Is Feminism Compatible With Religion?

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June/July 2025Nigeria
Feminism

Photo illustration by Dami Mojid / THE REPUBLIC.

THE MINISTRY OF gender x sexuality

Is Feminism Compatible With Religion?

Both Christianity and Islam have doctrines that highlight the supremacy of men over women, raising the question of whether it is possible to be a religious feminist.
Feminism

Photo illustration by Dami Mojid / THE REPUBLIC.

THE MINISTRY OF gender x sexuality

Is Feminism Compatible With Religion?

Both Christianity and Islam have doctrines that highlight the supremacy of men over women, raising the question of whether it is possible to be a religious feminist.

At age 16, I stopped going to church; this decision was borne from grief and rebellion towards the church. Filled with interesting stories and threats of brimstone, I was convinced that religion offered me nothing. In hindsight, I realize one of the key reasons for walking away was the stories I read in the Bible multiple times, which treated women unfairly. One that stood out was a Levite who dismembered the body of his concubine after he raped and murdered her, distributing the parts across the tribes of Israel. As I have grown older and more informed about feminism and religion, my decision has remained firm.

Nigeria is largely a religious country, with faithfuls divided along the lines of Christianity and Islam. Often described as one of the most religious countries in the world, a 2019 report by Pew Research embodies this paradox. The widespread expansion of varied Christian and Islamic doctrines across different spheres of society means these faiths have profoundly shaped Nigerian cultural and personal identities. Even our names reflect this religious inheritance.

Although Nigeria is constitutionally a secular state. In practice, Islam and Christianity dominate public life and policy. While there is much to be said about the colonial and cultural displacements that accompanied the spread of Abrahamic religions across Africa, my focus here is more specific: How does one believe in gender equality while practising a religion that often reinforces women’s subordination?

THE CREATION STORY AND FEMINIST REJECTION

In the Book of Genesis, God created man. And while man slept, God created a helper, woman, from the rib of man. This creation story justifies the Christian teaching of gender hierarchy, where men lead and women submit. Islamic Hadiths emphasize this hierarchy, stating, ‘Treat women kindly, for they have been created from the rib.’ From a feminist lens, particularly radical feminism, which seeks to dismantle patriarchal institutions, such narratives are not innocent; they are ideological tools that naturalize male dominance and position women as secondary, reinforcing the idea that men are suited for leadership and that women are to support them.

Muslim feminists like Amina Wadud argue that gendered hierarchies stem from patriarchal interpretations; hence, the problem is not in Islam but in how it has been historically misinterpreted by male-centred authority. The concept of original sin compounds this tension. Eve, who eats the forbidden fruit, is blamed for humanity’s downfall. Her punishment includes pain in childbirth and subjugation to her husband, which has been used to blame and control women. Though the Qur’an adopts a more balanced view, blaming both Adam and his wife and forgiving them, the cultural afterlife of Eve as a temptress continues to influence Muslim and Christian gender norms.

At the core of feminist rejection is not simply that these stories exist, but that they are treated as sacred and unquestionable. Feminist theology asks: Who wrote these stories, who benefits from them, and why are they still central to religions that claim to honour justice? To believe in equality while upholding these narratives requires either reinterpretation or radical rejection.

MADE FOR MEN, BY MEN

The Bible and Qur’an, though sacred, were written and interpreted almost exclusively by men in deeply patriarchal societies, and although women appear in scripture, their stories are told through male voices, often focusing on obedience, sexual purity and servitude. Feminist theologian Mercy Amba Oduyoye advises African women to reinterpret scripture through the lens of their lived realities. Radical feminists go further, viewing religious institutions as fundamentally patriarchal and seeking their dismantlement.

A 2016 Pew Research study shows Christian women are more religious than men, forming the majority of the faithful; yet church leadership remain male-dominated. Apostle Paul’s directive that ‘women should remain silent in churches’ till today shapes church doctrine. In 2008, the Catholic Church declared that women seeking ordination would face automatic excommunication, the same fate as those who ordain them. Pope Francis, considered progressive, upheld the Petrine principle, barring women from the priesthood while assigning them symbolic roles under the Marian and administrative principle: that is, they are fit to clean, manage and serve, but not to lead.

