion both very sexist.

The success of indoctrination, perhaps? Or are women just more 'compliant'?

Laguna

Maybe there's just as many female non believers as male, they just can't be bothered to declare themselves atheist.

Asiaprod

Ok, I take the challenge. Let me be the first to put my foot in my own mouth and get ready to be flamed for my audacity
I have always had the feeling that there is a very different spiritual aspect to women. Women seem to be able to make a much stronger spiritual commitment, than us men (Sorry guys, it is what I have seen). If we look back to most, if not all, the earlier belief systems, we find the Goddess or female figure plays a pivotal role. Some would say it has to do with motherhood, but I tent to disagree and feel that is only part of the answer. I believe that there is a hidden spiritual aspect in the psychology of women that enables them to approach the subject on a far different level. When they make a spiritual commitment they will generally stick with it through thick and thin.
I too would love to hear from some of the women out their how they view themselves from a spiritual perspective.

samb

Laguna wrote:

Maybe there's just as many female non believers as male, they just can't be bothered to declare themselves atheist.

well the category is simply ''no religion'' which would presumably include athiests, and agnostics. ''not stated'' is a different category so I don't think your that point is valid.

Rev Hellfire

I suspect included within that number are people who don't identify with any formal religion for whom their faith is a more internal matter, lapsed catholics for example who may still view themselves as christian but not part of a organised christian church.

I'm not sure you can infer from that catagory a lack of faith, surely those without it would have put down themselves down under atheist (or agnostic) ?

Although from what I remember the number of declared atheists divided on male/female males where in the majority but the actual over all number very small, as in a few hundred ( at least I was susprised ).

Dades

Between the 'No Religion', and declared 'Atheist' and 'agnostic' catagories the split is roughly 60:40 male/female - whichever way you look at it.

It's one thing to distance yourself from a religion in your head - it's another thing seal it in writing. Maybe men are less cautious in that regard to women. However I think I lean toward Asiaprods speculation that women are more "spiritual" than men in certain ways.

That said the stats aren't exactly overwhelming.

ps I just typed "atheism gender divide" into google and our stats thread popped up first...

samb

http://www.cso.ie/census/documents/vol12_entire.pdf

The Atheist wrote:

Between the 'No Religion', and declared 'Atheist' and 'agnostic' catagories the split is roughly 60:40 male/female - whichever way you look at it.

Well spotted but I think the most athiests and agnostics put themselves down as No religion. On the census you are asked which religion you are on a list. No religion is listed. If none on the list apply then you state you own religion. Since athiesm/agnostism are not religions I think it is strange people write them down ( this explains the low numbers). The no religion category is the most relevant one therefore. Only non-religous people will be included because there are plenty of other categories such as other stated religion (for very small minority religions)etc. So the statistics are not diputable, there is far more male non-religious than female.

[HTML]It's one thing to distance yourself from a religion in your head - it's another thing seal it in writing. Maybe men are less cautious in that regard to women. However I think I lean toward Asiaprods speculation that women are more "spiritual" than men in certain ways.[/HTML]

Its the census, people should be honest, it is secret. Do you think the no religion category should be bigger because people are ''cautious'':)

[HTML]That said the stats aren't exactly overwhelming.[/[/HTML]B]
82,262 males to 56,002 females ?

Those putting athiesm and agnostic as a religion are a small strange group. I ticked the no religion box and would not write down atheism as a religion.

Sleepy

Fook it, I can't resist posting it:

"How do you write women so well?"

I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability.

It'd certainly explain it.

Stephen

In my own personal experience, women do seem to have much stronger beliefs than men. My own mother, for example, is a bit of a roman catholic fascist type (i.e. you're one of us or you're going to burn in hell, heathen - you can imagine that my atheism goes down rather well with this), my ould fella just goes along to mass etc with her to keep her happy - he's what I would describe as a lapsed catholic. Whenever she's not around for whatever reason he'd never be seen near a church unless there was a funeral or a wedding or something.
Her mother before her is even worse, one of the old school
Conversely, my da's mother couldn't give a flying f**k at a rolling donut about it. She's (was?) a protestant of some variety but I can't remember her ever going to a church (her long dead husband was a catholic, hence my da being brought up catholic).

rubadub

I would just figure they tend to believe in more things, how many women vs men do you know who read horoscopes or do tarot cards, or visit psychics.

Stephen

Good point. I don't know any blokes that believe (or at least admit to believing) in any of that bull****.

Call irish psychics live now, we know bugger all but will chat to you for 2.99 a minute for as long as we can get you to stay on the line, you sap.

samb

Come on athiest/agnostic ladies, defend yourselves.

hairyheretic

Stephen wrote:

Good point. I don't know any blokes that believe (or at least admit to believing) in any of that bull****.

I read the futhark runes. They can be used for divination (amongst other things).

I've been called "scarily accurate" with them

Now you can say you know one bloke who does.

Dades

samb wrote:

Since athiesm/agnostism are not religions I think it is strange people write them down ( this explains the low numbers).

Well I will probably be one of these people who ticks "No Religion" and fills in the box.

Although not a religion per se, I would like to see a more detailed breakdown than just "No Religion", and the only way this will happen given the choices on the form is to fill in the box. I reckon this is how they came to include atheist, agnostic, pantheists etc on the census results.

Of course they will remain inaccurate as most people who tick the "No Religion" box will not elaborate.

samb wrote:

Its the census, people should be honest, it is secret. Do you think the no religion category should be bigger because people are ''cautious'':)

I think the catagory could be bigger, but that's only to satisfy my interest in the area. When I mentioned people being "cautious" it was a reference to the idea that God might be watching what box you tick.

