Conversion, Gender, Race: A Comparative Study of Women Becoming Jewish, Christian, and Muslim in the Netherlands (Gendering the Study of Religion in the Social Sciences)

This book explores the intersections of religion, gender, sexuality and race in the everyday lives of female converts in the Netherlands. In a unique comparative approach, it is based on ethnographic research in Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities. What does it mean to join a religious community as a woman in a largely secularised country? How does gender impact processes of religious conversion? How can we understand processes of racialization of converts who join a minority group? The book highlights how the formation of a religious self is shaped by gender and vice versa at the level of religious community, families and individual embodiments. It considers the apparent paradox in women’s conversion: When secular women join religious groups associated with gender conservatism, they are often perceived as lacking agency, or using their conversion primarily for external reasons (such as marriage). Underneath this assumption is a strong idea that ‘secularity’ offers women their freedom, whilst ‘traditional religions’ would limit women’s emancipation and freedom. Drawing on insights from gender studies and religious studies, the author critically reflects on concepts and theories about women’s religiosity, conversion, and the role of gender and sexuality in the construction of a religion/secular binary. The study offers fresh and nuanced insight into the similarities between religious groups, which are usually examined individually. At the same time, it recognizes that the social context and difference in social position of the three groups studied have a deep impact on the process of conversion. The book includes analysis of how new Jewish and Muslim women deal with the experience of becoming a (racialized) minority in the Netherlands, as well as how the comparison with the experiences of Christian women reflect on Christian privilege.