While women have met some goals for inclusion within the United Methodist Church, feelings of exclusion through sexism, classism and racism are very real. Among these social vices sexism has had more damage judging by the ratio of men to women who are Bishops, and the low number of women holding other high positions within the denomination. This can be attributed to the deeply entrenched culture and tradition of patriarchy in the Judeo-Christian heritage from which The United Methodist Church finds its roots. Though this issue has been addressed and documented in the Book of Discipline as witnessed in the following statement, the problem of oppression, dehumanization, discrimination, mistreatment and degradation of women still persist.
Article 161(F) states that: “We affirm with scripture the common humanity of male and female, both having equal worth in the eyes of God. We reject the erroneous notion that one gender is superior to another, that one gender must strive against another and that members of one gender may receive love, power, and esteem only at the expense of another. We especially reject the idea that God made individuals as incomplete fragments, made whole only in union with another. We call upon women and men alike to share power and control, to learn to give freely and receive freely, to be complete and to respect the wholeness of others. We seek for every individual opportunities and freedom to love and be loved, to seek and receive justice, and to practice ethical self-determination. We understand our gender diversity to be a gift from God, intended to add to the rich variety of human experience and perspective; and we guard against attitudes and traditions that would use this good gift to leave members of one sex more vulnerable in relationship than members of another”
This article may sound superb but the reality on the ground is totally different. First, the hierarchy of the United Methodist Church is male dominated and has been perpetuated through wrong socialization which favors male dominated society. This socialization has been so well crafted until some women have come to believe women are never supposed to be leaders in the Church. Those who have seen the light and have truthfully received the truth gospel; which is liberative and incarnational have been in the front line challenging the paradigm under which the gospel has been passed and preserved. In fact some courageous women have challenged the notion of why history and not “herstory”, meaning that all Biblical and Church stories are male oriented.
According to reports from various parts of the globe the Church is male dominated and women have been relegated into the ranks of observers and assigned those duties which end up serving the interests of men. It is really depressing for the Church which was founded under the banners of saving the destitute of the society to turn back and the same things they opposed and accused the Church of England doing. According to the United Methodist Church News Services the following is a true phenomenon in The United Methodist Church.
“More than a century after Anna Howard Shaw became the first woman ordained in the former Methodist Protestant Church, women are still confronting barriers in ministry. Fifteen women religious leaders discussed those barriers and other aspects of being in ministry at the 20th anniversary of Women and the Word. The Anna Howard Shaw Center at United Methodist-related Boston University School of Theology presented the symposium to celebrate women's preaching and leadership. More than 80 people attended this year's event, held March 24-25 with the theme, "Celebrating the Past, Honoring the Present, and Envisioning the Future.” The speakers included pastors, teachers, community leaders and two bishops. They led panels on four themes, focusing on the past, present and future as well as on the power of women to effect change. In the process, they acknowledged their cultural contexts, faith stories and institutional struggles. Shaw herself was no stranger to struggle. Ordained in 1880 by the New York Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church, she was the first woman to have that distinction in a Methodist denomination that would later become part of the United Methodist Church. Earlier, she had been denied ordination in the Methodist Episcopal Church - another forerunner of the United Methodist Church - though that denomination had licensed her to preach in 1871. Several Women and the Word panelists described cultural and institutional barriers they had encountered in ministry. The Rev. Yong Ja Kim, pastor of Rainbow United Methodist Church in Portland, Maine, is the first Korean-American woman to serve a predominantly Korean congregation in her annual (regional) conference. After being refused ordination in the Korean Methodist Church, Kim came to New England to pursue her call to ministry. Her journey has taken her, she said, from a European-male theology to feminist-liberation understandings, a movement she likened to "crossing a Red Sea that I could not return across." "Jesus crossed boundaries all the time, in his multicultural world," Lee pointed out. The United States, she asserted, now faces a test in learning to live as a multicultural society”.
One hundred twenty six years later (126) our pharisaical mentality is still persisting even with the wonderful statements we have engraved in the precious book of discipline. Women are still marginalized, oppressed, dehumanized, and regarded as a second class participant in the UMC.