Dades

hairyheretic wrote:

Now you can say you know one bloke who does.

But how do we know you're a bloke?

Or that you weren't made say that? :eek:

1huge1

might of been said already but maybe they dont want other people to think there atheist and ticked catholic
and dont say people wouldnt do it because they do

Julesie

I am an atheist female and would definitely identify myself as such on the census.

I would agree that in general women tend to be more spritual (read: gullible) than men. The percentage of women who actively read horoscopes, go to fortune tellers, have tarot cards read.. has to be much higher than in men.

I think a more interesting breakdown in the census's religion section would be to specify whether you are active or passive in your religion. A very high percentage of "irish catholics" haven't attended a church service in years outside the odd marraige, funeral or christening. how many of these passive catholics are really just agnostics/atheists who haven't taken the plunge.

simu

Julesie wrote:

I would agree that in general women tend to be more spritual (read: gullible) than men. The percentage of women who actively read horoscopes, go to fortune tellers, have tarot cards read.. has to be much higher than in men.

Possibly. You certainly see more bunkum of this type in magazines for women rather than ones for men. Any ideas why? Is it because women, on average, received very little scientific education a few generations back? (My own mother received none afaik).

samb

1huge1 wrote:

might of been said already but maybe they dont want other people to think there atheist and ticked catholic
and dont say people wouldnt do it because they do

Yes I agree with you here, people might not want to put athiest down if they are with people like parents in the same household. Also parents often fill out the census and do not consult the children(who may even be in their twenties or thirties).

This would not result in less women than men however.

Sleepy

simu wrote:

Is it because women, on average, received very little scientific education a few generations back?

An interesting point but from personal experience, the trend for women to be more likely to place their faith in a religion has continued into our generation where this doesn't hold true. Sociologically, it has been shown many times that children will usually aspire to be like the parent of their own sex, so maybe the fact that more men of previous generations were non-believers has contributed to this. I know that in my own family, all the men are agnostic while my sister and mother both consider themselves Christians (i.e. raised Catholic but disagree with the running of the Church). My mother also wastes a small fortune (no pun intended) on tarot readers etc.

I don't think this could be the full reason though. Perhaps there's also an element of males being reared to be "stronger" than women and renouncing their faith seeing it as a form of weakness (a view I personally subscribe to).

Or maybe women are generally just more illogical then men and thus more predisposed to believing illogical things? Anecdotal evidence (as unreliable as it is) would seem to correlate to this fact...

Julesie

simu wrote:

Possibly. You certainly see more bunkum of this type in magazines for women rather than ones for men. Any ideas why? Is it because women, on average, received very little scientific education a few generations back? (My own mother received none afaik).

I'd wager that a certain amount of it is "hereditary" but then again my mother would entertain that kind of rubbish where as i certainly do not, so it has obviously skipped my generation.

Its easy to make sweeping generalisations in a thread like this but perhaps large numbers of women just dont take the time to really think about topics like religion at a high enough level. In a way a belief (or lack there of) in a religion is something innate that doesnt require much thought but in another way it does take a deliberate change of direction to distance yourself from the religion in which you were raised.

hairyheretic

The Atheist wrote:

But how do we know you're a bloke?

I'm sure my wife could give fairly definate proof

Or failing that, there are at least a handfull of folks on here that know me IRL .. I'm sure they'd back my claim.

The goatee tends to be a bit of a giveaway too.

The Atheist wrote:

Or that you weren't made say that? :eek:

*chuckles* Ask anyone who knows me how easy it is to make me do anything.

Asiaprod

hairyheretic wrote:

I read the futhark runes. They can be used for divination (amongst other things).

I go with the I Ching, which can be used for just about everything.

hairyheretic

Asiaprod wrote:

I go with the I Ching, which can be used for just about everything.

I know of the I Ching for divination, but I've not heard of other uses for it. Would you care to expand on that? We might want to take that discussion to the spirituality / buddhism forum though.

simu

Another thought: religion seems to have a strong social side for many women, in the countyside especially. So, they might be unwilling to give that up by stating their doubts openly.

samb

hairyheretic wrote:

I know of the I Ching for divination, but I've not heard of other uses for it. Would you care to expand on that? We might want to take that discussion to the spirituality / buddhism forum though.

please do:p

hairyheretic

Would one of the mods mind moving Asiaprods post over somewhere more suitable? I'd like to continue the discussion, but this obviously isn't the right section for it.

Dades

hairyheretic wrote:

Would one of the mods mind moving Asiaprods post over somewhere more suitable? I'd like to continue the discussion, but this obviously isn't the right section for it.

I've (tentatively) moved it to the Spirituality forum - which I hope is cool.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054865906
Asiaprod - I know you won't take it personally...

Just the excuse I needed to exercise some power!


Back to topic...

Dades

Just thinking about this -

I'm wondering if the leaning to towards "no religion" by men is in any way related to that "fear of commitment" we're so often labelled with.

And on the flip side women have a need for commitment or "security"?

Thin ice, I know...

The Free Man

heres my view..
women generally tend to use their intuitave mind more, and experience life as holistic and spiritual.
wheras men generally tend to use their rational mind more, and experience life as mechanistic and heirarchal(sp?).

so, if catholicism is the main option for religion in this country, and has been tought for generations, i can see how women would take this option.
i'm not saying that catholicism is the way foreward, but i belive that EVERYBODY should use their intuitive mind more.
the times are changing for the better of humankind.
read this book for more info..The Turning Point



off topic maybe, but hey..