Why Aren’t More Women Atheists?

Posted by on May 30, 2007 in Essays, Rants | 13 comments

Why Aren’t More Women Atheists?

Lately, I’ve been checking out atheist blogs that are new to my eyes. Gotta love that atheist blogroll! So, I’m looking at Infidelis Maximus‘ blog, where to the right there are several videos of female atheists. Which begs the simple question: Why aren’t there more?

Could it be the family closeness that religion feigns to embody? Otherwise, it would be extremely hard to believe that these women enjoy being thought of as less than.

What happen to sisterhood and feminism? Did it die..or did it ever exist? I believe it does, just in smaller circles. I’ve always been the type of girl to get along with men better and the non-stereotypical women. (As well as just older generations…they call me an “Old Soul”.) So, perhaps my views are skewed. I don’t like competition, at least in general. I don’t like catty women who care about designer fashions and I don’t like all-American football guys either. But I’m a geek, so I suppose that explains it!

If women want to feel empowered, is there a better way? I realize many feminists just believe god is a woman; however, that surely doesn’t answer any questions. There is also, the pantheist god, which I have a hard time understanding that it isn’t atheism in disguise. If one were to believe that god is just part of everything and that’s it, then couldn’t that transform into being in awe of the universe, nature, and science? Being how the word atheist has been demonized, it feels like a nicer way to say spiritual atheist, or deeply religious non-believer*.

But I digress. I’ve read atheist blogs from time to time where the male author had a debate with his wife or girlfriend. How do these men do it? Furthermore, how come more women won’t take the red pill? Is it a fear of loneliness? Many people have it. Let’s face it, women can be more insecure than men. I won’t place the blame on men or the media (it’s a combination of men, women, and media). But it exists. And letting go of god is admitting that you’re essentially alone. And some people just refuse to handle global loneliness. We, even with friends and lovers and family and coworkers, are alone. And is that so bad? Maybe it’s because I’m an only child, but we can all use some loneliness. It’s the only way we grow stronger and can face the day when someone close changes or dies or leaves or whatever the case may be. I am not alone; I just know how to handle it. But it’s because of those close to me, not because of some omniscient sky-daddy.

So… Why Aren’t More Women Atheists?

* Excerpt from Richard Dawkins’ “The God Delusion”, Chapter 1 A DEEPLY RELIGIOUS NON-BELIEVER “I don’t try to imagine a personal God; it suffices to stand in awe at the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it.” —Albert Einstein

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  • tom

    maybe it depends on where you look! a simple google search for atheist women turns this up:

    Find Atheist Women
    Search and Find Atheist Women
    Near You at Date.com. Join Now!
    Date.com/Atheist_Women

    lolz

  • Lady Monchhichi

    I think that most of us are in the closet. As a women you are taught and want to please, to be good/pure and to be non threating. Unfortunately when people think atheism these things do not come to mind which boggles my mind. We are evil blood sucking succubus’s, didn’t you get the memo?

    However I could not think of a more non threating, nurturing good/pure thing to be than an atheist/humanist.

  • Rose Schwartz

    Thanks for your input! I agree. But it does bother me how women are supposed to be non-threatening and have no real say.

  • angelsdepart

    I have to agree with the lady. I think that there are just as many women atheist as there are men. The problem is that in this day and in this place, atheism is a confrontational viewpoint and women, for the most part, seem to try thier best to avoid confrontation!

  • Rose Schwartz

    So, Would a more appropriate question be: Why aren’t more women out atheists? I understand why, but that doesn’t make it okay.

  • lateralus

    I have my own atheist blog roll for Atheist Filipino Bloggers and among the 23 I have on the list, there are only three women. Interesting, it might be a global trend.

    Your brother in Jebus,
    Benj
    http://atheista.net

  • Infidelis Maximus

    I think it’s rare because women have been traditionally suppressed in our society. They have been forced to be subservient for as long as there have been humans. What better way to do that than via religion? Look at all the passages in the Bible commanding women to be obedient to their husbands and pointing out how inferior or “weaker” they are. And that’s just the Bible–other religious texts are just as bad if not worse. That’s one reason I’ve gone out of my way to link and support Acharya S’ work. Though she declines to be called a hardcore atheist, she is, nonetheless, a nonbeliever, and “outed” female skeptics of any variety are very rare.

    Another good female atheist site is “A Whore In the Temple of Reason.” It’s run by a female and was the first site featured under my Site of the Week label.

    All we can really do is educate people and encourage women where we can to think for themselves and come out of the closet about their beliefs (or the lack of them). Unfortunately, it will probably take a good long while to counteract the thousands of years of oppression they’ve suffered in this area.

  • The Exterminator

    You don’t cite any evidence to back up your assertion about the relatively small number of women to men atheists. Are you guilty of stereotyping?

    In my experience, there are plenty of outspoken women atheists. Maybe what you’re asking is: why aren’t there more women atheist bloggers? That’s a whole other question.

    And just FYI: I never debate with my wife — at least about religion — because she’s every bit as militantly atheistic as I am. She just doesn’t keep a blog because, as she puts it, “I’ve got a life.”

  • Rose Schwartz

    I don’t cite anything because I was venting from personal experience.

  • http://ericbroze.com Eric Broze

    Hmmm…. I noticed the exterminator has a blog.

    I could be wrong, but it appears that was a backhanded swipe at YOU by your wife.

    Thanks for Sharing!!!!!!!

  • Rose Schwartz

    In my experience, women are MUCH more likely to be interested in spiritual stuff. Even if it’s astrology (for example), it transforms into a higher power or a bigger meaning to it all. Some female atheists I’ve met online feel the same way.

    I’m just interested in breaking these dumb stereotypes! (that atheists are middle-aged white men)

  • Wendy H.

    I’m trying to think of the ratio of men to women who show up regularly at CFI LA events during the week, and on weekends, and the LA Skeptic Meetup events, and I am supposing that most of us are atheists of one degree or another, and there are a lot of women. The majority of volunteers are women. There were A LOT OF WOMEN AT TAM8 :-)
    In our science/grassroots skepticism group, IIG, there are probably more men than women, but there are many women… and the men seem to respect the women’s skill at critical thinking. But we’re talking about atheism… I’m sorry for my digression. You know, I just realized one day that I didn’t believe in a supernatural being who answered prayers and ran things, and that that must mean I was — gasp — an atheist. I wonder if it’s like the film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind…. some people just never got the message; they never saw the newscast with the mountain. They never realized that their lack of belief, their doubt in the supernatural being that they heard about at church every Sunday, meant that they were normally an atheist and not that there was something wrong with them.
    I don’t think it’s about male or female… I think the big brain is nongender… and it has more to do with what information is available, and the freedom to process that information.
    Or it could be what someone mentioned above… there are women atheists, but they are busy, not coming to Drinking Skeptically, nor blogging.
    I hope that makes sense :-)

  • http://jewmanist.com Rose Schwartz

    You know, Wendy, this post was written 3 years ago. And since then I have noticed that the ratio has shifted a bit.