For example, traditional religious beliefs and institutions perpetuate images of women that deny them leadership positions. Women are often portrayed as either a source of evil or a model of saintliness. Neither is an appropriate identify for political leadership. In addition, the majority of religious institutions themselves exclude women from top leadership roles. These exclusionary practices reinforce gender stereotypes that women are not equal to men and women cannot be trusted with or lack the qualifications for positions of authority and power.
Religious beliefs interact and reinforce other cultural sources of gender stereotypes.
Many Islamic countries, the women are in purdah or seclusion in this home tradition. The critical point is that the structural separation of public and private has gender consequences. Religious, educational systems, advertising and the media reproduce these stereotypes and ideologies to make the world we live in - inevitable and desirable. Thus our expectations of different behaviors for men and women make it difficult for women to see themselves comfortably in conventionally defined political roles. Second, these expectations make it difficult for men and women to see and accept women as political agents.