IBM’s Next Ceo Is A Woman: and other things the church can learn form the world
by Janna Gould
n the past I would have wanted nothing more than to write this article, to woo you with my words. I would have done theological somersaults and hermeneutical acrobatics all in an attempt to usher you into the house of egalitarian gender relations, where the honey is sweet and the milk is flowing. If I had been enlisted to write this article a few years ago, I would have rushed to my computer the way the ancient prophets, with the Holy Spirit whispering in their ears, must have sat hunched over their scrolls, getting themselves messy with ink, writing for hours. Instead, I’ve filled more than three Word documents over the course of the last week, none of which have even made it to second base (i.e. being saved to my hard drive). The thing is, I no longer approach the “issue” of my gender with energy and vigor, not because I don’t care but because I am exhausted. I am exhausted from years of working to defend my gender.
I told a friend last week that I didn’t want to write this article because I didn’t want to have to talk about the Bible. I didn’t want to have to spend time unraveling and re-parsing the Greek verbs and prepositions. But you have to, he rebutted. That’s the language your audience speaks, he claimed. And this may be so. Quite honestly, I really don’t care. I know I should do the pastoral thing, meet people where they’re at, yada yada yada. But I’m over it. Sometimes meeting someone where they are feels like nothing more than enabling and validating sin.
There are very few places in the rest of the educated world where I must continue to perform intellectual somersaults and acrobatics to convince you that I’m capable despite this female body I’ve been given. In Western culture, young girls are no longer birthed and bred to be wives and mothers only but instead are encouraged to achieve and excel in any sphere of the world just as their male peers do. With one exception: the Church. It’s as though some kind of twisted transubstantiation happens when a woman crosses the threshold of a church. Successful female CEOs, professors and authors, upon entrance into the sphere of the Church, are often relegated to associate pastor at best and silence at worst. While I gratefully acknowledge the progress that Protestant Christian churches have made in the last 25 years in a move toward egalitarian gender dynamics in the Church, the Church, speaking more broadly, still remains one of the few corners of Western culture where deliberate and institutional oppression of women is still sanctioned, legal and practiced.
Churches, because they are technically private not public institutions, can get away with blatant sexism. A current job posting for the position of senior pastor at an evangelical Church in Vermont reads: “Our Church is seeking a pastor with a true heart for God…The pastor’s wife should also be committed to loving people and sharing in the ministry of Christ with her husband.”[1] I face blatant sexism every day as I walk my dog in the form of heckling men and catcalls made from passing cars. I should not face it in the Church, a body of people who are supposed to be marked by the all the inclusive Gospel of Jesus Christ.
There are many things the world can learn from the Church. Gender relations is not one of them. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The world is moving forward, acknowledging the societal sins of the past and working to make it illegal to continue to perform such sins. Meanwhile, over here in the Church, we’re still talking about whether I, as a female, am allowed to teach a male, stand behind the pulpit, don the cloth or be responsible for the spiritual well-being of a group of people.
I am making no claim at the perfection of society in regards to gender relations. While I applaud laws against sexual harassment in the workplace, the very fact that such laws must exist suggests that perfection within people’s character has not been reached. It is fairly evident that things are not the way they should be, nor will they ever be on their own. We are sinful, broken people. We are hungry for power and looking for ways to grasp it and exert it over others. But at least society is aware of its sins and is implementing change.
The evangelical church, in its relation to society and popular culture, has long since lived and thrived within the dichotomy of secular and holy. As a young kid growing up in the evangelical church, the line was very clear: society is secular, bad, wrong, damaged and the Church is holy. The Church therefore must influence society and never the other way around. The bad news is, Church, it seems the secular world has become far more holy than us when it comes to gender relations.
I will graduate in December with my Master of Arts in Theology. Once I’ve completed seminary, I will have over six years of theological education under my belt. I have years of administrative leadership experience, have been a relatively faithful member of a church community for the last two years and yet, in my post-seminary job search I have discovered that I possess a few very significant details which apparently cancel out my years of theological education, professional experience and beautiful, heart-breakingly creative wit: a vagina, two breasts, a monthly period that means I could one day be a mother, the hormones LH, FSH, progesterone and estrogen and, of course, the various social trappings that make me female, and the fact that sometimes I wear skirts.
