Gender and Virtual Religious Communities: A comparative Study of Shia Women and Men's Participation in Imam Reza's Club

Gender Issue has been a neglected concept in the sociology of religion until the second half of twentieth century. Higher religiosity of women in compare to men، their position in the hierarchy of religious authority and their involvement in religious communities have been controversial contemporary issues in this area. The emergence and expansion of new communication technologies including internet and the presence of religion on virtual space، especially virtual religious communities have made this issue more complex. This study is a part of a virtual ethnographic study which aims to explore the type and level of women''s religious participation in the virtual religious community; and whether using internet and cyberspace by women is promoting their position in the virtual religious community. Data was gathered from Imam Reza''s club on cloob. com by using webnography method and a long-term online participation، and data was analyzed by content analysis. The results of this study showed that women are more active and have higher level of participation in all types of religious activities in compare to men. They also have a good position in hierarchy of religious authority in the community. It seems that women not only have empowered themselves with the proper use of cyberspace facilities to pursue their religious interests regardless of the gender constraints of actual religious communities، but also have challenged patriarchal religious authority of religious communities. It seems that the virtual religious communities in compare to actual religious communities are more egalitarian and without gender constrains.