Political analysis often conceptualises religion as a conservative force opposed to gender rights, incompatible with feminist politics and progressive change. Yet a growing body of research on religious feminisms and gendered religious agency challenges this assumption. Alberta Giorgi invites scholars of politics to rethink how they conceptualise and analyse religion

In May 2025, senior Roman Catholic clergymen gathered in the Vatican to elect a new Pope. As tradition dictates, black or white smoke would rise from the Sistine Chapel, depending on whether the conclave had reached its decision.

To coincide with this, a small group of activists assembled nearby, releasing pink smoke to protest the exclusion of women from the election process. The group, Women’s Ordination Conference, forms part of a broader and internally diverse landscape of religious feminisms across many religious traditions worldwide.

These groups differ in their understandings of feminism, in their relationships with secular feminisms and even in how they understand and use the term 'feminism' itself. However, they share a core commitment to promoting gender equality within their religious communities and institutions. And they articulate their feminist claims explicitly in relation to religion.

Even if these groups are comparatively small and marginalised in their religious communities, the analysis of religious feminisms – and, more broadly, gendered analysis of religion – has crucial implications for the analysis of religion in politics.

Moving beyond binary assumptions

First, religious feminisms challenge the binary and linear understanding of the relationship between religion and gender in politics. European political analysis frequently portrays religion as inherently conservative. Secularism, meanwhile, it associates with modernity and gender equality.

Feminism is often framed as emerging from emancipation from religion. Indeed, many studies highlight the central role of Christian actors and organisations in campaigns against what they define as 'gender ideology', as well as the broader involvement of religious actors in processes of democratic backsliding.

Feminism is often framed as emancipation from religion. But many religious actors and organisations are involved in progressive initiatives such as support for refugees or environmental justice

However, religious actors and organisations are also involved in initiatives usually considered progressive, such as support for migrants and refugees, economic solidarity networks, or environmental justice campaigns. At the same time, the growing visibility of religious feminisms challenges the assumption that religion and gender equality are mutually exclusive. Research documents multiple forms of women’s agency within religious traditions, revealing the stereotypes of imagining religious women as simply oppressed or subordinated by religion. More generally, studies of lived religion show how individuals reinterpret traditions in ways that may reinforce or challenge gender norms.

Overall, these dynamics complicate linear narratives that align religion exclusively with conservative values and, as such, are inherently opposed to feminism.

Rethinking the conceptualisation of religion

A second implication invites us to rethink how we conceptualise religion. It questions common assumptions about what religion says, what it is, how it works, and what role it plays in society.

In monotheistic traditions, feminist religious approaches often centre on the reinterpretation or reclaiming of sacred texts. These readings challenge patriarchal authority and traditional interpretations. Other initiatives focus on institutional change. For example, they advocate for women, queer, and non-binary persons in leadership roles. They also contest gendered expectations embedded in rituals and bodily practices.

Feminist and gender-sensitive approaches further shift attention to marginalised religious subjectivities. This includes queer believers within monotheistic traditions who openly challenge religious authorities and dominant norms. These communities often navigate a complex interplay of exclusion and belonging.

Research shows that digital media help create safer and alternative religious spaces. Online platforms allow individuals to connect, share experiences, and re-legitimise their faith. At the same time, broader political dynamics shape these experiences. Public discourses that stigmatise religion can render certain traditions culturally and socially marginalised. Widespread Islamophobia in Western Europe, for example, deeply affects how Muslim communities live and express their religion.

The categories scholars use are not neutral. Academic classifications shape what counts as 'proper' religion. They often privilege institutionalised traditions and sideline others.

Religion is dynamic, with internal tensions. Authority and belonging are constantly contested and renegotiated

These classifications also determine which traditions gain recognition. They influence whose voices scholars foreground. For a long time, research treated institutional actors and religious leaders as the main representatives of religious traditions.

More recent studies challenge this view. They highlight internal tensions within traditions, showing that religion is dynamic and that authority and belonging remain constantly contested and renegotiated.

How we define religion matters. These definitions shape cultural and political narratives. They influence how people assess religion’s compatibility with democracy and gender equality.

This perspective urges us to look beyond formal institutions and official teachings. It calls on us to include marginalised groups and peripheral actors. It also draws attention to everyday practices and to embodied, emotional religious experiences.

Rethinking implicit assumptions about religion

Finally, this agenda points to the need to adopt a decolonial standpoint. This would avoid reproducing Eurocentric and Christiano-centric assumptions about what religion is and how it operates in society.

Dominant understandings of agency have relied on liberal models of autonomy, producing binary narratives of 'emancipation versus oppression', especially when analysing religious women. Empirical research complexifies this picture by showing how religious commitment may also function as a resource for empowerment and visibility.

Eurocentric, Christiano-centric assumptions about religion produce binary narratives of 'emancipation versus oppression'. The reality is more complex

The perceived opposition between religion and feminism is itself rooted in historical trajectories that associate gender rights with secularism and modernity. Yet historical analysis and traditions of religious feminism across different contexts show how these elements can be intertwined.

Implications for political analysis

So why should we take seriously the study of religious feminisms? Because adopting a gendered approach encourages critical reflection on the epistemic foundations of the study of religion and politics. It reveals gendered blind spots.

Studying religion through a gendered lens pushes scholars to rethink their analytical categories. It forces us to engage with the plurality of religious experiences and political positions.

This shift matters for more than the study of religion in politics. It also reshapes how we understand politics itself. Religious institutions and religious subjects do not relate to democratic projects in a single – conservative – way. They occupy different positions and pursue different visions of democracy.

No.38 in a Loop series on 🌈 Gendering Democracy