As news editor of the eudwomen.org website, I have been posting articles about Adventist women during Women’s History Month. I hope that it has been an interesting journey of discovery to the beginnings of the Seventh-Day Adventist church in various parts of the world.
Once more, together with a group of women, I watched Hidden Figures, a movie that always impresses me. The three highly qualified, extremely talented black women faced so much discrimination despite the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughn managed to make a difference, patiently waiting for their chance to show the world that women, black women at that, must be taken seriously. It was a learning process for the scientists at NASA. These women mathematicians before the time of computers helped to make the US space program a success and get the first man on the moon. For about 50 years they were hidden in the annals. It is the true story of great talent and perseverance in the face of prejudice and discrimination.
Katherine Johnson’s calculations were essential to the beginning of the Space Shuttle program, and she worked on plans for a mission to Mars. She was known as a "human computer" for her tremendous mathematical capability and ability to work with space trajectories with such little technology and recognition at the time. In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2016, she was presented with the Silver Snoopy Award by NASA astronaut Leland D. Melvin and a NASA Group Achievement Award. In 2019, Johnson was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States Congress. In 2021, she was inducted posthumously into the National Women's Hall of Fame.[1] In 2019, Mary Jackson, the first black woman engineer at NASA, was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. In 2021, the Washington, D.C. headquarters of NASA was renamed the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters.[2] In 2019, Dorothy Vaughan, who mastered the workings of the first IBM beast and became the first Computer Superintendent, was also honored with the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously.[3]
The movie Hidden Figures is based on the nonfiction book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race written by Margot Lee Shetterley, written in 2016 after 6 years of research.
During Women’s History Month, I have been impressed by the many women in the early days of the Seventh-Day Adventist church that I have found who made an impact as pioneer missionaries, Bible workers, evangelists, teachers, nurses, doctors, and even mission and conference administrators. They, too, have long been hidden figures in the Adventist archives and only diligent research by private individuals has discovered their valuable work. Attitudes changed at NASA and it is time for the SDA church to acknowledge and honor its pioneer women.
Indeed, distinguished leaders like Dr. Ella Simmons, the first woman Vice-President of the General Conference receive a plaque honoring their lifelong service to the church when they retire. The Women’s Ministries Department bestows Woman of the Year Awards and the Association of Adventist Women (AAW) honors women from around the world as Women of the Year. However, the church as such has yet to recognize the ground-breaking work of its women pioneers except for Ellen G. White
Looking back to the early times of the SDA church, despite the difficulties women faced in society, they were accepted in the church as valuable workers. They may have been paid less, but the church was glad to let women follow their calling in whatever field they felt called by God. Then, the men decided to take over and the church has not yet recovered from the coup. For too many years, women were pushed to the sidelines, and the examples of their good work were hidden. Just as the women of New Testament times and the early church were made practically nonexistent by the Catholic church, the SDA church has tried to give the impression that the work was done only by men.
Some of my male peers in Europe do not understand my passion for promoting justice and equity for women. They do not see the disparagement. They say, “In our churches, women can do whatever they want. No one stops them from using their talents.” Yes. In my local church, if women did not take the initiative, not much would happen. We are allowed to do whatever needs to be done. Most of us don’t even hear disparaging remarks. So why am I still honking the horn to point out discrimination?
Discrimination can be so subtle that we don’t even notice it. If we do not look out, we might lose all the progress we have made with human rights. Some much-admired TV preachers call out human rights as the devil’s work. Conservative SDAs are fighting to stop women from working as pastors. Maybe not where we can see it, but it is happening. Efforts abound to put women back on the sidelines. That is why I am sounding the warning siren.
Let us get the stories of our women out into the public eye, where they can no longer be overlooked. The church needs both men and women. Why should the women who held and hold up half the sky be overlooked?
Hannele Ottschofski
[1] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Johnson