Women's Changing Role

RE 307DL

November 27, 2011

Women’s Changing Role

The Women’s rights movement is changing the landscape of many businesses including the organizational face of religion. Cimino and Lattin (1998) identify one of the changing trends of American religion to be one of women being able to perform more leadership roles throughout all religions.

“It’s Hard to imagine a trend that will have more impact on the future of American religion than the rising numbers of women taking up leadership in churches, synagogues, and other congregations. Women will change both the style and the substance of religion, inspiring a faith that is less rigid and hierarchical (Cimino & Lattin, 1998).”

The face of religion is changing with the times, the change may not be happening as fast as some would wish, but the changes are coming to fruition. Nationwide, women outnumber men in most congregational participation (Adams, 2007, Ecklund, 2006). They are also narrowing the gap when it comes to leadership roles. Women’s strongest opposition remains at the highest level of leadership, head clergy (Adams 2007). Think outside the box for a moment, beyond the congregations and the denominations, “. . .(religious) women are leading [the charge as] theologians and scripture scholars, prolific writers in the field of spirituality, prominent activists for social justice, peace and ecological sanity, leaders in forging positive interfaith relations and prominent journalists in religious media” (Fiedler, 2011). This is just the tip of the iceberg for what is to become with the changing roles of women in religion.

Christian supporters of leadership roles for women often “point out that passages [in the Bible] dealing with prophecy in a congregation do not address whether women should participate in this form of leadership but instead prescribe how their participation should take place (Adams, 2007).” Numerous groups have also emerged to champion this battle of equal rights, and many more will appear...