In fact, in my post-seminary career search my gender has been a stumbling block nowhere else but in the sphere of the Church. While many still argue the existence/non-existence of the glass ceiling in society I can be certain of this: the glass ceiling is alive and well in the Church. In fact, it looks as though someone recently shined it up, gave it a good gloss, perhaps in an attempt to keep us from noticing that it’s still there.
In our “secular” society women hold high government office, run corporations, lead field-changing research efforts, publish books, teach students and start small businesses. It is about time the Church heard the good news of the secular world and repented, or we might just get left behind.
[1] http://www.Churchjobs.net/jobs/listings/5889.html
About the Author
“That’s the language your audience speaks, he claimed. And this may be so. Quite honestly, I really don’t care. I know I should do the pastoral thing, meet people where they’re at, yada yada yada. But I’m over it. Sometimes meeting someone where they are feels like nothing more than enabling and validating sin.”
So, you’re writing an article, not caring who and where your audience is? And you’ve decided that having an honest discussion about God’s design for men and women is in reality validating sin?
I think this is a cop-out from someone who wants to validate her own sin, her own refusal to consider things honestly, her own refusal to become all things to all people. I certainly hope you’re not looking to pastor, because you obviously don’t have the heart for it. Also, you know, that whole “women aren’t allowed to preach” thing in the Bible, which you so carelessly shirk.
It’s not “oppression” to forbid women from pastoring. Nor is it sexism, anymore than it’s racism for God to give Israel certain benefits simply because it’s Israel. But hey, if you want to flippantly call God a sexist, then it’s God you’ve got to deal with, not me.
And how dare you compare God’s commands regarding women with men cat-calling at women.
“I have discovered that I possess a few very significant details which apparently cancel out my years of theological education”
That’s because it’s not about your abilities. It’s about God’s designed order. The same reason polygamy, homosexuality, beastiality, and incest are all no-gos.
There’s nothing wrong with you being a CEO or even President of the United States. There is ONE THING women may not do — teach or have authority over men in a spiritual context.
I suggest that before you go looking for church jobs, you humble your thoughts to God’s thoughts, and you humble yourself to the task of caring for those around you, rather than deciding that you just don’t care anymore.
I agree with John Paul.
Having a woman teach a man is as degrading as if someone had sex with their many siblings, especially if their siblings were of the same sex and animals.
Let’s stay away from this kind of demeaning immorality please.
Also, for more information about Fuller’s stance on women’s positions in ministry, and its biblical basis, please find information here: http://www.fuller.edu/womeninministry/
Also according to 1Co 14:34, “women should be silent in the churches”. We need to make sure a no talking policy gets implemented in the churches across the world immediately!
@ Simon – Billiant! You’ve totally missed the argument! What a good liberal you are.
@ Jeremie – Obviously we have to read what is meant by being “silent” in the churches, especially given that Paul explicitly allowed women to pray and prophecy.
Is this how you guys think? Uncritically and flippantly handling Scripture? If you’re arguing like idiots just to be obnoxious, go for it. If you actually think you’re making good points, then you’re absolutely blind.
You CANNOT have marriage reflect Christ and the Church while having “egalitarianism”. If men and women have the same roles, then Christ and the Church must have the same roles, as well, in which case Christ has no headship over us.
Fuller isn’t biblical, and it hasn’t tried to be for quite some time, Simon. That’s why so many professors spend their time saying that the Bible is wrong and that Paul and Luke lied. Let’s not pretend that Fuller actually respects God’s word.
Of all the things I would like to comment on here, I only want to highlight a concern or question for John Paul.
