Will God Make Me Rich? An Investigation into the Relationship between Membership in Charismatic Churches, Wealth, and Women’s Empowerment in Ghana
Journal Title: Religions - Year 2018, Vol 9, Issue 6
Abstract
In recent decades, there has been an explosion in the growth of Pentecostal churches in Ghana, many of which preach that belief in God will translate into material wealth for both men and women. While some have argued that women in these churches are likely to be more empowered due to female leadership and focus on the individual, others have argued that this may not translate to the typical congregant’s experience. After all, members of the Pentecostal church subscribe to the belief that wives should “submit to their husbands” (Biblia n.d.). In this study, I used the 2014 Demographic Health Survey to directly test whether women who identify as Pentecostal/Charismatic/Evangelical have a higher level of empowerment as measured by autonomy in decision making. I found that they exhibit significantly less decision-making power than other Christian women in making big household purchases and on their own healthcare. This exists both before and after controlling for wealth. Thus, the notion that Pentecostal women are more empowered than other Christians appears to be misguided.
Authors and Affiliations
Sara Gundersen
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP26056
- DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9060195
- Views 321
- Downloads 11
Loving the Many in the One: Augustine and the Love of Finite Goods
This is an essay in comparative ethics within the Platonist tradition. Although the primary focus is on Augustine’s account of rightly ordered love of neighbor in De vera religione, it analyzes Augustine’s account of t...
Entanglement in Fir: Thinking Matter in Peter Larkin’s “praying // firs \\ attenuate”
This article reads Peter Larkin’s poem “praying // firs nn attenuate” (2014) as a way to think the divine in relation to the ecological as a mutual poetic giving. It suggests that the poem entangles the reader in a ser...
History, Hysteria, and Hype: Government Contracting with Faith-Based Social Service Agencies
In light of the adoption of the Charitable Choice Provision of the Welfare Reform Bill and the creation of White House Offices on faith based initiatives this article examines the history of government contracting with...
Reincarnation: Mechanics, Narratives, and Implications
This essay explores the mechanics associated with rebirth, noting differences between Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain narratives. It examines the concept of subtle body and the lingam in ˙ Sa¯m . khya. According to the Hind...
Performative Framing: Dza Patrul Rinpoche’s Performative Pedagogy
This essay explores the pedagogy of Dza Patrul Rinpoche (1808–1887), a well-respected Buddhist teacher from Eastern Tibet, by considering examples where Patrul frames his teachings as oratorical performances. Patrul op...