Editorial Special Issue: Religion at the Intersection of Gender, Health, and Leadership in Contemporary Times
Main Article Content
Keywords
Religion, gender, health, leadership, pandemics, mother, resilience, women
Abstract
There is a growing recognition of the need to foster gender equality, health and leadership in diverse spheres in contemporary times. However, numerous factors continue to impede gender equality, health, and leadership. The outbreak of the global pandemic, COVID-19 also disrupted the gains, which had been made in advancing gender equality, health, and leadership. As part of a larger societal context, religion is both shaped by, and has an effect on the health, gender, and leadership dynamics in society. This interaction often manifests in the role that religion plays in shaping the ways in which a society promotes gender equality, health, and leadership within and beyond religious circles. This Special Issue of the June edition of the Journal for the Study of Religion navigates the ways in which religion has shaped the gendered narratives of resilience in relation to health and leadership positions. This interaction of religion with gender, health and leadership can either result in positive or negative outcomes as articles in this volume will show.
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References
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Dein, S. (2020) ‘Religious healing and mental health’, Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 23(8), 657-665. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2020.1834220
Feyissa, G.T., Tolu, L.B. and Ezeh, A. (2020) ‘Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on sexual and reproductive health and mitigation measures: the case of Ethiopia,’ African Journal of Reproductive Health, 24(2), pp. 24-26.
Frahm-Arp, M. (2016) ‘Constructions of mothering in Pentecostal Charismatic Churches in South Africa’, Neotestamentica, 50(1), pp. 145-163. https://doi.org/10.1353/neo.2016.0040 Haddad, B. (2005) ‘Reflections on the church and HIV/AIDS: South Africa’, Theology Today, 62(1), pp. 29-37. https://doi.org/10.1177/004057360506200104
Henda, N. (2021) The rites of passage of AmaXhosa revisited. Academia Letters, Article 3860. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3860
Hinfelaar, H. (1994) Bemba-speaking women of Zambia in a century of religious change. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004664609
Jaja, I.F., Anyanwu, M.U. and Iwu Jaja, C.J. (2020) ‘Social distancing: How religion, culture and burial ceremony undermine the effort to curb COVID-19 in South Africa’, Emerging Microbes & Infections, 9(1), pp. 1077-1079. https://doi.org/10.1080/22221751.2020.1769501
Kazi, T.B. and Naidoo, S. (2016) ‘Does religiosity mediate suicidal tendencies? A South African study of Muslim tertiary students’, Journal of Religion and Health, 55, 1010-1023. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-015-0167-6
Manyonganise, M. (2022) When a pandemic wears the face of a woman: Intersections of religion and gender during the COVID-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe. In: Sibanda, F., Muyambo, T. and Chitando, E. eds. Religion and the COVID-19 pandemic in Southern Africa. Oxon: Routledge, pp. 123-145. https://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003241096-16 Mbonu, N.C., Van den Borne, B. and De Vries, N.K. (2009) ‘Stigma of people with HIV/AIDS in Sub‐Saharan Africa: A literature review’, Journal of Tropical Medicine, 2009. 145891. 14 pages. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003241096-16
Moyo, E., Moyo, P., Murewanhema, G., Mhango, M., Chitungo, I. and Dzinamarira, T. (2023) ‘Key populations and Sub-Saharan Africa’s HIV response’, Frontiers in Public Health, 11. 1079990. 4 pages. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1079990
Mwaura, P.N. (2005) Gender and power in African Christianity: African Instituted Churches and Pentecostal Churches. In: Kalu, O. ed. African Christianity: An African story. Pretoria: University of Pretoria, pp. 410-445.
Oduyoye, M.A. (2001) Introduction to African women theology. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press. Okaalet, P. (2002) ‘The role of faith based organizations in the fight against HIV and AIDS in Africa’, Transformation, 19(4), pp. 274-278. https://doi.org/10.1177/026537880201900410
Phiri, I. and Nadar, S. (2011) ‘“The personal is political”: Faith and religion in a public university’, Acta Theologica, 14, pp. 81-94.
Rasing, T. (1995) Passing on the rites of passage: Girls’ initiation rites in the context of an urban Roman Catholic community on the Zambian Copperbelt. Beatty: Avebury.
Rasing, T. (2001) The bush burnt; the stone remains: Female initiation rites in urban Zambia. Leiden: African Studies Centre.
Rasing, T. (2004) The persistence of female initiation rites: Reflexivity and resilience of women in Zambia. In: Van Binsbergen, W. and Van Dijk, R.A. eds. Situating globality: African agency in the appropriation of global culture. Leiden: Brill, pp. 277-309. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789047412557_013
Rasing, T. (2021) ‘Female initiation rites as part of gendered Bemba religion and culture: Transformations in women’s empowerment’, Zambia Social Science, 7(2), pp. 55-79. Sande, N. (2017) ‘Faith and equality: Rethinking women in leadership positions in Pentecostalism’, Journal of Gender and Religion in Africa, 23(1), pp. 50-62.
USAID. (2024) Fact sheet – global HIV statistics. Available at: https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/UNAIDS_FactSheet_en.pdf. (Accessed May 15, 2025.)
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Published
Jun 26, 2025
Article Details
How to Cite
Editorial Special Issue: Religion at the Intersection of Gender, Health, and Leadership in Contemporary Times . (2025). Journal for the Study of Religion , 38(1). https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3027/2025/v38n1e1
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Editorial Introduction
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Author Biography
Dr Nelly Mwale, University of Zambia
Senior Lecturer
Department of Religious Studies
How to Cite
Editorial Special Issue: Religion at the Intersection of Gender, Health, and Leadership in Contemporary Times . (2025). Journal for the Study of Religion , 38(1). https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3027/2025/v38n1e1
