The ethical necessity of being attuned to his- torical and cultural specificity, of carefully calibrating difference as the ground for politi- cal enunciation, has for feminism become a settled proposition. Very little feminist analy- sis now proceeds without first acknowledging and tracing the intricate socio-cultural inter- sections that inaugurate and constitute its political itineraries. It is surprising, therefore, that religious difference appears to signal a certain intractability in the feminist venera- tion of intersectionality, seeming to exist beyond the borders of feminist obligations to alterity. Whether in arguments regarding the ordination of female clergy, the veiling of Muslim women or reproductive rights, to name but the most prominent arenas in which the apparently inimical nature of the relation- ship between religion and feminism is staged, ‘religion’ and religious allegiance are attrib- uted the status of cause of oppression rather than source of emancipatory insight. Implicit in the assumption that equates reli- gion with the oppression of women is an uneasy question that haunts feminist thought: why do women persist in perpetuating and cooperating with traditions and systems that are allegedly detrimental to their well being? Put differently, why do so many women remain committed to their religious identities when virtually all religious traditions either deny them coeval status with men, limit their access to authority or circumscribe their opportunities to forge lives as individuals in their own right? 1 The dominance of female participation in religion is now well docu- mented. Women are more likely to have a strong interest in and commitment to religion than men (Argyle and Beit-Hallahmi, 1975; Bensen et al., 1989; Lenski, 1953; Sasaki, 1979; Yinger, 1970); they attend places of worship in greater numbers and more frequently than men (Batson et al., 1993; Cornwall, 1989; Moberg, 1962); 2 their religious allegiance is more likely to remain constant over the course of their lifetime, regardless of the type of reli- gious tradition to which they are committed (Cornwall, 1989; Glock et al., 1967; Stark and Bainbridge, 1985). Theories that assert the inevitable secularization of western societies 7 Entangled subjects: feminism, religion and the obligation to alterity Sîan Hawthorne 07_Evans et al_BAB1404B0065_Ch-07.indd 114 26-Apr-14 5:16:40 PM