Denise Johnson Stovall commenting on the 50th anniversary of women in ministry had the following to regarding the state of women leadership in the UMC
“However, I am deeply concerned about the opportunities for women of color to serve. Their options have been far more limited. Also, there is still resistance to women serving large pastorates as well as in the episcopacy." The United Methodist Church has at least 10,000 clergywomen, including elders, deacons, local pastors and retirees, according to statistics. Of those, 800 to 1,000 are ethnic minority clergywomen. Historically, the largest number has been African American. Other ethnic groups include Korean American, Hispanic, Native American, Japanese American, Chinese American and Pacific Islander. Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño of the church's Phoenix Area shares Morrison's concern about the opportunities for women of color in ministry. "My experience as a woman of color in ministry is that unfortunately one faces the discrimination of white racism as well as the sexism of both white persons as well as that of people of color," Carcaño said. "What I have always found curious is that so often the very persons who have most touched our lives through their faith witness are the very same persons who most oppose and are troubled by our call and desire to be faithful," she said. "There is great irony in this. Racism and sexism are so embedded in the world that even in their present subtle and sophisticated forms they are viewed as the normal state of life. "Such sins - for racism and sexism are sins in that they counter God's creative work of making us diverse in color and culture and gender - need to be constantly named for what they are and overcome," she said. The Rev. HiRho Park likens the journey of clergywomen to a race in which success depends on each person's contributions. Park is coordinating the Clergywomen's Consultation, which will bring people from around the church to Chicago in August to celebrate the 50th anniversary. "Making progress in women's ministry is like running the relay," said Park, a staff executive at the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry. "Each person should receive the baton and run with her best so that when the next one carries it, she will run with the wind of spirit of all women who ran before her.” Year of jubilee "Women have always been preachers in our churches since the beginning," said the Rev. Marion Jackson, pastor of First United Methodist Church, Montclair, N.J. Even before the merger of the denominations that became the United Methodist Church in 1968 - the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren churches - "all were ordaining women," Jackson said.” However, 1956 was the year that women were given full clergy rights" in the Methodist Church, she noted. That milestone was achieved by the Methodist Church's highest legislative assembly, the General Conference. For that reason, 2006 is "our year of jubilee," Jackson said. "In fact, a resolution was made by the 2004 General Conference for all annual conferences to observe this anniversary. All clergywomen within the United Methodist Church should celebrate," said. Jackson, also a former staff member of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry. "We can celebrate that women have been appointed to the highest positions of the church," Jackson said. "We have district superintendents and women in Episcopal leadership as bishops. They also serve as general secretaries of four of our general agencies. (But) unfortunately, women are still a minority among lead pastors of large churches (1,000 or more in worship attendance). The struggles in the future are the struggles of the past. “Before they became a presence in the clergy, women were active in lay ministries throughout Methodism's history. "Women took seriously their call to social justice ministry and stood together in opposition to lynching, segregation, and racism within church and society," said Jan Love, top executive of the Women's Division of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries in New York. Love is an example of a laywoman who has served in many roles both in the church and ecumenically. Before becoming chief executive of the Women's Division in 2004, she taught for 22 years at the University of South Carolina. She had served on the Board of Missions, later the Board of Global Ministries, from 1970 to 1976, as well as on the board of directors of the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Antireligious Concerns, Church World Service and the World Council of Churches. As head of the Women's Division, she is responsible for administering United Methodist Women, a large-membership organization with chapters in churches around the world. "We know that God can use ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things, and as laywomen in mission, United Methodist Women have been accomplishing great things for God for more than 136 years," Love said. “It began with women sending out missionaries to India to meet the needs of women and children there," she said. "It continued with laywomen recognizing needs in their communities at home and organizing to meet those needs through home missionary societies, orphanages, community centers, schools, hospitals and immigrant homes. "Today, women continue the legacy of this work. They educate themselves for mission; they act to change injustices in their local communities, as well as nationally and globally; and they support mission, as it has evolved and changed, which their foremothers began." Fostering conversation M. Garlinda Burton, top executive of the United Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women, is a living witness to the power of being mentored by strong Methodist women. A native of North Carolina, Burton fondly remembers the dedicated lay service of her mother, Margaret Burton. The daughter said she "was reared in the shadows of the United Methodist Women, who have raised the bar and opened our eyes to a world of multinational, multiracial and multicultural lay voices." "I want to push those dealing with justice issues to foster conversation among men and women of color about gender inequality in personal and professional relationships in the church," Burton said. In addition to being chief executive of the commission, based in Chicago, Burton belongs to a Nashville, Tenn., church. She tells the story of how "the tables were turned" when that congregation learned its pastor, a clergywoman, was accepting another United Methodist appointment. "Our previous pastor was a woman of many gifts," she said. "When it was announced that she was leaving and that our male associate would become senior pastor, one of my 9-year-old male Sunday school students turned to me and said, 'Miss Garlinda, I didn't know men could be preachers!'" She has seen a lot of progress for women in the church, but challenges remain. "We lament at what hasn't happened in the church, but I never experienced a woman pastor until I was an adult and working for the denomination," she continued. "We are raising up a new nation of people who recognize and celebrate the gifts of women as critical to our very definition of church. "At the same time, I still hear people say, 'I don't want a woman pastor or bishop or superintendent or treasurer.' We need to continue to say, in love, that sexist and racist prohibitions are not acceptable.
