Patriarchal Bargaining: Female Religious Authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the Muftiyas of Al Azhar

"Why do women disproportionately invest in an institution that systematically devalues them?"(1) If we are to view the patriarchal religious hierarchies that many women are a part of as the institutions that they are investing themselves in, it can appear to be a confusing dynamic of personal investment and patriarchal subordination or even oppression. However, upon digging deeper into the lives of these religious women, particularly into the lives of the women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the muftiyas of Al Azhar, it becomes clear that they are not oppressed and subjugated but are instead participating in a method of strategizing known as patriarchal bargaining. Patriarchal bargaining, a concept described by Professor Deniz Kandiyoti at the University of London, is a form of strategizing within a patriarchal hierarchy by women who possess, or are seeking to gain, positions of leadership and authority without explicitly upsetting the "rules" of the established patriarchal hierarchy already in place.(2) Using the concept of patriarchal bargaining, and subsequent research into women's roles in patriarchal religious hierarchies, this article attempts to establish an answer to the aforementioned question while expanding on Kandioyti's initial explanation of patriarchal bargaining within cultural and societal norms. The manner in which women from both religious traditions utilize their influence, the media, academic scholarship, and the significance of the appearance of their support for the patriarchal religious hierarchy provides greater context in understanding how patriarchal bargaining is not a phenomenon isolated to a specific region, religious tradition, or culture, but is instead a direct response to the impact of patriarchal hierarchies in women's experiences of religious leadership.