Women's Rights and Religious Practice: Claims in Conflict York Studies on Women and Men

When conflicts arise between claims to human rights for women and claims for religious integrity and authority, which perspective should prevail? The author investigates the criteria for assessing such situations, including family religious ideology and the questions of relativism, privacy, and agency.

The study concludes that theological resistance and certain political and social inhibitors sometimes, ironically, render the human rights concept inappropriate for achieving the rights of religious women.