In the local church, the people who most resist having female clergy are usually the active members, Park wrote in a research study, "Stratification Among Clergy in The United Methodist Church Due to Gender Difference," for postdoctoral work at Boston School of Theology. She cited Patricia M.Y. Chang, author of the article, "Female Clergy in the Contemporary Protestant Church: A Current Assessment," in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, published in 1997. "It is because they are concerned for preserving the church's viability as an organization," Chang wrote. "This concern is from the perception that hiring women clergy will cause tension, decrease of membership and conflict within the church. This leads to the conclusion that if laity have positive experiences with clergywomen, their perception may change." Park agrees with Chang but said one benefit of the denomination's appointment system is that it "grants congregations opportunities to accept female clergy as their pastors regardless of their opinions." "This eliminates some of the initial resistance that clergywomen have to face in the local church level in a decentralized denomination. But this does not mean that clergywomen do not have to deal with resistance once they are accepted into the local congregation." The United Methodist Clergywomen Retention Study, conducted by the Anna Howard Shaw Center at Boston University School of Theology in 2000, resulted from concern about the increasing absence of female clergy in local church ministry. "According to this study, nearly one-third of United Methodist clergywomen in full connection were not serving local churches at the time the survey was conducted," Park said. Some were in other extended ministries, such as serving as hospital chaplains or campus ministers. Moreover, women "were leaving local church ministry at a 10 percent higher rate than male clergy," she said. Serving in the episcopacy Park expects ethnic clergywomen to become more accepted as leaders in the United Methodist Church. "I think it is coming," she said. While the church has an increasing number of Caucasian and African-American women serving as bishops, other cultural groups are not as well represented, if at all. The church has had three Korean-American bishops so far - all men - and no Native American bishops of either gender. If the denomination is going to have a Korean-American woman as bishop, it's going to have to work for it, said Park, a native of Seoul, South Korea. "The whole denomination should strategically work on it to make it happen, since the Korean-American community is such a small number. Without working intentionally, it will not happen. "The Rev. Ha-Kyung Cho Kim, a Korean-American clergywoman, was an Episcopal candidate for the Northeastern Jurisdiction" in 2004, Park continued. "This was the first time that a woman (of Korean heritage) ran for the office in the jurisdiction's history. After she made the withdrawal speech, she turned to the Korean-American clergywomen who were there to support her and said, 'I did this for you younger generations ... somebody had to open the door.'" Added Park: "Maybe in the next quadrennium, somebody may come in through that door." Bishop Violet Fisher, who leads the New York West Area, affirmed the need for ethnic clergywomen in the episcopacy. "I feel it is imperative that the United Methodist Church would continue to affirm the gifts and graces embodied in ethnic clergywomen who serve our denomination well," said Fisher, who is African American. "This would mean we would be more intentional about the election of these women to the episcopacy. "As we celebrate 50 years of women in ordained ministry, let us begin the journey towards this goal in '08. The time is now."
