Check out the following discussions on woman clergy:
An excerpt from David Braggs, “Pay Gap for Women Clergy Is Decreasing, According to New Study,” The Christian Century, August 30, 2017, https://www.christiancentury.org/article/pay-gap-women-clergy-decreasing-according-new-study.
Married female clergy make around 28 percent less than male clergy. Though the pay gap for women clergy is decreasing (93 cents on the dollar in 2016), the highest paying jobs still are more likely to go to men. Around 21 percent of female clergy are part-time, compared to only 4 percent of male clergy.
A 2016 survey of 224 clergywomen in the Evangelical Covenant Church found women “have struggled in finding jobs and are concerned over the underrepresentation of women at all levels of leadership.”
An excerpt from Amy Bernstein, “Why Are We So Hard on Female CEOs?” Harvard Business Review, August 2015, https://hbr.org/2015/05/why-are-we-so-hard-on-female-ceos.
Studies have shown that women in power exhibit more symptoms of depression, while men in power exhibit fewer. Why? Because, say the researchers, female leaders are seen as abnormal and therefore face resistance. Assertive women are punished for being unfeminine; women who conform to stereotypes are deemed too meek for top jobs.
An excerpt from Halee Gray Scott, “Study: Female Pastors Are on the Rise,” Christianity Today, February 26, 2017, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/february-web-only/study-female-pastors-are-on-rise.html.
The Barna Group found that female pastors are more likely than male pastors to report that congregants’ comments on their leadership were “critical,” “judging,” and “unhelpful.”
For more than four decades, both men and women consistently rate female leaders more harshly. Men, who far outnumber women in corporate leadership, view female leaders as less capable at problem solving—a key leadership competency—and because of this, they also view female leaders as less inspiring and less capable at team building. Women themselves believed male leaders to be superior to women in influencing upward, delegating, and even networking, a trait usually considered more feminine. These perceptions remain consistent in both secular and nonprofit Christian settings.
An excerpt from Eileen Campbell-Reed, “State of Clergywomen in the United States: A Statistical Update,” Academic Entrepreneur, 2018, https://eileencampbellreed.org/state-of-clergy/, accessed 9/11/2020.
When the Association of Theological Schools in the U.S. and Canada (ATS) began reporting data about gender in 1972–73, women made up just 3 percent of the full-time seminary faculty. In 1998 women were nearly 20 percent of the full-time faculty. In 2017 women remain less than 25 percent of the faculty and deans, and 11 percent of the presidents of ATS schools.
In 1973 women were less than 5 in every 100 Master of Divinity (MDiv) students, and only 10 percent of overall seminary enrollments. In the next 25 years, the numbers shot up. By 1998, 30 of every 100 MDiv students in the U.S. and Canada, and 33 out of 100 students in all seminary programs (masters and doctoral level) were women.
The story of the past twenty years, however, appears to be one of stagnation. In 2017 women are actually a smaller number and a lower percentage of MDiv Students in all ATS schools than they were in 1998.
Is your church firmly committed to biblical equality? Hurray! If your congregation is looking to take the next step in affirming and valuing the gifts of both women and men, consider these tips: Examine Your Programs and Leadership Analyze your Sunday services. Are women regularly serving communion? Are they praying and reading
Women whose most influential leader growing up was a woman are equally likely to be employed full-time as men.
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