wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 520-Study: Clergywomen of color need better

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Study: Clergywomen of color need better support

Sep. 20, 2005

NOTE: Audio and related reports - UMNS stories #519 and #520 - are
available at http://umns.umc.org.

By Linda Bloom*

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (UMNS) - Despite challenges particular to their race
and gender, racial and ethnic minority clergywomen do not have a
"substantive support system" within the United Methodist Church.

In fact, these clergywomen feel their work is unappreciated by the
denomination, according to a study conducted for the United Methodist
Board of Higher Education and Ministry and its Division of Ordained
Ministry.

The study's authors, Jung Ha Kim and the Rev. Rosetta Ross, presented
their data during the Sept. 15-17 annual meeting of the denomination's
Commission on the Status and Role of Women in Cambridge.

Kim is a sociologist at Georgia State University and chairperson of
"Women and Religion" for the American Academy of Religion. Ross, an
elder in the South Carolina Conference, is associate professor of
religion and chairperson of the Department of Philosophy and Religious
Studies at Spelman College in Atlanta.

Research for "The Status of Racial and Ethnic Minority Clergywomen in
The United Methodist Church" included a denominationwide survey
questionnaire to all clergywomen of color, face-to-face interviews with
a representative sample, observations of participants at selected annual
conference and caucus meetings, and analysis of written documents.

The point of the study was to see how the clergywomen "experience"
United Methodism. Surveys were mailed to some 700 clergywomen of color
in the summer of 2001, and 214 usable surveys were collected by
mid-2002. A small representative sample of the 91 women who volunteered
underwent further interviews.

Respondents to the written survey included 125 African Americans, 41
Asian Pacific Islanders, 25 Hispanic, 2 Native Americans, 9
multiracials, 11 "other" and 1 unspecified. Sixty-eight percent of the
respondents were over 45 years old, indicating "no systemic ways of
recruiting younger women in various communities," Kim said.

Respondents tended to be single and highly educated. More than half
originally came from religious backgrounds outside the United Methodist
Church, including non-Christian backgrounds.

A key complaint from the survey was about inadequate salary support.
"This topic comes up again and again. ... A lot of clergywomen say, 'I
don't get paid enough,'" Kim said.

Three out of four respondents "reported that they lacked proper
financial support from their current appointment," regardless of
geographic location or type of church, she said.

According to the study report, racial and ethnic clergywomen are "highly
mobile and economically conscious" and more likely to change
denominations over the issue of fair salary support.

"At this point, it is sufficient to stay that clergywomen of color's
denominational affiliation and loyalty seems to be in flux, depending
largely on how long and how far they can sustain themselves in their own
ministry, often all by themselves," the report said.

Other types of support, such as mentoring, also seem to be lacking for
clergywomen of color. At the extreme, they face hostile men - from a
bishop who refused to acknowledge the comments of women in a meeting of
clergy to a conference board of ordained ministry that required a
Korean-American clergywoman to go through speech therapy for accent
reduction even though her male counterpart received no such requirement.

Kim and Ross specifically recommended to COSROW that a comparative study
on denomination-wide salary support be done, along with other specific
actions related to the status of racial-ethnic clergywomen.

Other recommendations for the denomination on clergywomen of color
include:

"	Encouraging participation in race- and gender-specific caucuses
and activities.

"	Developing formal mechanisms supporting women in ministry in
general and racial and ethnic clergywomen in particular.

"	Sensitizing United Methodists to the issues of racial and ethnic
minority clergywomen.

"	Developing consistent transition and follow-up training and
support practices to attend to the well-being of clergy and
congregations in cross-racial appointment processes.

"	Increasing the number of women of color participating on the
denomination's boards and agencies.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

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