Atheist women statistics

Studies indicate that women in the Western World tend to be more religious than men.

Studies indicate that women in the Western World and the world at large tend to be more religious than men. See also: Atheism and women

Atheism and women: Surveys by country

In November 2010, Discover Magazine published survey results published by the World Values Survey which showed significant differences between the percentage of men and women who are atheists for various countries with men outnumbering women in terms of adopting an atheist worldview.

Atheism and women: United States surveys

In 2015, BloombergView reported concerning the United States: "According to a much-discussed 2012 report from the Pew Research Center on Religion and Public Life, ...women are 52 percent of the U.S. population but only 36 percent of atheists and agnostics.

A 2009 article in LiveScience.com entitled Women More Religious Than Men reported: "A new analysis of survey data finds women pray more often then men, are more likely to believe in God, and are more religious than men in a variety of other ways...The latest findings, released Friday, are no surprise, only confirming what other studies have found for decades. In 2007, the Pew Research Center found that American women were more religious than American men.

Other Atheist Alliance International analysis

Oxford University Press reports about a previous study done by AAI:

“

...atheism remains a male-dominated affair. Data collected by the Atheist Alliance International (2011) show that in Britain, women account for 21.6% of atheists (as opposed to 77.9% men). In the United States men make up 70% of Americans who identify as atheist. In Poland, 32% of atheists are female, and similarly in Australia it is 31.5%

”

Atheistic China and gender imbalance

See also: Asian atheism and Atheistic China and sexism

China has the largest atheist population in the world (see: China and atheism). The current atheist population mostly resides in East Asia (particularly China) and in secular Europe/Australia primarily among whites. See: Asian atheism and Western atheism and race

Due to sex-selection abortion and female infantcide, there is a gender imbalance within the Chinese population.

According to 2012 figures from the National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China, China’s sex ratio at birth (the number of boys born for every 100 girls) was as high as 118, while the sex ratio amongst the total population was about 105. The statistical data from China indicates that the gap between male and female at birth is far larger than the biologically benchmark ratio (a sex ratio at birth of around 105 males per 100 females).

Reason Rally 2016 and a lack of gender diversity among attendants

There was a 2 to 1 ratio as far as men to women attending Reason Rally 2016 according to the YouTube atheist Thunderf00t.

Atheist meetings and women according to prominent atheists

The atheist PZ Myers giving a talk at George Mason University. In June 2010, PZ Myers commented that atheist meetings tend to be significantly more attended by males.

In June 2010, the atheist PZ Myers commented that atheist meetings tend to be significantly more attended by males. In October 2012, the atheist Susan Jacoby wrote in The Humanist concerning atheist meetings: "When I speak before non-college audiences — that is, audiences in which no one is required to be there to get credit for a college course — 75 percent of the people in the seats are men."

For more information, please see:

• Research on atheist conferences

• Atheist conferences

New York Times: Atheist meeting attendees

See also: Western atheism and race

In October 2010, an atheists' meeting was organized in the United States concerning the future direction of the atheist movement and 370 people attended. The New York Times described the attendees as "The largely white and male crowd — imagine a Star Trek convention, but older...".

Atheists' group membership and demographic makeup of meetings

In 2011, Beliefnetnews reported concerning the race and gender of American atheist:

“

From the smallest local meetings to the largest conferences, the vast majority of speakers and attendees are almost always white men. Leading figures of the atheist movement - Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett -- are all white men. But making atheism more diverse is proving to be no easy task. Surveys suggest most atheists are white men. A recent survey of 4,000 members of the Freedom from Religion Foundation found that 95 percent were white, and men comprised a majority.

”

Women and Freethought Blogs.com web traffic

The website Freethought Blogs has significantly less women visiting their website than men according to the web traffic tracking company Quantcast.

Irreligion and domestic violence

See also: Irreligion and domestic violence

Research suggests that irreligiousity is a causal factor for domestic violence.

The abstract for the 2007 article in the journal Violence Against Women entitled Race/Ethnicity, Religious Involvement, and Domestic Violence indicated:

“

The authors explored the relationship between religious involvement and intimate partner violence by analyzing data from the first wave of the National Survey of Families and Households. They found that: (a) religious involvement is correlated with reduced levels of domestic violence; (b) levels of domestic violence vary by race/ethnicity; (c) the effects of religious involvement on domestic violence vary by race/ethnicity; and (d) religious involvement, specifically church attendance, protects against domestic violence, and this protective effect is stronger for African American men and women and for Hispanic men, groups that, for a variety of reasons, experience elevated risk for this type of violence.

”

Also, a quote from the journal article Race/Ethnicity, Religious Involvement, and Domestic Violence:

“

Another line of thought suggests that religious people may be less likely to perpe- trate domestic violence (Fergusson, Horwood, Kershaw, & Shannon, 1986). A 1999 study of U.S. couples found that both men and women who attend religious services regularly are less likely to commit acts of domestic violence than those who attend rarely or not at all (Ellison et al., 1999). A follow-up study identified three pathways through which religious involvement may operate; namely, increasing levels of social integration and social support, reducing the likelihood of alcohol or substance abuse, and decreasing the risk of psychological problems (Ellison & Anderson, 2001). However, even after considering such indirect effects of religion through the use of sta- tistical controls, that study found that regular religious involvement still had a protec- tive effect against the perpetration of domestic violence by both men and women (Ellison & Anderson, 2001). In addition, that study showed that evidence of such pro- tective religious effects persisted regardless of whether domestic violence was measured using data from self reports or partner reports, which makes it difficult to attribute these observed religious effects to simple social desirability or other response bias.

”

The Journal of Family Issues also reported that religious belief diminishes the likelihood of domestic violence.

Summary

See also: Demographics of atheism and Global atheism

The above data suggest that atheism in general and the New Atheism movement is significantly less appealing to women in the Western World and to women in the world at large (see also: Demographics of atheism and Global atheism).

See also

• Atheism statistics