A research on gender and roles in holy texts of semitic religions

Gender characteristics are biological elements that people are born with. Gender that does not occur as a result of an act; modern medicine alternatives aside, it is not possible for a person to change it. The stereotypes created on gender characteristics and the gender roles assigned by the culture are expressed as gender. Religions born on different geographies can draw the scope and limitations of gender roles as well as nourish the culture. In this study, in which the documentation method is used, it is aimed to examine the texts of the semitic religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the context of gender roles. The findings show that religious knowledge, which has a great impact on people's lives, is applied in most places under the influence of culture or that religion does not develop in a direction independent of culture. The expectations of the society about femininity or masculinity were supported by parts from the holy books placed on a religious plane. Therefore, it is difficult to solve the perspective of religion without knowing the culture of the society. Keywords: Religion, scriptures, gender, gender role.