28 Nov New Volume Provides Perspectives on Religion and Gender from Baltic Sea Region
Analysing the intersection of religion and gender in the Baltic countries and Norway is essential for understanding how various religious traditions shape societal norms and gender roles in these regions. A new volume from Routledge, titled Religion and Gender Equality around the Baltic Sea: Ideologies, Policies, and Private Lives, aims to rethink the intersections of gender and religion, as well as the secular and religious aspects, in implementing and challenging gender equality at individual, institutional, and societal levels in the Baltic Sea Region.
This book, edited by Prof. Milda Ališauskienė and Dr. Eglė Aleknaitė from Vytautas Magnus University, along with Prof. Marianne Bjelland Kartzow from the University of Oslo, presents empirical data that highlight the under-researched area of the post-socialist Baltic states. The analyses in the chapters are based on fieldwork conducted in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Norway.
As both secular and religious values coexist in these countries, exploring this relationship offers valuable insights into the progress and challenges related to gender equality in Northern Europe.
This volume includes sociological, anthropological, historical, political science, and theological perspectives and covers five broad research areas: a shifting concept of gender equality and its developments in Baltic and Nordic countries; a diversity of developments within religious groups related to issues of gender equality and the negotiation of competing gender ideologies; inter-religious developments and gender equality; the role of religions in the construction of public discourse on gender equality; and religious socialisation, focusing on the promotion of religious gender models through socialisation and public education.
Examining these intersections helps identify barriers to equality, such as restrictions on women’s rights in marriage, family, and work. By understanding how religion influences gender dynamics, societies can create inclusive policies, challenge stereotypes, and encourage dialogue between religious communities and gender equality advocates, ultimately fostering more equitable and just societies across Europe.
This book is one of the main deliverables of the research project Religion and Gender Equality: Baltic and Nordic Developments, implemented in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Norway in 2021-2023. The project was funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway through the EEA Grants. It aimed to investigate the role of religion in the implementation of gender equality and to uncover both intra-religious and inter-religious developments that sustain or resist gender equality in the Baltic and Nordic countries. The project contract with the Research Council of Lithuania is numbered S-BMT-21-4 (LT08-2LMT-K-01-036).