Although the 1978 Lambeth Conference recommended the ordination of Anglican women priests in response to global feminist trends. However, in Nigeria, this was met with resistance. Referencing 1 Timothy 2:12, church leaders like Archbishop Timothy Olufosoye rejected the idea as unbiblical and foreign. In 1993, Bishop Herbert Haruna, who ordained three female priests, received backlash and the nullification of their ordinations. Though priesthood remains a future dream, a ‘compromise’ in 2010 allowed women to serve as deacons. However, this victory is short-lived as female deacons are no longer ordained.

Prayers are important to the Islamic faith, and Muslims are expected to pray five times daily. Muhammad advised it is better for women to pray at home: ‘Do not prevent your wife(s) from going to the mosque, even though their houses are better for them’. Men pray daily at the mosque while women often pray at home, at women-only mosques or behind partitions, separated from the men, limiting their freedom of expression. Pew data show that in Islamic states including Egypt, Chad, Algeria, Niger, Tunisia and Senegal, 70 per cent of Muslim men attended service weekly more frequently than women largely to this segregation.

Though the Quran does not explicitly ban women from leading prayers at mixed-gender mosques, it is generally discouraged, as justifications rooted in patriarchy, such as menstruation or childcare, are cited. Feminists like Wadud have challenged these norms; in 2005, she led a mixed-gender Jumu’ah prayer in New York amid bomb threats. While attempts at reform like Morocco’s Mourchidat programme, which began in 2006, trains women in religious education and counselling, they are still barred from becoming imams and are not authorized to lead prayers. These patterns show that even when women are allowed into spiritual spaces, full authority remains withheld.

While the Pew Research study does not offer a clear answer on why women tend to be more religious than men, two factors are considered. Nature, referring to biological and physiological inborn traits, and nurture, alluding to societal and environmental factors. Pew Research speculates that with the blurring of traditional gender roles, the religious gender gap may diminish.

However, I am inclined to believe that Nigerian women are more religious because they are the spiritual leaders of their homes. Although men are traditionally seen as the head in Nigerian homes, in reality, it is the mother, wife, sister and daughter who hold the mantle of spirituality. From a young age, Nigerian women are groomed to embody morals like sexual purity and obedience, living a virtuous life as portrayed by the Proverbs 31 woman or Fatimah, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. Religious activities, associations, and prayer groups reinforce these values, with marriage often presented as a reward for spiritual and social maturity.

Mothers ensure church attendance, lead morning devotions, and are believed to carry the spiritual weight of the family. She is the one who goes on her knees praying at night and in the early hours of the morning. It is often said, especially by Nigerian men, ‘Na my mama prayers dey keep me,’ meaning ‘My mother’s prayers keep me alive,’ which speaks to the power and purity often assigned to a mother’s prayers as mothers are seen as divinities whose prayers can intercede in the spiritual realm. Upon marriage, this burden passes on to wives, who are expected to ’pray away’ infidelity, wayward children or misfortune. For feminists, reconciling faith and feminism is a conflicting dilemma because religion demands submission and feminism urges resistance.

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CHRISTIANITY AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS

Christianity’s historical oppressive treatment of women reveals a disturbing narrative. The Old Testament features stories of women treated as chattels, subjected to violence and subjugation; from Vashti being rebuked and cast aside for challenging her husband to Tamar’s rape and Lot’s daughters being offered by their father to be raped by the men of Sodom and Gomorrah. While the Bible captures moments of empowerment, the dominant message, especially in patriarchal interpretation, has often been one of submission and silence.

Christianity has undoubtedly advanced women’s rights in some areas. Missionary education provided opportunities for female literacy and also reduced harmful practices like female genital mutilation and child marriage. However, these advances coexist with doctrines that reinforce gender inequality; the 1909 curriculum implemented by missionaries in Nigeria educated boys for leadership and employment, while girls were trained for domesticity. Even the ending of twin killings in Calabar, often attributed to missionary Mary Slessor, was built upon local resistance led by the indigenous women.

