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A Center for Adventist Women
Boys are sent out into the world to buffet with its temptations, to mingle with bad and good, to govern and direct. Girls are to dwell in quiet homes among few friends, to exercise a noiseless influence. – Elizabeth Missing Sewell
The above quote was likely made with the usual dry humor that Elizabeth Missing Sewell was known for in the nineteenth century. Yet the idea that boys and men should be sent out to public work and influence and girls and women should be groomed for a more limited role in the private sphere according to “natural” characteristics has continued to shape gender roles since Sewell’s nineteenth century world. Many people still doubt that women can be capable leaders. This is either because women are seen as too emotional and unable to exercise similar critical, objective, and abstract thinking as men are assumed to be capable of. Or others strongly feel that women should not take on public work or edge into a “man’s world” because it will upset an order established by God, even if a woman proves exceptional talent and passion in one field or another.
The situation began to change over the course of the twentieth century. Women’s suffrage in the United States resulted in the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920 and gave women the right to vote. Women entered the labor market to make up for demographic changes during World War I and II but largely returned to the private sphere by the 1950s as men returned home from military service. “Rosie the Riveter” was an important symbol for women of this generation and yet their participation in skilled work, especially related to the war industry, was generally seen as a temporary need.
Second wave feminism began to change the cultural, political, and even religious landscape from the 1960s on. Whereas the first wave of feminism is largely defined by its concern with suffrage, the second and third waves of feminism are defined by concern with broader issues of gender equality and discrimination. In The Feminine Mystique (1963), Betty Freidan critiqued and exposed the discontent that so many women experienced as they were strictly defined through their roles as housewife and mother and lacked professional choices beyond jobs considered appropriate “women’s work.” Women started to pursue higher education in greater numbers and entered fields typically closed to them. They found that it is possible to combine a career and a family, especially if one was blessed with a spouse willing to redefine his own role as a husband and father and help with the “second shift.” A number of Protestant denominations began ordaining women, including the Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church USA, United Methodist Church, Disciples of Christ, Church of the Brethren, and others (even a small number of local Seventh-day Adventist churches). Women received 19.5 percent of earned doctorates in 1974. The number jumped to 45.4 percent in 2004. By the end of the twentieth century, women in the United States entered the political realm and gained high positions as CEOs of major companies. Just like their colleagues, Seventh-day Adventist women have shown that they are capable, talented leaders and workers in all kinds of industries and fields.
This is a very broad and general overview of women workers and leaders. It glosses over a number of complexities and concerns. Like many historical accounts it says little about the experience of women minorities in the United States, for instance. There isn’t room here to address the full underside of the story but there are a few important things to note. Women continue to deal with sexism and sexual harassment in the workplace. Many working spouses have started to share responsibilities in their home, but too many women still experience the “second shift.” Women in a number of industries face the glass ceiling, which contributes to the gender wage gap. The average wages for women who worked full-time in the United States in 2002 were 76.2 percent of men’s wages.
Women have made significant advances toward equality, but clearly they still continue to face challenges. The church has not always addressed these issues that affect Seventh-day Adventist women’s lives.
The Women’s Resource Center was founded in 1996 at La Sierra University with the aim to provide education about the status of women in the church and society, advocate for inclusion of women toward greater equality with men, and celebrate the accomplishments of women.
The Center has coordinated a number of programs and hosted annual conferences to discuss and accomplish these goals. Students, women pastors, and church members are encouraged to foster mentoring relationships through involvement in programs and activities. Trainings, meetings, and conferences help to foster a special community around the Center. The Women’s Resource Center has managed to build a collection of sermons, workshops, and presentations given by Adventist women.
The Women’s Resource Center is currently overseeing a project that will add to the existing leadership training resources for women available at the Center and online. Career and leadership development for women in all professions has become one of the primary goals of the Center over recent years. Career and leadership resources in the form of articles and videos are now available on the redesigned website (www.adventistwomenscenter.org). Many of these leadership resources are from presentations and papers delivered at LeaderShaping conferences hosted by the Women’s Resource Center and the Center for Women Clergy (Andrews University) in 2008 and 2009.
