Conservatism, Religion and Status of Women

In recent months both Right and Left have entered into heated debate affecting society as a whole and particularly women. The left argues from a standpoint of women’s rights to contraception and the Right, religious freedom. This debate made me ponder a possible historic basis underlying the two positions.

Agrarian societies are by their nature patriarchal. One can think of a farm as a business enterprise requiring a number of chores and responsibilities. Because of man’s strength and aggression along with the fact that a woman is somewhat restricted before and after childbirth, the chores in the fields tended to go to the man. For maximum efficiency, in an undertaking involving a number of individuals there needs to be someone to organize the tasks. Because of their stronger involvement in the actual task of faming, the role of manager went to the man. The man became the head of the enterprise, the farm, and by extension, head of the household.

As societies evolved men left the farms and went to work in enterprises (factories etc.) where someone else was the manager and though they maintained the title of head of household, they did so out of custom only. The role of manager no longer had a natural rationale. (I guess some would argue that a household is an enterprise needing a manager. But if that were the case, for the same reasons a man was suited to manage a farm, the woman would be more appropriate.) Today the bulk of the Social Conservatives come from rural areas and not only tradition but their experience, tends to supports an inferior position for women.

Religion is another factor that influences thinking regarding women’s issues. As societies grew, with larger numbers of people living in close proximity, it became necessary to constrain some natural human behaviors and religious institutions became the law-makers. A key issue requiring laws was the transfer of lands from generation to generation and it became imperative that paternity was clearly established. The only way to do this was to make sure that the woman mated only with the head of the farm so any offspring were surely his. Therefore a major role of religious establishment became control of sexual behavior, particularly of women, pretty much banning all sexual activity except that required for procreation. Since most, if not all, modern religions had their origins in primarily agrarian societies, and early societies being patriarchal, it only made sense the religious institutions not only controlled sexual behavior but reinforced the position of man in the family. Beside coming from rural cultures, Social Conservatives tend to also be more religious and more fundamentalist all of which reinforces not only the belief in the naturally inferior position of women but also in restricting their sexual activity.