In the patriarchal religions women have fared poorly. Whether it be the Jewish prayer of “Thank God I’m not a woman” or the apostle Paul’s admonishment that women are not to speak in church, or the struggle in the Roman Catholic church around women’s ordination, it adds up to be a pretty dismal picture.
Even in our present times, the misuse of power in traditional “power-over” structures, the denial of the body, the subtle (and not so subtle) dishonoring of women’s sexuality and the lack of role models all freeze women’s consciousness in a subservient place. This is true for most women in the pews as well as in the clergy.
The trap for women in ministry is becoming a ‘dutiful daughter of the patriarch.’ You serve at all costs; your personal life takes a back seat to the important role you feel you play in peoples’ lives. Women’s gifts in nurturing others and being present in suffering can drain our inner resources without our knowing it. Finally, some wake up call—an illness, an auto accident—gets attention. Most difficult of all, is that being a dutiful daughter of the patriarch ransoms our ability to speak truth to power.
Though the church has supported individual women—and I’m one of the fortunate ones to have had my ministry with the labyrinth at Grace Cathedral supported from the beginning, even when few people knew what a labyrinth was—for most of the women in ministry serving the “faithful,” it can be difficult. There is still a
sense that women have to prove themselves by working longer hours and carrying more of the ‘grunt’ work rather than serving as a mantle of leadership. This calls to mind the famous quote of one-time Texas governor Anne Richard who used the analogy of dancing: Women have to do everything a man does but do it backwards and in high heels.
Please e-mail On Faith if you'd like to receive an email notification when On Faith sends out a new question.
Email Me | Del.icio.us | Digg | Facebook