New programs for 2011 include a book club, film club, women’s history project, eating disorders awareness week in February, developing an online thematic bibliography for researchers, a blog project to encourage conversations about topics related to women, and domestic violence awareness, response, and prevention.
The Seventh-day Adventist church has benefited from the vision and leadership of one prominent woman, Ellen G. White. Other women have contributed to the mission of the worldwide church since her time, though their names and contribution are not always remembered in the same way. The Women’s Resource Center seeks to cultivate the passion, leadership, and vision of women in the church and inspire men to see women as their equal partners in all respects. From Scripture, we remember that “the Lord gave the word and great was the company of women who proclaimed it” (Psalm 68:11).
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Sat, 09/08/2012
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San Diego Adventist Forum
Sigve Tonstad, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Religion, Loma Linda
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>>> Women’s suffrage in the United States resulted in the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920 and gave women the right to vote.
NZ was decades earlier...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_suffrage_in_New_Zealand
Of countries presently independent, New Zealand was the first to give women the vote in modern times. The Electoral Bill granting women the franchise was given Royal Assent by Governor Lord Glasgow on 19 September 1893, and women voted for the first time in the election held on 28 November 1893 (elections for the Māori seats were held on 20 December). In 1893, Elizabeth Yates also became Mayor of Onehunga, the first time such a post had been held by a female anywhere in the British Empire.
Does the Women's Resource Center have a voice or an influence on policy and procedures of the universal church?
Thinking more about the role of women in Christian denominations, it occurs to me that the women simply need to decide that they are not going to tolerate the status quo.
The only way the men continue to dominate the upper parts of the hierarchy is by exploiting their current dominance of it, but in fact they have no power.
Here, women, is literally ALL you need to do
1) Start describing the congregation as a "home" where a woman should make the housekeeping decisions - decor, food, nurturing = ritual, sermons, emotional content.
2) Start sending those hunter men out in hunting parties to concentrate on the external outreach.
The reason things are the way they are is Roman Catholic. In the NT churches, the men were out evangelizing while the women were providing the home churches and often the money and the food.
Once the majority of the populace was nominally Christian, the great Catholic Power Grab has the men building an infrastructure to fleece the masses. Hardly something the SDA should be modelling.
/Bevin
Hi Trisha
Can you add some links to your post bringing readers to the Women's Resource Center, the LeaderShaping Conferences, etc. You'll create more "noiseless influence" ;-)
What I have loved about the Women and the Word Conferences that I have attended is hearing women theology majors preach. They always bring fresh perspective that breathes new life into the Word. It is good to see the expansion of that through the web site and blogs. The Women's Resource Center is a gift to the Church.
While offspring become latchkey kids because of the feminist movement and afternoon child conception by teenagers continue to wreck havoc on young lives misguided females are basking in the light of "fulfillment."
One will unlikely see any emphasis by Spectrumites on the responsibilities associated with bringing up children and homemaking. Pretty sad situation.
Thank you for all the encouraging comments. Please do visit www.adventistwomenscenter.org for more information. This is a redesigned website that went "live" just a few days ago. We'll continue to add content and pages over the next few weeks.
We're interested in knowing if you have ideas for future programs and topics that the WRC should address. Please feel free to share.
Also, the Women's Resource Center is strictly donor-based. Please visit https://www.lasierraconnect.org/page.aspx?pid=184 or call (951) 785-2470 to make a financial contribution.
By the way, "Your Friend," I take bringing up my children and homemaking responsibilities very seriously. Thankfully, so does my husband.
