The nature and purpose of families, the role of parents and children, and religious teachings on gender equality, gender roles and prejudice.

What this dot point is asking

AQA wants you to explain the nature and purpose of the family, the roles of parents and children, and religious teachings on gender equality, gender roles and prejudice. The key skill is distinguishing equal value from identical roles, which is the heart of the evaluation question.

The purpose of the family

Different types of family are recognised today, including the nuclear family (parents and children), the extended family (including grandparents and other relatives), single-parent, blended (stepfamilies) and same-sex parent families. Both faiths place high value on the family as the foundation of society and the first place where faith and morals are learned.

Parents and children

This is a two-way duty: parents owe children care and guidance, and children owe parents respect and, later, support, so the family is bound by mutual responsibility.

Gender equality and roles

Both faiths teach that men and women are equal in value before God, made in God's image, "male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27), or in Islam equally created by and accountable to Allah. The debate is about roles. Some traditional believers hold that men and women have complementary roles: for example, men leading public worship and women having a central role in the home and family. They argue this is equal in value but different in function. Many modern believers argue for full equality in all roles, including women as religious leaders, and both faiths strongly condemn gender prejudice and discrimination. The exam rewards showing this range rather than presenting one view as the only religious position.

The key move for the 12-mark question is to separate equal value from equal roles. Almost all believers agree men and women are equal in worth before God; they disagree on whether that means identical roles. Complementarian believers argue men and women are made for different but complementary functions (for example, male clergy or imams, with women central in the home), which they insist is equality of worth, not inferiority. Egalitarian believers argue equal worth must mean equal opportunity in worship, leadership and work, and that restricting women's roles is outdated. Link this dot point to marriage and to sexuality, since all three depend on beliefs about how God designed relationships and the family. A strong answer also notes change over time, such as the ordination of women in many Christian churches, to show that religious practice on gender is not fixed.