These are the voices from women who are describing what they have been subjected into and what they feel and think can be done. Women have been observed in many from as can be seen from these report but the problem is the lack of nerve and embedded theology which has been used to put women down. So it no longer a secret as Dr Jaclyn Grant has state that “women have been thrice removed. They have been removed on the basis of (a) Class, (b) Race and (d) Sex/gender.” Though the Church would like to pretend that all is fine and well, the truth of the matter is that the bright of discrimination and inequality which favor men, has been transformed into many faces within the church, one being sexism and therefore, the acute disparity in the ratio of men to women in higher positions of leadership in the Church. This phenomenon becomes manifested indirectly in other forms and arenas of leadership e.g. civil authorities because the Church has got a lot of say in other fields of leadership.
When we scrutinize the excuses given for this behavior, it is clear that patriarchy is the many source of this problem. Everything over the years have been interpreted in a way that it puts man at the center of the universe and almost another small god in the affairs of the universe. The Church on the hand has taken little or no steps at all to address the issue of patriarchy and male domination in the Bible and even when some people have made attempts to correct the problem, they have been met with great and hostile opposition which is miss-founded.
According to statistics, Marjorie Matthews was elected the first woman bishop in 1980. Bishop Leontine Kelly became the first African American woman bishop. Bishop Elias Galvan was the first Hispanic to be elected bishop. By 1990, 50 women were serving as district superintendents. Today, twenty two women have become bishops and almost 12,000 clergywomen are serving throughout the United Methodist Church. This is not enough bearing in mind women are the majority in the Church and when the church is always urging civil authorities to be more democratic. These are outright doublespeak and double standards when it comes to matters affecting The United Methodist Ecclesia.
On May 4, 1996 was the 40-year anniversary of granting full clergy rights to women in the Methodist Church. The 1956 General Conference of the Methodist Church declared that “women are eligible for all orders of the ministry and full conference membership.” Ten years later little has changed though it was well articulated in the annals of the boob of discipline and somewhere. Why has it taken so long for women to be granted their God ordained rights? The answer to this question is embedded in the strata of our socialization and false tradition which is founded on partriarchical foundations.
The words "all" and "full" are key in this legislation. This was the first time that women were recognized with full clergy rights by the church as a whole. Exploring the progress of our denomination toward this milestone offers an intriguing look at our history. It is a history dominated with power over paradigm or mentality which needs to be done with once and for all.
In 2004 - The Western Jurisdiction elected the Rev. Minerva Carcaño as the denomination’s first Latina bishop. This made the total of six women elected as bishops, the largest number of women ever elected in a single year. Surely this is unbelievable putting into account the membership and population of Latinos in the USA. We may talk of the oppression of women by the Taliban in Afghanistan and other Muslim countries, but in our own back yards oppression of women is out of proportions. It is always said Christianity is a democratic favoring religion but history is the sure judge. The United Methodist News services continues to report that “Without a doubt, the rich heritage of foremothers such as Anna Oliver, Anna Howard Shaw, Ella Niswonger, Julia A.J. Foote, and Maud Keister Jensen continues to challenge our church to embrace the disciplinary mandate of the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women “to a continuing commitment to the full and equal responsibility and participation of women in the total life and mission of the Church, sharing fully in the power and in the policy making at all levels of the Church’s life.” ( 2202, The 1992 Book of Discipline).” Why is it taking so long for the Church to do what is right? This is a social justice issues which should be fully addressed and rectified to make the world what God intended it to be.
Social Justice is a concept that has fascinated philosophers ever since Plato rebuked the young Sophist, Thrasymachus, for asserting that justice was whatever the strongest decided it would be. In The Republic, Plato formalized the argument that an ideal state would rest on four virtues: wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice. If we really cherish virtue where is our nerve to tackle this social disease which had un fathomable impact on women economically, socially and politically?
Sexism which is founded on the foundations of patriarchy is ripe and thrilling in the UMC even after many promises and attempts to route out this social vice.“The historic General Conference of 1972 made a significant commitment to strengthening the participation of women at all levels of our church. To support this commitment, it created the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women "to foster an ongoing awareness of the problems and issues related to the status of women and to stimulate progress reports on these issues."