One will unlikely see any emphasis by Spectrumites on the responsibilities associated with bringing up children and homemaking. -Your Friend
1. I'd be curious to know how you approach your homemaking responsibilities.
2. As a perennial commenter on this website, you are, in fact, a "Spectrummite" yourself. Welcome to the club.
I attended a large women's study group at my church this week. As I sat at the back as a pastoral observer, for a moment I saw pillars of our congregation, whose years of dedicated parenting and involvement in church and home and community hold up the church and the home and the community--all simultaneously.
I find it unfortunate that in this day and age we're still having conversations about inequality, not because I grow tired of the conversations themselves, but because I am impatient with a culture so resistant to fairness.
I'm thankful for Trisha and Taneshia and all those who make the Women's Resource Center the benefit it is to La Sierra's campus, to Adventism, and to women (and men!) around the world!
What "Your Friend" fails to mention is the abandoning of the children by the husbands that he advocates walking out the door at 8am and returning at 6pm.
Not so many centuries ago, and in some cultures/countries today, the fathers are around the children most of the day - working together in the fields and forests.
Most of the damage to latch-key kids has to be blamed on the fathers abandoning them to go work, not on the women staying home.
/Bevin
ps: Whoever deleted the inappropriate first response to this topic - good job.
LoL! Nothing better to get the emotions moving then some broad and brash remarks that generalizingly paint anyone who reads Spectrum, or parenting, or how we treat our children! When it comes to blame and responsibility, it seems that 'blaming' takes us no where but out of the garden of tranquility. Just ask Adam. Taking responsibility sometimes is too big of a burden for our immaturity.
From my perspective, I think it is great when there are people who get together to make a difference in our society for the better. Let's applaud the positive efforts that are being reflected in this article.
I disagree totally that it is because the head of the home (men) have to go out to earn a living results in the juvenile delinquency we see today.
If that is your thesis then it's double jeopardy when both parents *choose* to work outside the home. This is just more feminist hype and gets us nowhere. It can be clearly shown that after World War 2 and women preferred to work that juvenile delinquency started its upward climb. I fully realize that there are circumstances when it is necessary for both parents to work.
Fulfillment, so called, and empowerment is the name of the feminist game and it has failed us.
And we all know there was no juvenile deliquency before the 1960's. Nor were there lynchings, gangs, or any other problems.
I would love to read an article about the current status of women and gender equality in the NAD specifically and the world in general. Events of the last year have me confused about what the current policies actually are.
--Robert Jacobson
>>> It can be clearly shown that after World War 2 and women preferred to work that juvenile delinquency started its upward climb
There are LOTS of things that changed after WWII
Shell-shocked fathers, TV, Increased wealth, Artificial foods and flavors, More Cars, More food, Pantyhose, Ball point pens, Cell Phones, More books, More laws, More air conditioning, Fewer farm laborers, Higher population densities, Changes in social group ratios. Penicillin. Better emergency medicine. Seat belts...
yet you choose, with no evidence to support it, to blame working mothers. Of course you totally disagree with my statement - because it doesn't agree with your pet unsubstantiated hypotheses.
Learn the facts. Learn to think.
/Bevin
To speak of juvenile delinquency as beginning after WW II when women worked out of the home demonstrates an abysmal ignorance of the 18th and 19th century when not only men and women, but very small children were put to work in coal mines, factories, and became pickpockets (Charles Dickens wrote extensively on this).
The difference is that even before this time, in an agrarian society before there were factories, the entire family worked in the fields and shops to maintain food and shelter. Only the wealthy had the privilege of idleness and education, the majority were peasant-slaves who worked from dawn to dusk, from childhood to old age (which came, usually, before the age of 50). In fact, at the turn of the 19th century, the average life span was less than 50! So much for those exalted "good old days" when men worked and women stayed home. Only in dreams for the "kept" women and daughters--kept from education and careers, limited to marriage or becoming an "old maid." Someone is living in "la-la-land"!
Elaine
Thanks, Trisha, for sharing a bit of the history of the WRC along with the cultural context that has formed us all. And thanks for being a role model for all of us who seek to make a positive difference in both society and church. You and Taneisha have been vital to the continuing ministry of the WRC which has proved such a boon to both women and men.
