U.S gender gap in religious service attendance narrowed as gap smaller share of women attend at least once a week Shares of women and men attending religious services at least once a week
But the U.S. gap in church attendance has been narrowing in recent decades as the share of women attending weekly has declined. Indeed, a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the General Social Survey (GSS) finds that between 1972 and 1974, an average of 36% of women and 26% of men reported attending religious services at least once a week – a 10-percentage-point gap. After initially widening to 13 points in the mid-1980s, the gap began to shrink in the late 1980s through the 1990s.
During this period, weekly attendance at religious services declined among all Americans, but it declined more among women than men. As a result, by the early 2010s, the gender gap in attendance had narrowed to just 6 points, with 28% of women and 22% of men saying they attend religious services at least weekly.
U.S gender gap in religious service attendance  | narrowed as gap smaller share of women attend at least  | once a week  | Shares of women and men attending religious services at least once a week  | 38  | 40 % 36  | 36  | WOMEN  | 10-point  | 13-point  | 28  | 30  | gap  | gap  | E-point  | 26  | gap  | 20  | 22  | MEN  | 10  | 1972  | 1982  | 1992  | 2002  | 2012  | Note: Data points representhree--sunvy moving averages, which are used to smooth year-  | to-year variationin attendance patterns. Forexample, the figures shown for 1973are an  | to-year average variationin of surveys attendance conducted in patterns. 1972, 1973 Forexample, and 1974. the The figures GSS shown has been conducted 1973are an  | biennially since 1994. Thus, the figures shown for 2012 are an average ofsurveys  | conducted in 2010 2012, 2014.  | Source: General Social 2012, Survey 2014. 1972-2014.  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 