The General Conference called for changes about theological, philosophical, and biblical interpretations and understandings about the role of women. It called for increased sensitivity to expectations for the achievement and contributions of women, and the issues of the rights of women. The General Conference further endorsed overcoming rigid sex role distinctions and discriminatory language, images, and practices in our own church life and work.
At that conference, only 16 years after the approval of full clergy rights and privileges for women (1956), the goals called for openness and receptivity for women in the professional ministry and the utilization of men and women in elections and appointments at all levels of the church. Action plans included development of programs, evaluation measures, curriculum, doctrinal studies, and analysis of the particular problems and barriers faced by women.
Sexism like racism and tribalism in other parts of the is entrenched in the Church and it calls for incarnation approach to this reproach which has soiled the Church of Christ. Otherwise, the Church will end up being like any other social club. The liberation mission of the gospel and the Church will be compromised unless deontologisation practice currently being witnessed in the Church is dealt with truthfully .
Then the next question comes in. How can women gain their rightful place in the UMC? The civil right leader Dr Martin Luther King Jr in his “letter from Birmingham Jail” had the following to say “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” So, women should never ever wait to be given what they know very well in a God ordained right. They should demand and fight for it until liberty is fully achieved. They should include in these struggle men who have been liberated and every available tool they can find untill they are finally “free at last”.
If only the many resolutions; which have been put down in many Church conferences could be fully adopted and practiced, then the issues of women being dehumanized and marginalized could be done with once and for all. For example the following is a good example of such documents.
“ADOPTED BY THE 1980 GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE UNITEDMETHODIST CHURCH
Because We Believe
1. That God is the Creator of all people and all are God’s children in one family;
2. That racism is a rejection of the teachings of Jesus Christ;
3. That racism denies the redemption and reconciliation of Jesus Christ;
4. That racism robs all human beings of their wholeness and is used as a justification for social, economic and political exploitation;
5. That we must declare before God and before each other that we have sinned against our sisters and brothers of other races in thought, in word and in deed;
6. That in our common humanity in creation all women and men are made in God’s image and all persons are equally valuable in the sight of God;
7. That our strength lies in our racial and cultural diversity and that we must work toward a world in which each person’s value is respected and nurtured;
8.That our struggle for justice must be based on new attitudes, new understandings and new relationships and must be reflected in the law, policies, structures and practices of both church and state;
WE COMMIT OURSELVES AS INDIVIDUALS AND AS A COMMUNITY TO FOLLOW JESUS CHRIST IN WORD AND IN DEED AND TO STRUGGLE FOR THE RIGHTS AND THE SELF-DETERMINATION OF EVERY PERSON AND GROUP OF PERSON. THEREFORE, AS UNITED METHODIST WOMEN IN EVERY PLACE ACROSS THE LAND..
We Will:
UNITE OUR EFFORTS with all groups in The United Methodist Church:
1. To eliminate all forms of institutional racism in the total ministry of the church with special attention given to those institutions which we support, beginning with their employment policies, purchasing practices and availability of services and facilities.
2. To create opportunities in local churches to deal honestly with the existing racist attitudes and social distance between members, deepening the Christian commitment to be the church where all racial groups and economic classes come together.
3. To increase our efforts to recruit women of all races into the membership of United Methodist Women and provide leadership development opportunities without discrimination.
4. To create workshops and seminars in local churches to study, understand and appreciate the historical and cultural contributions of each race to the church and community.
5. To increase local churches, awareness of the continuing needs for equal education, housing, employment and medical care for all members of the community and create opportunities to work for these things across racial lines.
6. To work for the development and implementation of national and international policies to protect the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of all people such as through support for the ratification of United Nations covenants on human rights.
7. To support and participate in the world-wide struggle for liberation in the church and community.
8. To support nomination and election processes which include all racial groups employing a quota system until the time that our voluntary performance makes such practice unnecessary.
In the above document, it is well witnessed that there is acceptance that sin has been committed against women and remedy is needed. However the reality on the ground as witnessed by an equal employment tendencies, and practices against women in both macro and micro cultures within the Church as an organized structure and the believing community at large is a clear indication that the journey towards the full emancipation of women from the Yoke of dehumanization is a long one.
Inclusion, I believe this can be done and beauty can be realized for all of us when women finally arrive where they were intended by their creator to be in the first place.
