Religion and Women’s Rights Negotiating Power in Cultural and Belief Spaces

Abstract

This academic article aims to analyze the relationship between religion and women’s rights as a space of negotiating power within cultural and belief systems in Thai society. It argues that religion should not be understood merely as a body of teachings or moral principles, but also as a symbolic structure shaping meanings of gender, women’s roles, and the legitimacy of power. This study employs documentary research by reviewing and synthesizing Thai academic literature published in TCI-indexed journals concerning gender, women’s roles, social justice, women’s rights in Buddhism, the status of bhikkhunīs, and women’s religious experiences in Thai contexts. The findings indicate that gender inequality in religious spaces does not arise solely from doctrinal teachings, but also from institutional interpretations, cultural reproduction, and patriarchal structures that subject women to stricter moral standards than men. At the same time, women are not merely passive subjects of control; they also use religion and belief as resources for meaning-making, dignity affirmation, moral capital accumulation, and negotiation of their social position. The article therefore argues that understanding religion and women’s rights requires moving beyond the binary framework of “oppression” versus “liberation” toward recognizing complex and fluid dynamics of power operating simultaneously at the levels of doctrine, institutions, and women’s lived experiences.