Women in Ministry Thrive with Congregational Support

Women in Ministry Thrive with Congregational Support
By Allie Osborne | Minister of Missions and Children's Discipleship
 
In 2022, Baptist Women in Ministry (BWIM) released a report on the state of women in Baptist life. With a survey of over 500 female Baptist pastors, this report revealed valuable and shocking statistics about women in ministry including:

• 49% of women in ministry said that they were not paid equally to their male counterparts

• 25% (that’s 1 in 4) women have been sexually harassed or assaulted in their ministry setting

• 72% said that they must provide more evidence of their competence than their male counterparts do (a common obstacle across all professional fields)

Why are these statistics important for the congregation to know? 87% of women surveyed said that their congregation’s support of them as a woman in ministry had a direct impact on their ability to thrive.
 
In honor of female pastors and the women who live, work, serve and volunteer in the church, BWIM has dedicated the month of March, in conjunction with Women’s History Month, as a Month of Advocacy. This special calendar designation not only honors all the women who have fought so hard for a voice, and who are still fighting to be seen, heard and respected, but also celebrates the work that local churches continue to do in support of their female pastors.
 
BWIM, in its dedication to teaching the history of Baptist women and to paving an equitable future for female pastors, annually releases suggested actionable items that local congregations can take to support women in Baptist life. Things like evaluating the levels of leadership in your church and ensuring that women have equal representation, hosting harassment and misconduct training for your church and wider community and/or evaluating the songs and liturgy that are used in worship for inclusive language about people and expansive language about God. These are just a few examples of the big-picture calls to action that you can find here https://bwim.info/bwim-month-of-advocacy/
 
The church’s support of women in ministry is a work in progress—a work that some Baptist-affiliated organizations have made great efforts to slow down or stop all together. It’s important to understand that this work is not finished, sexism in the church is not a thing of the past and the first step towards change is knowledge. The second step is action.