ABSTRACT
Until very recently the topic of gender has been almost absent from the agenda of the study of religion. The situation has changed partly as a result of the impact of the socalled ‘second wave’ feminism which developed after the 1960s, and whose perspectives and analyses have gradually influenced many of the disciplines which make up the study of religion-from history to anthropology. Whilst this represents a significant advance, a less helpful legacy from feminism has been the tendency to approach the study of religion and gender in terms of a single problematic: is religion a ‘good’ (liberating) or a ‘bad’ thing for women? Does it reinforce patriarchy or undermine it?
