Judith Coney, a sociologist, studied Sahaja Yoga in the 1990s.
Shri Mataji holds an elevated position within the movement however despite women followers outnumbering men, their role is only of supporting men who are given the leadership roles.
Most leaders of New Religious Movements (NRMs) articulate the ways in which they believe men and women should ideally behave.
Academics see one of the attractive features of NRMs to the general public are their ability to offer men and women unambiguous social templates in the gender arena. Coney saw that there are degrees in conformity amongst women in Sahaja Yoga and the range of role interpretation was increasing during the time she studied it in the 1990s.
Although sociologists are prone to universalise the experience of all female devotees, it is still worth examining the idealised version of womanhood advocated in Sahaja Yoga.
One of the deities Shri Mataji is said to represent is goddess Shri Lakshmi. Coney lists Lakshmi's qualities as having an infinite capacity to bear suffering, sweet, innocent, self-effacing, dutiful, loyal, uncomplaining, docile, and always attentive to the needs of her consort Vishnu.
Sri Mataji drew upon wider Hindu attitudes as well for the image of womanhood. Coney proposes these can be summed up in the Code of Manu (200 CE). The Code says women are to be honoured and adorned, for any family in which the females are unhappy will not prosper. Secondly, however, they are to be kept entirely dependent on the males in the family. Thirdly, women are described both as being dangerous and needing to be guarded from temptation. Patriarchal attitudes in India are deeply held.
According to Hindu authorities, a woman is a minor at law. The ideal woman, according to traditional Indian custom is she who makes an ideal wife. Marriage makes a Hindu woman auspicious and a married woman epitomises goodness, prosperity, well-being, health, happiness and creativity. She is expected to perform her duties towards her husband faithfully, whether or not her efforts are appreciated. The perfect woman, once more, is the embodiment of Lakshmi. Indeed, the goddess “always resides in women who are devoted to the truth, obey their husbands, and behave with the appropriate decorum”.
Shri Mataji used both the image of Lakshmi and the role historically accorded to women in South Asian society to define the role of women however she does not describe a woman as actually inferior to a man. Instead, she has ideally described the sexes as complementary.
"Man is the person who is the head of the family, as you say. Now he has to be the head, man has to be the head for certain reasons ... So you are the heart as a woman and he is the head of the family. Let him have that feeling that he is the head; it is a feeling, just a feeling. Like the head always feels he decides, but the brain always knows that it is the heart one has to cater, it is the heart which is all pervading, it is the real source of everything." –Sahaja Yoga 1980a
Shri Mataji lamented what she perceived as a gradual loss of respect for women, in both the East and the West. She has attributed this to the increasing decadence of the age of Kali Yuga and to the machinations of demons. She criticised feminism as women trying to behave like men instead of being true to their own gender.
In terms of curing, Shri Mataji said it was easier to cure a dominating man (as he is being true to his nature) but harder to cure a dominating woman as she is not being true to her nature. Women also abandon their true nature when they are not given proper respect by men, she said. When a woman becomes a careerist, activist, feminist etc.; or she starts enticing one man after another and this satisfies her ego as men do; she may win the battle of the sexes but people around her will suffer. Shri Mataji sought to restore the proper balance between men and women so that they can thrive together and complement one another.
"If women are not respected and respectable, the Gods cannot reside in that country. So we have to understand that women should have their own dignity and they should not yield to the pressures of men where they try to debase them. At the same time, they must respect their husbands ... and they have to be extremely loving and compassionate." (Sahaja Yoga 1993)
She has equated the quality of being a woman with dharmic or righteous behaviour, which arises naturally in a woman when she is properly balanced by kundalini. Within the parameters of such righteous behaviour, the proper role of a woman is as a wife and a mother, and it is through these roles that women are satisfied. Thus, Sri Mataji has elevated domesticity to the highest level as the arena in which women can best use their talents to balance and nourish others.
Shri Mataji idealised the stoically cheerful and hardworking feminine behaviour of Indian women, whom she held up as epitomising proper womanhood.
"Men and women know their roles. A man is not expected to cook, clean and care for his children. Nor is a woman expected to go outside her home and find work. And it seems to be a perfect formula for marriage." (The Sun - Australia, 1.4.81)
In Britain, Coney noticed women in Sahaja Yoga generally wearing long skirts and practical, feminine clothes, along with Indian shawls and jewellery. Many wear their hair long and usually put on a little makeup. For pujas, and when in India, most wear saris. Coney observed that female newcomer learns to congregate with the other women rather than with the men when they meet as a collective.
After marriage a woman's job is to nourish her family and the wider community and to support her husband, both in his work and in his membership of Sahaja Yoga.
Corresponding with the subtle system according to Sahaja Yoga, men are associated with the right side of the body. They are active and assertive, and are natural leaders. Women, on the other hand, are expected to manifest the feminine qualities of left side, so providing emotional balance and nurturing in their complementary relationship.
One woman told Coney that she saw Sahaja Yoga as offering women real feminism and egalitarianism, in which their own particular abilities were acknowledged and praised in ways in which they are not normally praised in Western society. Before she came into the group, she had felt that her skills as a mother were denigrated and undervalued. Now, she felt respected and appreciated for them.
In earlier days when there were less people in the movement, there have been complaints that women were not happy with their roles and that they were not being respected by men. In some countries there have been instances of women being disciplined by being asked to move out of an ashram if not cooperating. In later days (1990s) as the movement grew, women were taking a more relaxed interpretation of gender roles. This also varies from country to country.