On both sides: The gender dimension of social service of religious organizations

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of gender aspects of social service of religious organizations in modern Russia and the world. A sufficient number of scientific publications is devoted to the subject of gender in Russian social policy and social work while social service of religious organizations is practically not touched upon by such an analysis. In many ways, this is justified by the conservatism of the confessional ideologies of service and the religious affiliation of scientists who represent research in social service. At the same time, it is the established traditions of the separation of men and women in the social work of various religious organizations that are attractive for gender analysis. Based on the results of the content analysis of expert interviews in Russian and English, the authors draw conclusions about the specifics of gender relations in social service. The Russian-language content analysis is dominated by interviews of representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and Muslim communities of the European part of Russia. Experts of modern Russian social service represent the traditional division of labor in religious social services for men and women, position female employees in a rather rigid male hierarchy, apply categories of obedience and blessings. The content analysis of English-language materials is presented in most of the interviews of employees of Muslim social projects and Buddhist communities around the world. The participation of women in social service has become an important topic of the experts' reasoning. Muslim NGOs represent opportunities for expressing the activity of women, who previously were not visible behind the labor of the male priesthood.