Apostle Paul, often regarded as the most outspoken disciple of Jesus after his death, reinforces patriarchal norms and has a lot to say about women’s subordination; his teachings are quite the doctrine in churches. Verses like ‘wives submit to your husbands’ and ‘women will be saved through childbearing’ have long been used to justify male authority and female subordination. Such teachings clash directly with feminist values of autonomy, equality, and agency.

In a 2016 video, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome declared that ‘husband’ means ‘master’, claiming women were created for men, were not part of God’s original plan and should not publicly correct their husbands. Bishop David Oyedepo, founder of Living Faith Church, which has over six million members globally, has repeatedly emphasized submission on the part of women and, in an Instagram post in 2020, stated that a fruitful marriage depends on a wife’s total submission to her husband. In a 2021 video, he discouraged women from identifying as feminists and advised that feminists should not marry, as such marriages will not work. His wife, Faith Oyedepo, reinforced this, suggesting any woman or woman’s organization questioning male authority in marriages is ’under a demonic influence.’

Pastor Mildred Okonkwo of David’s Christian Centre echoed this sentiment, stating, ‘Feminism in marriage is rubbish.’ While she supports equal pay, her statement ‘If you work like a man, you should be paid like a man’ subtly implies that ‘man’s work’ is the benchmark or standard, which can reinforce gender stereotypes.

These views, rooted in Paul’s teachings on submission, stand in direct opposition to feminist principles, which advocate for equality, agency, and the dismantling of systems that subordinate women. How can a Christian feminist reconcile these doctrines and teachings of spiritual leaders with the call for equality? Why should a man be outspoken and a woman be quiet, because her religion says so? Doesn’t that contradict her free will?

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ISLAM AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS

Islam is largely conservative, strongly advocating for modesty in women. Islam’s relationship with women’s rights is shaped by both religious texts and patriarchal interpretations, with many practices across Muslim societies reinforcing male dominance and restricting women’s autonomy. The hijab remains a deeply contested symbol in feminist and religious discussions, often caught between empowerment and oppression. While some argue that wearing the hijab is a personal and religious choice, an expression of identity and faith, some view it as a tool of patriarchal control that limits women’s freedom.

In India, a 2022 ban on hijabs by the Hindu-led government was less about women’s liberation and more about religious superiority and politics. In Iran, the hijab is legally enforced by the state, rooted in religious law. The 2022 death of Mahsa Amini after a hijab-related arrest sparked protests where many women rejected the hijab as a symbol of religious and state oppression. In Nigeria, the 2017 Amasa Firdaus case, where a female law student challenged a ban on wearing the hijab in the law school, brought the debate into a local context. While feminist perspectives vary, at the centre of it all is the call for women to freely accept or reject religious dress without religious, patriarchal, or state coercion.

Across many Islamic African countries, laws are rooted in Sharia, often subordinating women. For example, Libya’s 2024 hijab enforcement mandates that women must wear hijab and travel only with male guardians. In Sudan and Somalia, child marriage is justified through Islamic legal frameworks, with girls as young as ten married off. The Shafi’i fiqh, an Islamic law, allows fathers to marry off virgin daughters without their permission. Women who rebel against these religious laws are often faced with severe punishments.

The concept of guardianship is notorious within Islam, where women are under the authority of their father or male relatives. This is in line with the Qur’an, which states that ‘men are the maintainers of women.’ In conservative African Muslim families, a woman requires the consent of her husband before she can work or travel.

Talaq, the husband’s unilateral right to divorce and the right to marry up to four wives, further institutionalize gender inequality. These practices grant men expansive control over women’s bodies, sexuality and futures. A 2022 BBC report found that in Kano, Nigeria, 32 per cent of marriages lasted under six months, due in part to early marriage and excessive use of Talaq.

In inheritance laws, women typically receive half the share of their male siblings. In the same vein, the husband generally gets half of his wife’s estate if she has no offspring, while the wife inherits a quarter of his estate in comparable situations.. Even where family laws claim gender equality, as in Somalia, the man is legally the head of the household. In South Sudan and Sudan, wives must seek their husbands’ permission to visit family, codifying obedience into law. In Nigeria, religious influence further deepens gender divides. While southern women gained voting rights in 1954, their northern counterparts received theirs in 1979. The North’s Sharia-based Penal Code contributes to higher rates of child marriage and lower female education. Here, religious patriarchy intersects with law and culture to undermine women’s agency. From a feminist view, these practices violate principles of autonomy, equality and freedom of choice. Radical feminists see them as oppressive manifestations of patriarchy embedded in religious and legal systems.