My Dear Trisha,
My challenge to you as a writer, activist, church leader, professor, and woman is dig deeper. Much deeper.
Your article sites names, events, and is on overall fact finding mission to boringville! You have missed the heart, the very epicenter of life. We, as women, are gifted with the ability to feel deeply and give abundantly from an endless cistern of what my Yiddish friends call "chutzpah." If the Women's Resource Center is what you are writing about, do just that. In your eagerness to educate the reader on the feminist movement you surrendered your God-given gift to utilize both the heart and the mind simultaneously unlike our male counterparts. Women are the glowing warmth in a world feasting on cruel injustice. God made us (women) His earthly representatives of His warmest intentions toward the human race in emotions. His heart is wrapped up in a woman’s tender and endlessly giving spirit.
My sweet sister, my hope is that womanly intelligence and strength that can lead to equality does not come through impersonating a man's hum drum verbal incantations of the obvious. More often than not, unless aided by the Spirit of God, the written word from the pen of a man is often void of the very essence of humanity—emotion. We must be authentic women in whatever role we occupy, resisting the urge to emulate even our kindest “second shift” husbands.
The Women’s Resource Center holds within it our life giving mothers, our sorrow sharing sisters, and the future we have in our daughters. Yes, the future is bright when MANkind values the heart, wisdom, and counsel of a woman. Whether it be in leadership or in home-spun humility, MAN would do well to cultivate womankind instead of suppressing them. Christ would have it so. In the end, this is what an article on the Women’s Resource Center should be about.
So Susanne, write it! Don't just tell someone to do that. I love your passion and chutzpah. Show us!
Re: Susanne Vyhmeister
Susie, thank you for your reply. I, however, disagree with the picture that you paint of women and what women are supposed to be. Your description of women as the emotional, nurturing counterpart to humanity is exactly what robs us of the ability to be taken seriously by men in what you say is an “impersonating [of] a man’s hum drum verbal incantation of the obvious.” You’re reinforcing the centuries old dualisms of man/woman, mind/body, reason/emotion, and the list of comparisons goes on. In the first paragraph of my article I was critical of the idea of women being seen as more emotional than men because (1) it doesn’t take women seriously as critical, objective, and abstract thinkers and (2) neither does it encourage men to express themselves emotionally. It limits both men and women. It also falsely suggests that emotions are somehow a deeper way of thinking than men of reason are capable of. Emotions and intellect are typically seen as qualitatively different in the way they allow humans to express themselves, not quantitatively different. Neither do emotions or intellect naturally fall upon women more than they naturally do on men. These are prescriptions of how humans are expected to be, not descriptions of what is actually the case.
You suggest that I dig deeper, but I sense that you say so simply because you disagree with me. I’m no stranger to digging deep. As a professional philosopher and theologian, my task is to dig deep. Disagreements are not always the outcome of one’s inability to dig deep but, rather, often lie in having different premises. Here, we differ on how men and women “naturally” are or ought to be.
Trisha privileges reason. Susanne privileges emotion. Both are right! Just coming at life from different personalities and perspectives. I value you both. Go gutsy women!
Thank you, Samira. I actually don't mean to privilege reason. My point is that it's not a question of either/or. I'm confident that reason and emotion are within all individuals at varying degrees and not by gender.
Each of you, please tell me, what is YOUR VISION of what Adventist women will be and do?
Thank you for this informative and thoughtful article, Trisha. And special thanks for the shout-out to the Church of the Brethren - ordaining women since 1958!
From outside the SDA tradition, it's been interesting to watch the push for women's ordination. The fundamental mandate for human institutions to recognize the power of the Holy Spirit working through women as well as men is clear. The Bible as well as church history make very clear that Jesus called women to discipleship on par with men, and that women's gifts have been vital for the church to grow.
