Women in atheism

[Stephen73]

I am a 34 yr Australian male, and I have been an atheist almost all of my life. In 2006 I read Richard Dawkins book "The God Delusion" and have since become an atheist activist in Melbourne, Australia attending discussions, debates and the Melbourne Atheist Action Group meetings. Having attended many atheist functions I am perplexed at the overwhelming amount of men atheists and so few women.
I am curious as to why women are less likely to be atheists?

[psychomonkey62]

I am a 34 yr Australian male, and I have been an atheist almost all of my life. In 2006 I read Richard Dawkins book "The God Delusion" and have since become an atheist activist in Melbourne, Australia attending discussions, debates and the Melbourne Atheist Action Group meetings. Having attended many atheist functions I am perplexed at the overwhelming amount of men atheists and so few women.
I am curious as to why women are less likely to be atheists?

Maybe women are generally more emotional, and men are more rational?

Sorry to all you women if that's sexist.....:o

[stan2reason]

Maybe women are generally more emotional, and men are more rational?

Sorry to all you women if that's sexist.....:o

Curious use of the word "if".

Not married are you PM?:)

Oh--and welcome aboard Stephen!
A few years ago an interesting study (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/AJS/journal/issues/v107n6/060264/brief/060264.abstract.html) was published in the American Journal of Sociology addressing this rather interesting phenomenon. The authors found that being irreligious was actually a "risk-taking" behavior. Women traditionally are less likely to engage in "risk-taking".

[formerfundie]

I am a 34 yr Australian male, and I have been an atheist almost all of my life. In 2006 I read Richard Dawkins book "The God Delusion" and have since become an atheist activist in Melbourne, Australia attending discussions, debates and the Melbourne Atheist Action Group meetings. Having attended many atheist functions I am perplexed at the overwhelming amount of men atheists and so few women.
I am curious as to why women are less likely to be atheists?

I don't have any answers, but i find this to be a fascinating topic. I have tried to have conversations with my wife about my belief (or lack thereof), and she really almost doesn't want to know. I've asked her to read books, and she's refused, saying (paraphrasing) "i don't want to read anything that will make me question my faith. i want my faith to be strong". i wouldn't want to generalize this into a statement about females, just my personal experience with my wife. her upbringing as a christian has so brain-washed her that even to question her faith is a sin to her in her eyes. I had similar upbringing, and I did break free from that sort of thinking, but honestly, I don't think she ever will. Her emotional attachment to the idea of God is just too strong for her. Almost like an addiction??

FF

[home8896]

I've been agnostic and involved in occult circles for many years, so I haven't been noticing this as I have recently. I've only recently started to notice that being female in the atheist circles online still seems to be a minority.

I almost think we are still conditioned in such gender differentiation that girls are being brought up with very few expectations to really question what they are told. The education system still expects boys will do better in maths and sciences, and that girls won't be interested in it. And we're being brought up to be financially independent, on top of it, so that our education is very grounded in programs with a real purpose - and not just learning to learn.

Add in around the US the idea that science can't answer "important" questions.

I also saw some shows on Discovery Health about a gender difference noticed from extremely young ages where the hosts showed that girls internalize the world and feel a greater need to please others than the boys. So, maybe there is a need to fit in that keeps most girls from "rocking the boat" and for many women I know, their social network is completely centered around their church experiences, so they would really lose that support network if they fell from grace.

I'm sure there are plenty more reasons.

My own experience was not due to gender or fear of losing my social network, but just a really hard-to-shake wishful thinking that there is more to life than an empirical world. There were some very powerful, though short-lived, "epiphanies" and dreams that kept me wondering if something out there was trying to reach out to me. To learn about the brain and how the mind works was really important to help me let go of the questions I had.

I know I have friends who are pretty indoctrinated, and even if they have a natural skepticism, it is overshadowed by a need to trust these people they feel have no reason to lie to them. One friend isn't much into The Bible, but still can't let the indoctrination go completely. She always wonders "What if there is a hell? I don't want to go there." To her, Pascal's wager seems reasonable.

