Gender and affirmation/ rejection of Zoroastrian religious questions

In Research Paper Comparision of the three postal surveys of European Zoroastrians 1976, 1985, and 2003

There are differences between women and men in their responses to the Zoroastrian religious questions. On the whole women affirm the religious beliefs questions at a higher per cent level and less affirmation for the symbolic boundaries questions than men, and men have a higher per cent level affirmation of the religious practices questions and the symbolic boundaries questions than women.

Table 15

 

In table 15: ‘Gender and affirmation/ rejection of Zoroastrian religious questions (1976 survey, 1976 from 2003 survey)’, there is a direct comparison between men and women and the answers given to the questions about the Zoroastrian religion in the 1976 survey and the responses from the respondents who affirmed that they had completed the 1976 questionnaire in the 2003 survey. In table 15, the respondents from the original 1976 survey are designated 1976 and the respondents who affirmed in the 2003 survey that they had completed the 1976 survey are designated 1976 from 2003.

It can be seen that the respondents, both men and women, affirm the Zoroastrian religion questions at a higher per cent in the ‘1976 from the 2003’ categories than do the respondents in ‘1976’ and this includes affirmation for the symbolic boundaries of Zoroastrianism questions. In table 16, ‘Gender and affirmation/ rejection of Zoroastrian religious questions (1985 survey, 1985 from 2003 survey)’, there is a similar comparison between men and women and the answers to the questions on the Zoroastrian religion. The respondents from the original survey of 1985 are designated 1985 and the respondents who affirmed in the 2003 survey that they had completed the 1985 survey are designated 1985 from 2003.

Table 16

 

 

The men and women who affirmed in the 2003 questionnaire that they had completed the 1985 questionnaire were slightly more affirmative of the religious beliefs questions than the groups of respondents in the original 1985 survey. The ‘1985 from the 2003’ groups gave less ‘no responses’ to the questions about religious beliefs than the 1985 survey groups. The groups ‘1985 from the 2003’ were more affirmative regarding the symbolic boundaries questions than the groups from the 1985 survey. There are constant differences between the men and women in their attitudes to the questions about the Zoroastrian. On the whole the women in both tables affirm the religious beliefs questions at a higher per cent level than the men, but affirm the religious practices and the symbolic boundaries questions at a lower per cent level than the men.