THE CCCU: PROMOTING BIBLICAL EQUALITY IN ITS INSTITUTIONS

Heather Scheiwe

Christians for Biblical Equality will host a booth at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), International Forum on Christian Higher Education in Dallas, Texas, March 30–April 1, 2006. The booth will provide resources that address issues of biblical equality in the Christian academy. CBE staff will also meet with representatives from the CCCU’s team for Advancing Intercultural Competencies–Gender Equity.
 

CBE’s presence at the International Forum is the continuation of a partnership that began in autumn of 2005, in which CCCU leaders invited CBE President Mimi Haddad to participate in discussions about providing a biblical basis for gender equality in Christian education and training for Christian ministry.
 

More than half of the students in the CCCU’s 105 North American members and 71 affiliate institutions in 24 countries are women. The partnership with CBE is developing as the CCCU explores how promoting gender equity may affect female students, who often do not pursue careers—let alone further education—beyond the walls of their undergraduate institutions.
 

Cedarville University (a CCCU school) student Colleen Warner Colaner and associate professor of sociology and CBE member Susan Warner published a joint study entitled, “The Effect of Egalitarian and Complementarian Gender Role Attitudes on Career Aspirations in Evangelical Female Undergraduate College Students” (Journal of Psychology and Theology 33 [2005]: 224–229). The study was conducted with 271 undergraduate women at an Evangelical Christian university in the Midwest.
 

Researchers found a significant correlation between attitudes about gender roles and career aspirations. Students with more egalitarian views were more likely to pursue post-graduate education than their complementarian peers. Egalitarian views also positively correlated with hoping to pursue a job “that gives me purpose in life,” and one that “allows me to advance in my position.”
 

The CCCU’s mission is “to advance the cause of Christ-centered higher education and to help our institutions transform lives by faithfully relating scholarship and service to biblical truth.” To view more links from the CCCU’s resource center on gender equity, please visit the CCCU website for advancing intercultural competencies.
 

CBE looks forward to further partnership with the CCCU to promote a biblical basis for equal inclusion and encouragement for young women in its institutions. Please consider contributing to ensure that this partnership can continue to grow. Donate online or through U.S. mail to CBE, 122 W Franklin Ave, Suite 218, Minneapolis, MN, 55404.