And also, seeing what effect women's ordination has had on the profession of the ministry is interesting. Even more, it's worth noting the ways congregational ministry has changed over the decades, social factors that allow women to enter ministry more readily as well as ways women in ministry change what pastorates mean. Ideas about pastoral work seem caught between a dichotomy of pastor as powerful authority figure (which patriarchal religious institutions, like the Roman Catholic Church and some Seventh-day Adventists, encourage) and pastor as social servant, a sort of labor that has been characterized as feminine. I think people's fear and mistrust of women in ministry is just as much about what they think that will mean for ministry as for the women.
Anyway, thanks again for this important review of the work accomplished and the work left to do!
Lynda Resnick, co-owner and vice chairman of Roll International Corporation told Forbes Magazine she bought the feminist line that women can have it all--career, a great marriage and healthy, well-adjusted children. “It’s a lie,” she now says. “You can’t have it all. Something has to give....I’ll tell you this--my daughter-in-law is home with my grandchildren and it makes me very happy.”
"Your description of women as the emotional, nurturing counterpart to humanity is exactly what robs us of the ability to be taken seriously by men in what you say is an “impersonating [of] a man’s hum drum verbal incantation of the obvious.” You’re reinforcing the centuries old dualisms of man/woman, mind/body, reason/emotion, and the list of comparisons goes on."
If I wrote that Alex would likely describe it as "unsourced." But then I'm not a Spectrumite. That makes all the difference in the world.
Deear Your Friend:
Try this on for size.
They bought the line that men can have it all--career, a great marriage and healthy, well-adjusted children. It’s a lie, You can’t have it all. Something has to give..I’ll tell you this--my son-in-law is home with my grandchildren and it makes me very happy.
Absentee fathers working long hours from home and lacking involvement in their kids lives has been one of the greatest causes of family dysfunction.
Trisha, I enjoyed your article. Hope to see more of your writings in the future!
So, it seems my question goes un-answered: does the women's resource centre (or women's issues generally) have any representation in the corridors of power or not?
Now I'm about to act like one of those people on Oprah who say, "I dunno much and I'm not real edyacated, but I'm a mother of ten children..." (and wait for the applause).
For the last decade having thrown away a rather stimulating professional career in order to work full-time parenting two small people, I do have a few insights to offer this discussion. this is not the first time I've spoken publicly about the experience, as my story was published in the local paper here in Basel, a few years ago.
In short, being a householder (hauswerk and parenting) is tiresome, isolating, mind-numbing and in many respects without significant recognition or reward. I've been at it full-time for ten years now and particularly when the children were young, it was very, very difficult and led me to a state of deep, chronic depression. Having gone public with my story about three years ago, I have been congratulated and praised by women, old and young, for 'telling their story.' The epithet "good wife and mother' does no justice to the lived experience of maintaining a home and the rather elderly suggestion that social problems arise on account of women's performance 'in the home' is dismissive, patronising and just plain stupid.
My wife and I made a joint decision that I would look after the kids, as we figured it would be easier for me than her, to get back into a workplace after having stepped out of it for 15 or 20 years. She had worked for the SDA church, as a primary school teacher, for more than a decade and now holds a senior management position (global function) for a large multi-national corporation based here in Basel. When she worked for the church she was expected to accept a lower salary for the same work, compared to her male colleagues and to be prepared to lie to a magistrate of an industrial court, asserting that she preferred it that way. It was also expected she would work under autocratic school administrators, sacrifice her holidays to do extra duties when it was 'camp time' (such as working in the kitchen or cleaning toilets) and she would someday leave employment to have babies, thus would not be considered for promotion to a position with more authority.
Hence, my original query - and I will re-frame it: In the context of continuing panic at the thought of women in ministry, resistance to broader legal provisions preventing unfair discrimination, etc.
does the universal church attend to questions of diversity, gender equity, etc. at a structural level?
two days of silence.....
waiting for a response.
NO FULL STOP
... from one who has been there ...
