Women in Leadership in the Church

This morning we had the opportunity to listen to opening remarks from our Presiding Officers. It is not likely lost on those gathered that these two officers are both women. Remarkably that has been true for much of the nine years of our Presiding Bishop’s term. Yet just prior to this session, Twitter notified me that The Episcopal Church has released a toolkit for promoting women clergy in leadership in the Church. The juxtaposition of these two realities is significant. On the one hand, we are tremendously blessed to have women serving in the most senior leadership positions in The Episcopal Church. On the other hand, we still need a “toolkit” because women are not adequately represented in leadership across our Church.

As the co-chair, of The Young Clergy Women Project, I am privileged to work with and regularly be in conversation with a number of remarkable women in leadership from a number of denominations in the US and around the world. My work with the Project gives me a great window on the tremendous gifts and wisdom that women, and particularly young women, bring to ordained ministry and leadership in the Body of Christ. It also gives me a window into the numerous challenges that we still face across denominations. I am blessed to serve in denomination that has been ordaining women for longer than I have been alive. I am grateful for the courageous, wise and dynamic women who have paved the way for my generation to become leaders in the Church. Given that, I do not share some of the challenges of my sisters whose denominations have only just begun to ordain women. And yet, The Episcopal Church is not without its challenges regarding women in leadership. If it were, we would not need a toolkit. 

One example of this is the issue of parental leave. Female Episcopal clergy are blessed to have an excellent benefit of 12 weeks of paid leave following the birth of a child through our Pension Fund. I am tremendously grateful for this benefit, and the fact that the Episcopal Church in CT has a fair parental leave policy that provides 12 weeks of leave for all parents (birth or adoptive). Yet through conversation among my Episcopal colleagues in The Young Clergy Women Project, we discovered that while this benefit is available at no cost to parishes or dioceses across the Church, it is not widely implemented. In fact, there are many women clergy who do not even know this benefit is available! In an effort to remedy this reality and to promote fair parental leave for all across the Church, some of my Project colleagues (along with a male colleague) have submitted a resolution to support parental leave. 

This resolution is just one way in which we might continue the good work that has been done at so many previous General Conventions to support women, and ultimately to be about justice, dignity, and respect for all people. 

We have a daughter who will be entering kindergarten in the fall. It is my hope that when her generation takes their seats in the House of Deputies, there will be women equally represented in positions of leadership across the Church  and that there will be no need for toolkits or resolutions to address gender inequality in our Church.  

Note: The photo is from my first Sunday back in the pulpit after my 12 weeks of maternity leave following the birth of our son.