Protestantism

By Melissa Turner

Women have outnumbered men concerning the number of Protestant churchgoers for hundreds of years (James 1). However, this fact says nothing about the vast inequalities women faced in the 19th century and the many inequalities women continue to fight against today. Many events lead up to the Protestant woman's current position in American society today such as religious movements, reform organizations, and general changes in ideals. Although Protestant women have drastically improved their condition from the Victorian Period to today, women still have a long way to go to attain total equality with men in the ministry.

The starting point for change for women was the Second Great Awakening. This was a series of religious revivals in the early 19th century. During this period, America as a nation experienced strong religious fervor. This religious movement inspired the first wave of feminism and increased women's participation in the Abolitionist Movement. Most importantly, the Second Great Awakening led to the formation of women's religious social reform organizations (James 6). Also, during these revivals Antoinette Brown Blackwell became the first woman to be ordained as a Protestant preacher, although women in the ministry did not become commonplace until a century later (James 7).

Types of women's religious organizations in the 19th century were social reform organizations, missionary organizations, and settlement houses. These organizations enabled women to provide relief for the sick and poor, education and employment services to female immigrants, and services for reforming prostitutes. In a lecture, Professor Carolyn Eastman explained that Dorothea Dix was an important woman reformer of the mid-1800s. After visiting inner-city asylums and observing the brutal treatment of patients, she decided to open new asylums outside of the city. Dix pioneered more humane types of treatments for asylum patients.

One reform organization formed during the Temperance movement in the 19th century was the Female Moral Reform Society. Professor Eastman said that this organization set up institutions to find work for women in order to curb prostitution. This society also attempted to reform men who frequented prostitutes by publishing offenders' names in newspapers.

The first successful settlement house, the Hull House, was pioneered by Jane Addams. This house served as a haven for poor immigrant women and prostitutes, often called "fallen women." Here, they would go through a form of rehabilitation. They learned about health, hygiene, and etiquette from nurturing settlement house workers (James 13).

No matter the purpose of an organization, women members also benefited from them. These organizations provided members with peer companionship and served as an escape from everyday household life. Also, fundraisers taught women how to properly manage money. This was especially important because they taught many women important math and financial skills that they would have otherwise not been exposed to, without membership in these organizations. Finally, they taught members to exercise public leadership; this especially influenced the wave of feminism, and further inspired women to speak out on inequality issues.

Today a wide array of women's religious organizations and societies exist in the United States. One of the most important organizations today is the International Association of Women Ministers (IAWM).It was organized in 1919 by M. Madeline Southard, a Methodist preacher. Today, the IAWM is an interdenominational organization comprised of women ministers, evangelists, missionaries, and theologians. The IAWM publishes the Women’s Pulpit, a periodical published four to six times a year. Until 1970, this periodical focused mainly on discussing the status of gender equality in religious denominations. Today, the IAWM focuses mostly on organizing in an annual IAWM assembly (Bendroth 258). Its primary goals are to increase and maintain fellowship among women who preach, and also to encourage young women “whom God has called to preach the Word of God, “(Bendroth 267).

Over the past century, the IAWM has continually succeeded in advancing the position of women in the ministry. In 1920, the IAWM won women the right to be granted licenses to preach (resolved at the Methodist General Conference). In 1947, the General Conference resolved to give “qualified women ministers equal status with men ministers,” (Bendroth 261). The IAWM remains the most important women’s clergy organization since its formation in the early 20th century.

Backtracking to the 19th century, Victorian ideals highly constrained the activities of women. During this time, most women were restricted to simply becoming members of social organizations. Women were not allowed to travel alone as missionaries. They usually stayed in their hometowns raising funds for missions, or they were sometimes allowed to tag along with their husbands on mission trips. Though women were often allowed to teach Sunday schools, they were seldom allowed to teach at seminaries. During the Victorian period, it was most rare to come across a woman preacher representing a mainstream denomination.

Religious ideals help explain woman’s repressed position in the 19th century. During this period, women were seen as subservient, while men exercised most authority in the church. Victorians developed the term “self-abnegation” after Freud defined women as lacking sexual feelings (Bendroth 278). As a result, society developed an asexual image of women. More important to the topic at hand, women were expected to bring religion into the home, and held the responsibility of making their husband a good Christian. Victorian society felt a deep sense of Christian responsibility for the unconverted (James 175).

Today, women can choose from a wide variety of roles in Protestant churches. Women can become ministers, lay women, teachers, teachers of seminaries, and representatives at conferences. According to Reverend Thomas Elliot, senior pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Rockport, Texas, women can become ordained as ministers in most Lutheran branches, Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopalian, and many other smaller denominations. He explained that the more conservative denominations prohibit women from becoming ordained, such as Church of Christ and most Baptist branches. In the Church of Christ, women are not even allowed to teach boys in Sunday school after boys reach adolescence.

Modern Protestant ideals drastically contrast those of the Victorian period. The term “self-abnegation” is now void, as women have emerged as sexual beings. Even conservative evangelicals now recognize women’s necessity to enjoy their sexuality, within marriage (Bendroth 278). However, the most significant change and a major issue of concern to theologians, is today’s utter plummeting of religious ideals. More and more people do not consider religion as an important aspect of their lives. According to the General Social Survey of 1998, only 19% of those surveyed consider themselves very religious, while 44% consider themselves moderately religious, 24% slightly religious, and 15% not religious at all. Even though comparable statistics are not available for the 19th century, one can infer that the vast majority of Victorian society considered religion as the primary focus of their lives. Salvation was society's number one goal.

A possible explanation for the decline in religious participation in society today is the advancement of science and the technological age of today. Now, people do not simply go through life believing everything to which they are exposed. Instead, individuals have begun to question things not yet understood or proven. It seems odd that as women begin to achieve more power in church, the importance of religion in modern society is declining. This trend may be mere coincidence, but is definitely worth pondering.

Although Protestant women have come a long way since the Victorian period, many issues of inequality remain. Today, women in the ministry face longer periods of unemployment than men, lower salaries, and have less opportunity to handle full responsibility in parishes, especially larger ones. They also have a less likelihood to become appointed or elected to leadership positions in the church (James 172).

In sum, many changes have taken place for women within Protestantism over the past 200 years. Through religious movements, the development of women’s organizations, and society’s changing religious and gender ideals, women have made great strides towards equality in the ministry. Despite such improvements, inequality still remains. In order to improve women’s position in the church, there must be a unified, sustained effort to combat remaining inequalities.

Links to Graphic Sources

Antoinette Brown Blackwell

Dorothea Dix

Pillar of Fire Pamphlet

Works Cited

Bendroth, Margaret L.. and Virginia L. Brereton eds. Women and Twentieth Century Protestantism. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002.

Eastman, Dr. Carolyn. “Antebellum Social Reform.” University of Texas. Austin. 8 Apr. 2002.

Elliot, Rev. Thom, Senior Pastor. First United Methodist Church, Rockport, TX. Personal Interview. 25 April 2002.

James, Janet W. ed. Women in American Religion. U.S.: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc., 1978.

“Religion.” General Social Survey Codebook. Tom W. Smith, Co-Principal Investigator and Director. 1998. The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. 1 May 2002. http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/GSS/