Gender conflict started here...
Ask your pastor what "desire" means in this verse.
Genesis 3: 16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy DESIRE shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
James Dobson got the meaning wrong yesterday on his radio program. But he did claim not to be a theologian.
Here is a clue verse with the same word in it...just one chapter later.
Genesis 4: 7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
By the way..here is where an English translation can be misleading. One must check the Hebrew.
How about these goals for Adventist wormen. Full ordination if one is called to such ministry. Equal opportunity in employment and leadership within the church, if one is inclined to serve in this way.
We should be ashamed that in this age and the laws of the land that women are kept from some opportunities because of their gender. It is backwards, disrespectful and immoral to deny one equal opportunities for advancement based on experience and skill.
______________________________________________________________
Carolyn Parsons
A more basic question is: "Why would any woman want to be fully ordained by an organization that view women as second class? I recall years ago--about 40 now. The constituency meeting for Loma Linda was in session. The By-Laws were being debated. Elder Neal Wilson was presiding. The pronoun "he" kept appearing in the manuscript. A woman asked for the floor. Her question was: "Why the pronoun "He"? Elder Neal Wilson said: "That is a good question." Immediately, Elder Peason took the floor and said: "You can use any pronoun you wish, but it will always be a male. The by-laws state that the Chairman of the Board shall be an ordiained officer of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist. That will always be a male! He then sat down--end of discussion.
It all goes back to Moses's older brother! If I were a woman, I would aspire to a much higher position, like Dean of the School of Medicine at Loma Linda or Speaker of the House of Representatives. Even President of the United States. Other than my mother, my sisters, and my wife, I can think of no more honorable, talented, and gifted women that my Church School teachers in the 5-6 grades, and 7-8 grades. Oh yes, my English and French Teachers in Academy. They will have many more stars in their crowns that any G.C. officer I ever met. In heaven they will have front row seats.
Just one story. It was recess in the 5th grade. We were all on the top steps of the porch leading into the classroom. We were having a spitting contest. The teacher came out to call us in. She saw the mess we had made on the steps. She said. The one who can spit the furthest gets to name the persons to clean up the steps. She took the line and spit at least two feet past any mark on the steps or sidewalk. Then the entire class had to get a pail, water, and mop and do a clean sweep down fore and aft. Now that the kind of person one could love for eternity. Tom Z.
I can't answer the question why someone would want those positions, but the fact that they are not available to women is a problem.
My mom is a retired teacher in K to 4th grade. She certainly made a difference in more lives than most church administrators can claim.
Carolyn
______________________________________________________________
Carolyn Parsons
Do not, for one repulse, give up the purpose that you resolved to effect.
June 28, 2011
Lord if it was all wright for one of the founders of our Aventist Church to carry minister papers for her safty, as in Ellen G.White, when traviling, it this is ture, than is all right for wome to be ministers in the Adventist Chuch, put just not under the name of pastor becuase it is a male title, and women should not take on any thing male with in or without of the church that would make our fellowship in Chirst be anthing like the world. Becuase, of the mixed gender of male verses famles in the eyes of the world to day with in and without the gay populations. It seems very question able that the Advenitist church shoud allow women to be blessed to hold a office in the church as pastor, verses minsiter or evangelistt. If women in the Adventist Church are going to be allowed to holed a paied office in the church as women of the clothe than it is of my spiritual concern that they do it as minsitres, and evangelist, but not under the title of pastor do to the gender problems of alternative life styles of the gay community that has tried to find way to stand with in church, if Christ is soon to come. Letting women take on the title of a man with in the Adventist Church in any way, form, or fashtion, is question able to my spiritual well being and that of others in the church. Maranatha!
With my whole being in mind, body and soul help me to serve You that I may not continue be unfaithful in little things that reflect what is important to You, for of my self I can do nothing, but in You do I find my ability to be encouraged, to stay focused on the things of God, and be saved in Your Kingdom,amen!
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