Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 38:3 (Summer 2024)
Article: The Exclusive Use Of Male Language For God: An Invisible Barrier To Women Pursuing Ministry Leadership
Author: Dezerai Seitzer

PP 38:3 (Summer 2024) p. 24

The Exclusive Use Of Male Language For God: An Invisible Barrier To Women Pursuing Ministry Leadership

Dezerai Seitzer

Dezerai Seitzer holds a master’s degree in biblical studies with an emphasis in theology. She is ordained by the National Association of Christian Ministers and works as a missionary with UReachGlobal, with a particular burden for women and young girls.

According to Pew Research, 55% of American evangelical congregants are female.1 However, only 3% of American evangelical head clergy—including within egalitarian denominations—are women.2

Studies have been conducted on the barriers women face in pursuing ministry leadership and while serving as head clergy. These studies reveal that women ministers suffer from—among other things—lack of mentorship, lack of support from male pastoral staff, lower salaries than male colleagues, and challenges related to sexuality/purity traditions. One of the most common barriers identified across multiple studies is that both church staff and congregants pervasively subscribe to a patriarchal church hierarchy. Even women who serve in denominations that readily ordain female ministers experience this barrier.3

In July 2020, the Church of Sweden announced that for the first time, they had more female priests than male priests: 50.1%. Relevant here is the Church of Sweden’s decision in 2017 to use gender-neutral language for God in church services. While we cannot say definitively that this decision is what brought about this increase in female head clergy, it is an important question to ask.

In a fascinating study on the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland—Finland’s largest religious body—Hannele Ottschofski offers supportive evidence linking gender-neutral God language to a higher percentage of female clergy. She shares that the Finnish language has no gendered pronouns for “he” and “she.” It uses the gender-neutral term hän for all persons. Additionally, the Finnish language does not apply gender to occupational titles. This has minimized preconceived ideas on which jobs belong to a man (such as judge, doctor, or pastor) and which jobs belong to a woman. She believes this inclusive language is why, as of 2019, 49% of pastors in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland were women.4

While no official studies link a rise in female clergy to non-gendered terminology for God, Finland’s statistics open the door to valid questions concerning the American evangelical church’s exclusive use of masculine langu...