Women and post- christian holistic identity: disentangling the new age -gender puzzle

The present paper aims to explain the prevalence of women in post-Christian holistic spirituality by testing a gendered version of detraditionalization theory. According to this theory, the process of cultural change that has led to the devaluation of Christian values has been experienced differently by women than by men. Whilst men’s roles throughout the process have hardly changed, women’s roles have changed dramatically. It is argued that the combination of paid work with the caretaking role among posttraditional women leads to more experienced stress and a greater presence of meaning giving questions among those women, which is held responsible for their stronger inclination toward post-Christian holistic spirituality. The result of testing the theory, using recent survey data from the Netherlands, are roughly in line with the theory presented here.