Question

What subsistence strategies are associated with female religious specialists?

How does monotheism and polytheism relate to how males and females relate to each other in ordinary life?  

Answer 1

The female religious specialists are those women who devote themselves to the religious service. Almost in every religion there are female religious specialists and they follow some particular rules and regulations. The female religious specialists are also efficient in religious knowledge and they perform some limited religious duty.

But in every religion we find the dominance of the men over women. In polytheism women divine power is greatly revered. But the role of priest is mainly performed by the men. Women are not allowed to there. But in case of household gods both men and women worship. Goddess Durga is worshipped by male priest, not by female priest.

In monotheism we find different roles of the female religious specialists. In Islam there are vary rare female religious priests as in Islam women are to lead very conservative lifestyle. They are confined with many religious prejudices. But such religious prejudices do not appear in Christianity. There women are liberal and they can take part in religious activities easily. There are numerous nuns engaged in many types of human services. They also work as religious preachers and they are guided by religious ethics.

In polytheism women religious specialists are also allowed freedom. They devote themselves to the service of Lord Krishna. There are many branches of polytheism and in every branch there many women religious specialists. They work both in men and women.

There are particular dress codes of the women religious specialists in both polytheism and monotheism. In the religious hierarchy women are not allowed mainly the top position. The women are generally in lower religious position in all types of religion in spite of their knowledge and service. So, there we also find patriarchal dominance in the field of religion.