I only overcame my hopes for something MORE with a combination of not being terrified of eternal suffering after death and continuing to learn about the mind and brain until I could clearly see how easy the brain is deceived.

For women, at least in this part of this country, the social needs and the lack of real education and the expectation that we girls won't rock the boat nor will we seek more scientific explanations for the emotional lives we lead, it's even harder to be an atheist. And I'm sure there are other things going on.

I didn't even realize this was an issue until recently, though.

[phrog]

I do find it interesting that some of the famous Atheists are/were women like Madilyn O'Hare and the current president of American Atheists Ellen Johnson. Our local group meets weekly for coffee chat, usually about 20-25 and maybe 4 or 5 women. The current president of Ahteists of Utah is a woman and that orginazation is about 20% women. While my father and I are strong Ahtheists, so is my sister and my wife, but my Mother is not. I know of many other women Atheists that aren't members of any orginazations. I think women are less likely to be joiners and are also less likely to answer polls and questionairs as to being Atheists, but when questioned one might find that many porve their beliefs tend to be at least Agnostic.

[psychomonkey62]

Curious use of the word "if".

Not married are you PM?:)

Oh--and welcome aboard Stephen!
A few years ago an interesting study (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/AJS/journal/issues/v107n6/060264/brief/060264.abstract.html) was published in the American Journal of Sociology addressing this rather interesting phenomenon. The authors found that being irreligious was actually a "risk-taking" behavior. Women traditionally are less likely to engage in "risk-taking".

I just based my response on a study that proved that women were generally better with writing and memory, and men are generally better at math and spatial problems (like imagining things rotating).

I wasn't trying to be sexist....:rolleyes:

[chasm]

I think that a lot of research has shown that women are more socially involved, and interested in consensus, than men are. Atheists (and this is pretty much based on anecdotal evidence and personal observation, rather than any kind of data) as a group seem to be less interested in social involvement, more individualistic, more introverted, and less interested in consensus. Trying to organize a group of atheists (assuming you can get a group of them in one place) is a lot like herding cats, while religions provide a social network.

[lorryfach]

:dito: what chasm said.

Just look through a church newsletter. Who printed the newsletter? Who is running most of the events in it? I bet it's all women. Church is a very, very social thing for all the religious women I know.

I can believe the comment about "risk-taking" as well, although I must say that being a weirdo has never seemed like a risk for me personally. I stand out enough in other ways that I can't possibly worry about the reaction someone will have when they find out I'm an atheist. But then, I have good spacial relations so I guess I'm not a typical female anyway. :p

[Tasha]

I agree with all those who've said that belonging to a church attracts women because it is a social experience. I brought this point up at my local atheist meeting also, when we were talking about growing the atheist movement. Organized religion is much more than doctrine, much more than a "get out of hell free" card. It's about having a social network and safety net.

It's about knowing that if your husband is laid off, the church ladies will bring meals by. It's about knowing that if you're having a hard time with life, your church lady friends will "pray about it" with you and for you. Personally I think that prayer *does* work, NOT becasue there is a Higher Power who intervenes, but because it provides the emotional wellbeing that comes from feeling that others care about you. When you feel that others think that your problems are worthy of thinking about, it helps give you the strength and clarity to actually figure out the solution on your own. Of course, the devoutly religious will say that "God told me to ______________" or "I feel God is calling me to___________", but personally I just think that praying about it and having others pray about it gave them a moment of pause to figure out the solution on their own.

However, until the Atheist movement (is up to Movement status yet? I'm not sure) can compete by providing the same social supports and network that organized religion does, it will never out-compete any church/synagogue/mosque/temple in drawing adherants, especially women.

[minorwork]

If appearances are to be relied on, there were three women and five men at the freethinker meetup last saturday. I have seen equal representation there at times. The leader is a woman. I'll go with that assessment until further clarified.

I am cautious as I kinda' flunked a man or woman test somewhere on the net. And even those results were not conclusively demonstrated to me.

Women who have worn a testosterone patch have reported that their thoughts are not on what they are accustomed to.

Hormones rule.

[maddog]

I don't know if I think it's true that there are more male atheists than female atheists, based on a few anecdotal experiences.

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