If Fuller is so hellbent as you seem to think, how come you then spend time reading a Fuller student publication that is even written by a woman? If you want to preserve your own orthodoxy that you think so highly of, I find it odd that you would venture into these venues for spiritual refreshment….
but that’s maybe just me…
Janna – thanks for sharing this insightful article. I’m sorry that the idea of you holding authority in the church has been compared to bestiality.
Naomi
Sharing in your passion, frustration, and… Well, everything else.
Much Love,
Julie.
There was a time when I too struggled with the whole “women in positions of authority” thing. I’m from an area of the country where gender roles are deeply ingrained to the point where I’m still being awakened to ways in which those prejudices seep into my attitudes and practices. I’m incredibly grateful to all the people who are patiently helping redeem my ideas about the proper relationship between men and women.
Thankfully, I was primed to redemption by my church family back home. They are a group of people comfortable with struggling through contentious issues. We don’t ever all agree, but we are all committed to one another regardless of our disagreements. My home church family is a group of people who admit that God is bigger than and beyond our understanding. They allow the grey, and, in the absence of certainty, opt to love others on both sides of any idealogical divide.
I will always remember a conversation I had with my (male) pastor concerning the presence of a female pastor at a neighboring church. He said, “What do you think about that, Elijah?” I replied, “I don’t know what to think. It’s odd.” He said, “Yeah. I don’t know what to think either,” and we left it at that. I was impressed then by his willingness to say he didn’t know. The pressure and temptation for anyone in a position of teaching authority is to always have all the answers. My pastor realized that his responsibility wasn’t to dictate about God but to cultivate an atmosphere where his pastorate was free to interact with God.
I learned from my church family that it is less important how strongly we hold our beliefs than it is what we do because of of our beliefs. It is more important to act like Christ than it is to know about Christ.
And the only people Jesus ever “put in their place” were those who were sanctimoniously legalistic, who used their authority to abuse others by making them think there was some aspect of God they were disallowed to experience.
So though I understand both sides of the “women in ministry” argument, and while I, candidly, still have tiny qualms on the issue, I’ve decided to err on the side of liberation. I’ve decided to honor the too numerous to count women who have taught me and preached to me and shared Christ with me in word and deed. The Bible very clearly calls me, a man, to submit to everyone, regardless of gender, because Christ submitted, and as I submit, I position myself to interact with Christ in everyone, and knowing Christ is my heart’s deepest desire.
There is nothing biblical about oppression, metaphors prove nothing, and condemnation isn’t Christ-like. If a man truly believes that men are endowed with authority over women, and if a man admits that Christ had authority over all and humbled himself and submitted, then ought a man in authority on this earth to humble himself and submit as well?
This article made me tear up with hope. Thank you for being honest about your exhaustion and your love for a Jesus who is bigger than inequality and oppression, even in his own body. I am grateful for women like you who will lead the church alongside men, with Christ as our leader! Love, peace, cooperation, and support – now that’s a Gospel that compels me!
Please keep writing. Thank you.
Janna, I thoroughly enjoyed your article, and I definitely agree that the glass ceiling is probably just more polished lately, so that we hopefully won’t see it. It’s baffling to me when people still demand that we “take our place” according to God’s design. Reminds me of a little anecdote from my summer: I was crossing the street (in a crosswalk, mind you) near City Hall, and a man in an SUV wasn’t looking and had to slam on his brakes to keep from hitting me, stopping about one foot away from me and halfway into the crosswalk. After a about a minute of back-and-forth about who was in the wrong, the man concluded with, “Don’t forget: you’re not a man, you’re a woman.” Apparently we can’t have pastoral positions OR speak up when someone almost runs us over in the street.
Thank you for sharing your views. Clearly, we still have some work ahead of us.
The SEMI stands behind all of the articles in our recent issue.
janna, i love this article. i’ve often looked at the theological debate over this issue with complete bewilderment, wondering to myself, “do they not know that everyone else is COMPLETELY over this? that this is a disputed issue ONLY in the church?” this ongoing debate makes me glad that i wasn’t raised in the church — that the messages i received about women growing up were egalitarian and empowering. it’s really sad to me that i may not have heard those messages had i grown up in the church.