Gender Differences in Religiosity: a report on Russian Data

Journal of Gender Studies. 2021.

Bryukhanov M., Fedotenkov I.

Russia represents the largest Eastern Orthodox population in the World. Contrary to secularization trends in Western Europe, Russia has been undergoing a religious revival promoting traditional values. Extensive evidence indicates that in Christian nations women tend to be more religious than men. But what socio-economic factors explain the gender-religiosity gap in Russia? Using the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE), we compare gender-specific religiosities. Fixed-effects regressions show a U-shaped relation between respondents’ age and the probability of being religious with a minimum at the age of 15 for women, and 46 for men. Furthermore, we find that women are indeed more often religious than men and that the influence of religious parents or grandparents on women’s religiosity is higher. Women compared to men demonstrate increased religiosity in response to the death of a family member. However, better education and health status reduce women’s religiosity more than that of men. At the same time, men’s religiosity is more often influenced by that of their wives. In addition, men living in urban areas tend to be more religious than those in rural areas. This finding is Russia-specific and differs from the results found in other countries.

Keywords: RLMS-HSE, gender, religiosity, fixed effects model, random effects model

Publication based on the results of: Formal Institutions’ Influence on Economic Agents Acting in Various Markets and in Different Institutional Environments (2021)