I would have thought the church was a safe place, too, until the results came in from my research of over 2,800 women who worked in the church. I have compiled these results in my new book, Safe Church: How to Guard Against Sexism and Abuse in Christian Communities. The courageous women from the study have been on the front lines of Christian ministry—26 percent had been in ministry between 16 and 25 years, nearly 16 percent had been in ministry for over 25 years, and the rest have been working in the church between 1–15 years. These women know the church inside and out and can teach us something new if we listen to their experiences. Below, I summarize a few of the most significant statistical takeaways from this five-year research project.
One of the biggest takeaways from over 2,800 women was that,
- 82 percent of respondents agreed that sexism plays a role in church.
I was shocked that the number was so high, but I am not a woman, and I have not lived a lifetime being subjected to this behavior. I began reading the stories of courage that they shared. I heard stories like Hannah’s, who worked on her church staff as a worship leader, and heard all-male church staff members joking that they could increase church attendance if they required women to wear white t-shirts to get baptized. (Of course, she didn’t think it was a joke.)
What do you think she felt in her body after hearing that? What did she think about her breasts? Her worth? Imagine how small and invisible, yet objectified, she must have felt.
Rose also shared her belief that the church placed the responsibility on women “for having bodies rather than holding men accountable for perverse thoughts.” Numerous participants admitted they felt “shamed” for having a female body and that an “unfair responsibility” was imposed upon them by men in church leadership positions.
Similarly, Kelley said she was made to wear dresses at church. She shared, “I have a big butt, so I would always wear huge skirts to cover my butt because I didn’t want men to lust after me.” Beth was also criticized for her choice of clothing. “Women could not wear tank tops . . . I remember working at Vacation Bible School, and it was like nine thousand degrees in this little country bumpkin church, and they [said], ‘She cannot be on stage. She has a sleeveless shirt on.’”
These women felt the weight of the male gaze, and the responsibility of male integrity was put squarely on their shoulders. This is a form of abusive behavior and speaks to a pornified church environment that is not safe for women. But that wasn’t my only revelation in this study; another discovery was,
- 77.9 percent of women felt that opportunities in ministry had been limited due to their gender.
Gail shared about her experience with her lost opportunity to be hired as the worship leader of her church. She said, “I was kept from being hired as a worship leader, although I had been “filling in” for the role for over a year, had a degree in music, and more than a decade of experience. I couldn’t be hired because I was a woman, even though leadership agreed I was doing an exemplary and exceptionally qualified job.”
Gail’s experience is not isolated and is a form of institutional gaslighting[1] and objectification by “using her” for her skills and giftedness with no plans of compensating her. They continued to use her until they found a male replacement, and Gail will never forget the pain of that experience.
Heather became part of this painful statistic when she answered, “I got a master’s of divinity degree from Harvard, and I still could not find a church in my denomination to hire me because I was a woman, so I changed denominations to find a job.” We have amputated half of the body of Christ because many men are insecure and are more committed to patriarchy, therefore forming a flawed view and interpretation of God’s word..
Another disturbing finding in my Safe Church research was that,
- 62 percent [of women] would not be surprised if they heard a sexist joke in church
These so-called jokes against women are normalized by men in power, which increases their occurrence and acceptance. One woman wrote that, “sexist jokes that were very inappropriate (and sexual) were prevalent. When I asked if [the male leaders] would tell less of them, I was told that ‘men will be men,’ and if I wanted to succeed in a man’s profession, I needed to be okay with it.” When women spoke up against the sexist jokes, they were gaslit, mansplained,[2] and told to be quiet and loosen up. Being told it’s, “just a joke,” is another way to silence women’s experience and continue a normative culture of objectification, all the while cursing a woman’s sacred intuition in favor of an insecure male-centered sexism.
A third startling finding was that,
- 35 percent of women who worked in the church answered that they had experienced sexual misconduct/harassment or responded that it was “complicated” rather than saying no
Rebecca said her parents forced her and her sisters to wear “modesty swimsuits,” a wetsuit-style bathing suit, when they went swimming. Rebecca covered her skin from torso to neck. She said one of her father’s friends commented that he was, “thankful [he] could go swimming with [his] family because [he] did not have to worry about lusting because of how the girls dressed.” She would be praised for her modesty and for protecting her “brother in Christ.” This type of thinking was normalized as a conversation about Rebecca and her sisters’ “modesty” rather than sexual perversion and pornified thinking from this adult man.
Jackie also shared her story. She was in her late teens, and her abuser was a man in his forties who previously was her science teacher at her Christian school and a spiritual leader in the community. He raped her multiple times. Jackie’s Pastor said both parties were wrong and she was, “a tempter.” She said the church leadership, “made me make a formal apology to [my abuser’s] wife less than twenty-four hours after they got me away from him and then to his daughter the next day. Can you believe that?!”
We cannot dismiss Jackie and Rebecca’s stories as rare one-off experiences; roughly 35 percent of over 2,800 women (that is, 981 women) said yes or answered “it’s complicated” when asked if they had been sexually harassed as they worked in the church. From my research, we can also observe that years of experience and sexual victimization are firmly related, meaning the more experience you have in the church, the more likely you are to be victimized.
These stories are disturbing and humbling. I hope they compel us to change the system from which many of us (especially men) have benefitted. But hierarchical norms in the church are limiting women’s gifts and keeping them from advancing the gospel and serving the church. As men, we first like power and control, which makes us feel strong. Still, we slowly realize we are not meant for the isolation power causes, or meant to be the perpetrators of abuse.
I genuinely believe that we are all made in the image of God. By not hearing and empowering women’s voices, we are missing out on knowing our creator more fully. Remembering Luke’s words in Acts 2:18, “I will even pour out my Spirit on my servants in those days, both men and women, and they will prophesy,” or the Apostle Paul who writes, “There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28). We are one in Christ Jesus; God’s spirit is on us equally. It’s time we start living out our faith and following God’s glorious desire for a safe church.
These stories are adapted from the book Safe Church: How To Guard Against Sexism & Abuse in Christian Communities by Dr. Andrew Bauman. Art is done by Her Cherch. You can follow her work here.
[1] Gaslighting – The act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one’s own advantage. “Gaslight.” Merriam-Webster.com.Merriam-Webster, 2025, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gaslighting.
[2] Mansplain – To explain something to a woman in a condescending way that assumes she has no knowledge about the topic. “Mansplain.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2025, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mansplain.
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