Expectations and Experiences of Gender Roles within Highly Religious Families.
By Erin Smidt, Isabella Thompson, Juliana Herrera-Arias, and David Allsop
April 14, 2026
This blog is a summary of our published article:
Leavitt, C. E., Allsop, D. B., Price, A. A., Marks, L. D., & Dollahite, D. C. (2021). Exploring Gender Roles in Highly Religious Families. Review of Religious Research, 63(4), 511–533. JSTOR.
Photo by iStock
For many individuals and families, religion serves as a framework which is used to view and interpret the world [1]. Gender roles and attitudes are learned and constantly reinforced within families [2]. Religious teachings about gender roles can both foster relational health or cause relational harm, depending on the teachings and how these teachings are lived out within marriages and families [3; 4; 5].
Purpose of the Study
This study explored the connection between married couples, their religious beliefs and practices, and their lived experience of gender roles. In this study, gender roles are examined through the lens of marriage and family life.
What did we do?
198 individuals from Muslim, Christian, and Jewish families completed in-home interviews, and participants were recruited using suggestions from religious leaders of families believed to be strong in their faith and successful in their family relationships. Participants were asked a variety of questions about the influence of religion on their family life, and intentional sampling was used to combat the predominant use of White Christian samples in religion research.
What did we find?
Questions about gender within relationships were not asked, but gender-related issues arose in many of the interviews, leading two themes to emerge:
1: Sanctity of and Complementary Gender Roles in Sexual Relations
•Faith-based rules regarding partners' interactions with the opposite sex served as a protective barrier for the marital and family relationship
•Complementary roles allowed spouses to find meaning in their tasks and develop attitudes of respect and appreciation for one another and the role each fulfils
•The ideal of different but complementary and harmonizing gender roles within a marriage and family was repeatedly identified and discussed
2: Interpreting and Safeguarding Gender Roles
•For many religious individuals the roles of wife and husband are dictated by a higher power and by sacred texts
•Complementary roles were referred to as keys to provide balance both spiritually and temporally
•Highly religious families were comfortable acknowledging the influence of religion on gender roles and could identify both positive and negative outcomes
What does this mean?
This study offers insight as to why highly religious individuals and families may have specific perspectives about gender roles, and especially gender roles within a family unit. Understanding how gender roles are impacted and influenced by religion and religious teachings can help clinicians promote healthy relationship functioning and marital satisfaction. Additionally, acknowledging that individuals and families, even if part of the same faith, engage in different interpretations and practices of religious beliefs shows the importance of considering personal experiences and values when understanding attitudes toward gender roles within families and relationships.
Photo by iStock
References
[1] Van Assche, J., Y. Koç, and A. Roets. 2019. Religiosity or ideology? On the individual differences predictors of sexism. Personality and Individual Differences 139: 191-197. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/j.paid.2018.11.016
[2] Leaper, C., and C.K. Friedman. 2007. The socialization of gender. In Handbook of socialization: theory and research, ed. J.E. Gru and P.D. Hastings. New York: The Guilford Press.
[3] Burr, W.R., L.D. Marks, and R. Day. 2012. Sacred matters: Religion and spirituality in families. New York: Routledge.
[4] Dollahite, D.C., and L.D. Marks. 2009. A conceptual model of processes in a diverse, national sample of highly religious families. Review of Religious Research 50: 373-391.
[5] Dollahite, D.C., L.D. Marks, and H. Dalton. 2018. Why religion helps and harms: duality and divergence at the nexus of faith and family life. Journal of Family Theory and Review 10: 219-241. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12242.
