Women called of God to serve as senior/solo/lead pastors are frequently confronted with barriers imposed by systems, structures and individuals. However, some barriers lie within. Below is an excerpt from Beyond the Stained Glass Ceiling: Equipping and Encouraging Female Pastors, chapter 3, “What Stands in Our Way?” pp. 49–51 (Judson Press, 2013) that confronts this subtle yet powerful barrier to the advancement of women.
Low Expectations
Commonly, women are reluctant to take practical steps toward advancement. In Women Don’t Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide, Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever contend that women tend to have low expectations for themselves and often lack knowledge of their true worth. The authors have found that many women are grateful to be offered a job, so they are willing accept whatever salary is offered rather than negotiating. They also suggest that women often do not know the market value of their work. Women report salary expectations that are between 3 and 32 percent lower than the expectations of men for the same jobs. On average, men expect to earn 13 percent more than women during their first year of full-time work, and 32 percent more at the peak of their careers.
Although the data reflects the expectations of women in the secular realm, clergywomen frequently make the same mistakes. And, in the case of clergy, personal theologies may further cloud the issue. A clergywoman may think that negotiating for a higher salary or a higher-level position is haughty or materialistic. She may believe that being willing to accept a low-paying, low-benefit, high responsibility pastoral position at a struggling congregation is a way of honoring God—and in some cases, this may be true. But she may not be aware that historical and societal influences are at play in her way of thinking.
Low expectations create a psychological and emotional ceiling that prevents women from reaching the heights they might otherwise achieve. In order for clergywomen to break through the stained glass ceiling, we must be willing to expand our thinking, expect higher and better for ourselves, and know that God is not displeased by our desire to rise. We must understand that God’s power in our lives and ministries will not diminish if we gain entrance to higher levels or positions, because it is God who lifts us up (Psalm 75:6–7).
…Just as women travail in labor to bring forth the beauty of new life, so women in ministry must bear down and push until a new reality is birthed.
When you are tempted to give up, consider the words of Isaac Watts in his great hymn “Am I a Soldier of the Cross?”
Must I be carried to the skies
on flowery beds of ease,
while others fought to win the prize,
and sailed through bloody seas?
Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace,
to help me on to God?
Sure I must fight, if I would reign;
increase my courage, Lord.
I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,
supported by thy word.
“Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58, NRSV).