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CAN YOU SERVE TWO MASTERS?

As feminists, African women must accept the reality that doctrines of Christianity and Islam are limiting and oppressive. Unfortunately, these beliefs form the foundation of religion. Muslim feminists like Saba Mahmood push back, challenging the notion that feminism must be secular, arguing that religious devotion can also be a form of agency. Similarly, Muslim feminist writers Wadud and Wardah Abbas advocate for reinterpreting the Quran through a justice-centred lens, as they reject patriarchal interpretations, argue that many oppressive customs are cultural distortions and advocate for gender-just reinterpretations of scripture.

In Christianity, Mercy Amba Oduyoye, a Ghanian-born feminist theologian calls for theology that centres African women’s lived experiences, while theologian and feminist Valerie Saiving in her 1960s article, ‘The Human Situation: A Feminine View’ advocated for women involvement in religion, suggesting that greater inclusion of women’s perspectives in religion, and embracing these feminine viewpoints can enrich theological discussions and lead to a more balanced and inclusive understanding of faith and spirituality.

Despite these, religious doctrine often remains steeped in patriarchy. To submit means to yield to a superior force or will of another person. Submission central to both Islam and Christianity places men above women, contradicting core feminist principles like autonomy and equality. In most African churches and mosques, women remain barred from leadership, their roles confined to service, not authority. Free will is often alien to women under radical religious rule, where decisions about education, marriage, and mobility are made by male guardians.

Globally, this tension continues. In the 2024 United States elections, conservative Catholic groups supported Donald Trump for his anti-abortion stance, a reflection of how religious nationalism across contexts seeks to control women’s reproductive rights. Feminism insists on choice and free will, in relationships, careers and reproductive choices, while religion often deems such independence sinful. From restrictions during menstruation to the glorification of sexual purity, religious traditions continue to police women’s bodies and behaviour. Although feminist theology has emerged to challenge these norms, just like mainstream feminism, this primarily focuses on Caucasian women. Feminism has always been different for African women, and so does feminist theology. For Africans, religion maps onto other systems of oppression collectively weaponized to advance patriarchal supremacy, such that it will take way more for liberating religious reforms for women to gain autonomy.

Religious institutions are also slow to evolve. Male ordination in Christianity dates to the early church, while Antoinette Brown became the first ordained female United States Protestant minister in 1844. Rabbinic leadership for men dates back over 2000 years, but it was not until 1935, Regina Jones became the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi. In Ghana, the first Anglican female priest was ordained in 2008, and Nigeria remains resistant. In Islam, while women like Aisha Bint Abi Bakr, wife of Prophet Muhammad, were respected scholars, female-led mixed-gender prayers only gained ground in the 21st century.

Whether religion was always patriarchal or made so by design, history shows that men have shaped and controlled its doctrines to maintain dominance. Feminism and religion continue to clash, one based on free will, the other often demanding submission. While both ideologies offer profound insights, their inherent disparities demand deep reflection and open dialogue. Is there an in-between? I believe strongly that eventually, one will prevail, and a choice will be made. Your free will or your spiritual journey?

As Simone de Beauvoir, a French feminist and activist, wrote in her revolutionary work, The Second Sex (banned by the Vatican), religion presents women as inherently secondary, reinforcing structures that deny them freedom. Like Beauvoir, I acknowledge the cultural and existential significance of religion and also believe that true liberation for women requires breaking free from these religious constraints that justify inequality.

In parting, I align with the words of Taslima Nasrin, a Bangladeshi writer and feminist, ‘I strongly believe that no one can be a true feminist without being an atheist. All religions are anti-women. No one can be pro-woman while supporting anti-woman dogmas.’ Because in the end, as the scripture says, ‘No one can serve two masters.’⎈

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