--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When you have increasing power of…" description: "\"When you have increasing power of religious groups, oppression of women increases. Women are oppressed in all religions.\" — Nawal El Saadawi" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a0/nawal-el-saadawi-4167_groups_when-you-have-increasing-power-of-religi_556045.jpg" --- # When you have increasing power of religious groups… ![“When you have increasing power of religious groups, oppression of women increases. Women are oppressed in all religions.” quote by Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a0/nawal-el-saadawi-4167_groups_when-you-have-increasing-power-of-religi_556045.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a0/nawal-el-saadawi-4167_groups_when-you-have-increasing-power-of-religi_556045.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a0/nawal-el-saadawi-4167_groups_when-you-have-increasing-power-of-religi_556045.jpg) > “When you have increasing power of religious groups, oppression of women increases. Women are oppressed in all religions.” [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Greater religious authority often translates into stricter control over women's rights and freedoms. **In simple terms:** More religious power can lead to more oppression of women. Key Takeaway Challenge and structures that limit women's autonomy. Themes gender equality religion power dynamics Mood concerned determined Type social commentary activist When to use this quote - legal reform - education - activism - interfaith dialogue Key Concepts patriarchy social control human rights Questions to Reflect On - How does religious authority affect women's daily lives? - What strategies can reduce gender oppression within faith communities? A Different Perspective Religious oppression varies across cultures and can be resisted. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Oppressed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oppressed/) [Oppression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oppression/) [Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Religions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religions/) [Religious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religious/) [Women](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/women/) ## Related quotes > [Religion is against women's rights and women's freedom. 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If a daughter challenges it, the mother will generally defend the system…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-monk-kidd/women-themselves-condition-their-daughters-to-serve-the-system-of/) [Sue Monk Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-monk-kidd/) > [The oppression of women knows no ethnic nor racial boundaries, true, but that does not mean it is identical within those boundaries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/the-oppression-of-women-knows-no-ethnic-nor-racial-boundaries-true/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [“We have been raised to fear the yes within ourselves, our deepest cravings. But, once recognized, those which do not enhance our future lose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trista-hendren/we-have-been-raised-to-fear-the-yes-within-ourselves-our-deepest-3/) [Trista Hendren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trista-hendren/) > [“Women prefer to serve the present and are afraid of age; they are in the grip of youth of their dreams. Age is truly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pramoedya-ananta-toer/women-prefer-to-serve-the-present-and-are-afraid-of-age-they-are-in/) [Pramoedya Ananta Toer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pramoedya-ananta-toer/) > [“We have been raised to fear the yes within ourselves, our deepest cravings. 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You see corruption; we see ties of family, friendship, and mutual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-gruber/you-look-at-us-and-you-see-oppression-we-see-stability-and-harmony/) [Michael Gruber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-gruber/) > [“The kind of emancipation that is being put forward today in technologically based cultures is crying out for women at last to become men.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-ratzinger-benedict-xvi/the-kind-of-emancipation-that-is-being-put-forward-today-in/) [Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-ratzinger-benedict-xvi/) ## More by Nawal El Saadawi > [There is not a revolution that succe Women are suffering because they are being excluded. The high military council excluded women from the committee…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/there-is-not-a-revolution-that-succe-women-are-suffering-because-they/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) > [To be creative means to connect. It's to abolish the gap between the body, the mind and the soul, between science and art, between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/to-be-creative-means-to-connect-it-s-to-abolish-the-gap-between-the/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) > [We here in Egypt are fed up with U.S. colonialism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/we-here-in-egypt-are-fed-up-with-u-s-colonialism/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) > [Education should be totally secular. I am not telling people not to believe in God, but it should be a personal matter which should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/education-should-be-totally-secular-i-am-not-telling-people-not-to/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) > [Home to me is the world because my books have been translated into more than 30 languages.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/home-to-me-is-the-world-because-my-books-have-been-translated-into/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) > [Doubt is the first step towards knowledge, not faith.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/doubt-is-the-first-step-towards-knowledge-not-faith/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) > [I had to educate myself about female circumcision, about the clitoris, about sexology. We studied gynecology only. Pregnancy, maternal care, etc.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/i-had-to-educate-myself-about-female-circumcision-about-the-clitoris/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) > [The feminists who are aware of the effects of patriarchy realize that we are all in the same boat from the dangers of patriarchy,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/the-feminists-who-are-aware-of-the-effects-of-patriarchy-realize-that/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) > [If you are creative, you must be dissident.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/if-you-are-creative-you-must-be-dissident/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) > [“Now i had learnt that honor required large sums of money to protect it, but that large sums of money could not be obtained…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/now-i-had-learnt-that-honor-required-large-sums-of-money-to-protect/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) > [“Badreya whispered in her ear, “The price of freedom is high, Bodour, and there is no writing without freedom. Break your chains, Bodour, break…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/badreya-whispered-in-her-ear-the-price-of-freedom-is-high-bodour-and/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) > [Thus, after a period of about two thousand years the greatest crime became to worship a god other than the God of Moses, whereas…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/thus-after-a-period-of-about-two-thousand-years-the-greatest-crime/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) > [If you do not love yourself, well, you cannot do anything well, that's my philosophy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/if-you-do-not-love-yourself-well-you-cannot-do-anything-well-that-s/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) > [ Women are suffering because they are being excluded. The high military council excluded women from the committee to change the constitution \[of Egypt\]. 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