Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 36:1 (Winter 2022)
Article: Uncovering And Dismantling Barriers For Women Pastors
Author: Heather Matthews

PP 36:1 (Winter 2022) p. 9

Uncovering And Dismantling Barriers For Women Pastors

Heather Matthews

Heather Matthews is the Doctor of Ministry Program Manager and Coordinator of Partnerships and Academic Advising at Wheaton College Graduate School’s School of Mission, Ministry, and Leadership. She holds two MA degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a DMin from Fuller Theological Seminary. Heather has worked in ministry for twenty years as a pastor, church planter, and nonprofit leader in the United States and internationally.

The Problem

Decades after many denominations first ordained women, there is still a dearth of women pastors, especially those serving at senior levels of leadership in the church. This is true, in fact, in churches that espouse egalitarian theology and employ female pastors. Many churches have yet to proactively identify and address the barriers that women clergy still encounter. A myriad of barriers—theological, cultural, historical, sociological, and institutional—continue to keep women clergy from flourishing at all levels of leadership and must be addressed for women in the church to gain equality with men. My research identifies systemic barriers that women clergy in egalitarian, evangelical churches in America encounter and offers solutions that empower women clergy to flourish. Empowering women pastors to flourish is a vital issue for women, for men, for the church, for the world, and for the kingdom of God. Women pastors are empowered when they have internal and external resources and the support to access opportunities at all levels of leadership in the church so they can fully actualize who God has made them to be, using their gifts and abilities without limitations due to their gender.

Today, the majority of mainline denominations, as well as some evangelical churches and denominations, ordain female clergy. However, even with this progress, many women pastors continue to struggle and encounter what many have termed the “stained-glass ceiling.”1 Women pastors often feel unsupported in their call to ministry and in their seminary education. They find few pastors willing to mentor or sponsor them. They struggle to find congregations willing to hire them and give them leadership opportunities. They experience other inequalities in the workplace, such as lower pay, lack of preaching opportunities, and lack of opportunities to advance to the highest levels of leadership—to positions such as senior pastor, solo pastor, denominational or network leader, or megachurch pastor.2

From 1976 to 1980, only about 6 percent of clergy in the United States were female. From 2012 to 2016, the percentage of women clergy incre...