During Women's History Month we want to remind you of the impact women have made on the development of the Seventh-Day Adventist church in seven short reflections.
Various factors contributed to the dramatic decline of women in leadership positions. In the 1920s, the annual council recommended that "in the future, Home Mission and Youth Department directors should be chosen who have experience in evangelism, preferably ordained pastors." Until then women had worked as department directors but the new policy led to women being practically eliminated because they were not ordained.
During the Great Depression in the United States, policies were introduced to protect the church from financial ruin. Some of these had a greater negative impact on women than on men, including wage cuts, Union mergers, and term limits for positions in Conferences. Ordained pastors were the last to lose their jobs. Since women were not ordained, they were more easily terminated. The women who still worked for the church did so in subordinate areas. Both single and married women could only be hired as teachers, nurses, and Bible workers. Women with leadership abilities were pushed aside as the number of professionally trained male pastors increased. And when the men returned at the end of World War II, American society again emphasized the importance of women as full-time housewives and mothers. And finally, the regained financial strength of the church gave men more power in leadership positions.
The death of Ellen White in 1915 as a factor should not be overlooked. Her voice was no longer there to advocate in favor of women. Men may have struggled with her views on the involvement of women. If everyone had agreed with Ellen White, she would have had no reason to write the admonition concerning fair pay and the importance of women’s involvement in the work of the church.
In 1915, when the church was still small, a relatively large number of women held senior positions. By the end of World War II, women had lost all the ground they had gained in the first hundred years. They also completely disappeared from the leadership at the conference level. Today, many church members don’t even know how important women were in the past.
Education has always been an area for women. In 1920, women held leadership positions in 57 percent of the educational departments of the conferences. In 1930, the number had dropped to 23 percent and in 1940 to 5 percent, until in 1950 there were no more women in leadership positions in the education department of a union in North America. However, women were still involved in educational work as teachers.
In the period from 1920-1950, the church tried to convince the women serving in the church that it would be better for the church if they were replaced by ordained pastors. Women who felt God's call to the ministry at that time usually married a theology student and then contributed to the cause as pastoral spouses. From 1960 onwards, however, women again started studying theology themselves.
It is astonishing that just at the time when women in the western world generally gained more rights and became more visible in all areas of life, female members of the SDA Church had less access to leadership positions. While women received legal equality, education, and experienced financial and political progress, women in the SDA increasingly lost their leadership positions.
Despite these setbacks, women have not given up hope. There are still stories about their courage and accomplishments. They preach, evangelize and serve as pastors in the whole world, though their work is not adequately valued or recognized.
It seems that Seventh-day Adventists today have forgotten - or even do not know - what a rich and innovative history our church had when women were welcome as equal partners in church life, decision-making, and mission. Women were and are an indispensable and important part of the church!
This is an extract from the Book Tired of Waiting – Women in Church and Society by Hannele Ottschofski, available on amzn.to/3HSyP3e