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Jessica Leath
October 9, 2016
English 2880
Gender Inequality in Churches Must Come to an End
Purpose
The purpose of this proposal is to research the reasoning and justification behind
the lack of leadership roles for women in Catholicism and how it affects the women in
the faith.
Summary
Women have worked hard for centuries to gain the freedoms and rights they
should have been granted from the moment they were born. Looking back through
history books, it is obvious women have come a long way. They have achieved many
triumphs, including the right to go school, work, and vote. These are all huge
accomplishments for the female population, but there seems to be discrepancies when it
comes to the amount of power and leadership women can hold in certain religious
denominations. Specially, Catholicism lacks leadership opportunities for women, as
opposed to the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches, which allow both males and
females to actively serve as leaders in their parishes. The women in this religious
denomination have every right, just as men do, to hold positions of ordained leadership in
their parishes. The purpose of this proposal is to research the reasoning and justification
behind the lack of leadership roles for women in Catholicism. Research has already been
done and the decision to continue this Catholic tradition is falsely based on the
importance of the physical representation of a man, Jesuss choice of The Twelve men,
and the effects of changing the tradition that these Churches were built on. These long

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held traditions are often in conflict with the culture that we live in today, which prides
itself on equality. When comparing and contrasting these differing views there is
evidence that when given equal opportunities as their male counterparts, women have
demonstrated that they are fully capable of fulfilling leadership roles.
Introduction
The most agreed upon argument against women being ordained, as priest in the
Catholic faith, is the importance of the physical representation of Jesus as the Son of
God. The Catholic argument on this issue revolves around the idea that it is only
appropriate for a male priest to celebrate mass acting as his shepherd over the flock. This
tradition rooted in the Bible, which claims that a priest has to be male, to have a "natural
resemblance" to Jesus, so as to be an image of Jesus more effectively and to symbolize
more clearly Jesus the Bridegroom (Egan 18). The representation of a man standing in
the place of Jesus seems to be basis of the decision to exclude women from ordained
priesthood. The ability to preform the holy mass and be in the hierarchy of the church
should not be determined by gender. This gender discrimination has eliminated women
from holding leadership roles at the highest levels of the Catholic Church.
If gender is such an important factor in the representation of Jesus within the
Catholic faith, how does one explain Mother Teresas saintly work during her life? Being
a woman, how could she touch so many lives and perform miracles on the sick and
dying? The Catholic practice of male religious leadership is hard to justify when you look
at the impact Mother Theresa had on the Church. Many Catholics would agree that
Mother Theresas acts of unconditional love for the needy have elevated her impact over
the male dominated Church leaders she served. Mother Teresa is the perfect example a

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selfless servant of God. Every individual, no matter their gender, is able to spread Gods
message of salvation and unconditional love. Mother Teresa was able to do many
remarkable acts of kindness and compassion in her eighty-seven years on this planet to be
beatified in the shortest amount of time in modern history (Higgins 55). She created the
Missionaries of Charity to work with Calcuttas poverty, and became known
internationally as a symbol of charity. It has been claimed that, Catholics and nonCatholics worldwide have seen in the diminutive Albanian the face of Christ in our time
(Higgins 54). Mother Teresa made the most of her position as a nun in the Catholic
Church. She had the capability of holding much more authority, but was held back solely
because of her gender. The lack of leadership roles women can hold is unfair due the
outdated tradition of the Church. Women like Mother Teresa are the reason that females
should be viewed as equally qualified to be ordained priest and reach the highest level of
leadership based on their ability to spread Jesus love. Gender should not be a factor. In
addition, from a practical perspective the Church is suffering from a worldwide shortage
of priests. Allowing females to be ordained priests would resolve multiple issues and
move the Catholic Church into the modern world.
Besides, a priest having the same physical gender as Jesus, the Catholic Church
has also based the decision to exclude women from leadership positions on the fact that
Jesus hand chose only male leaders for His Church, which were named the Twelve
Apostles. An article written by Robert Egan backs up this reason by stating, The key
reason given for the exclusion of women from these offices was then, and has remained,
Jesus' exclusive choice of men as members of the Twelve" (18). During that time period
women did not play a major role in society, besides birthing children and raising them. It

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makes sense that Jesus chose twelve men to be the leaders of his newly founded Church.
In a commonly cited bible verse from1 Timothy 2:11-12, Paul writes this: Let a woman
learn in silence and with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have
authority over a man, but to be in silence (Myers). This makes the argument against
womens inability to be ordained invalid due to its context dating back centuries. Of
course Jesus would not have selected women to lead his people, because their voice was
nearly nonexistent during that time. It would not make sense, but today it makes complete
sense to include women in these positions of leadership. Women are now recognized as
equals to their male counterparts. The religions of the world, specifically Judaism and
Catholicism, are completely denying women their abilities and rights, as intellectual,
modern women to accept leadership roles in their own Churches and it must come to an
end.
Catholicism is rooted so deeply in tradition and history that changes are rarely
made to the practices and beliefs. If a change were to happen it would cause a great deal
of controversy, and ideas of what remained a constant would be disrupted. Once one
founding principal of the church is altered then that brings a multitude of other issues in
to question. This fear of opening Pandoras box has limited many faiths from making
necessary changes. Many religious leaders are afraid to upset their followers and risk
loosing their congregations and power. The question arises, what if the foundation the
Church is based on principles that were misunderstood? In an article written on Corning
Mennonite, it is brought to the readers attention that several women in the New
Testament held leadership roles, including deacon, prophet, apostle, house- church leader
and co-worker (This is). It is said that the Bible verses that insinuate women should not

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lead in the Church are easily misinterpreted. Many different religions view the passages
that touch on the subject regarding the position of women in the Church in 1 Timothy, 1
Corinthians and 1 Peter in completely contrasting ways (Myers). The Catholic Church
has one view on the issue and there seems to be no changes in sight. Pope Francis has
recently made this very apparent on two separate occasions by responding with a firm
no after being questioned about possibly admitting women to the ranks of clergy
(Allen). It is time for these ancient religions to adapt to modern culture in order to offer
all its members equal opportunities. It is ironic that religions with foundations based on
love for all humanity, would practice gender discrimination. A study done by Cynthia
Peabody reports that many Catholic women felt that women had once again been
relegated to meeting in dark church basements and one another's living rooms and
sometimes being a Catholic woman is just so lonely (18). This is the sad truth of the
modern Catholic females. There is no support or power provided to them through their
faith. Women are fortunate to be living in a country during a period of gender equality.
Facing gender inequality in their own religion is a hard pill to swallow for most modern
women living in free and progressive societies. If women were given an opportunity to
compete for leadership positions I believe we would see the Catholic Church reengage
with many followers that have left the flock. If the Church wishes to continue growing
and expanding throughout the globe it is imperative that changes be made for the benefit
of the female population worldwide. Changing to adapt to modern social customs is a
difficult concept for many devout religious followers that see change as an abandonment
of foundational beliefs. It takes occasional updates and reevaluations to properly provide
for the needs and benefits that keep parishioners actively practicing their faith.

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Research Method
I believe the best approach to researching this topic is to survey members of the
Catholic Church along with members of other denominations that have women in
leadership roles. Talking to men and women alike will help to prepare a basis of the
overall feelings of members of Catholicism and outside churches. With these inputs, an
educated response to the issue on hand can be gathered in a short amount of time and
with little to no money. Womens voice should be the emphasis of this survey though.
Considering this is the demographic being targeted with injustice, their opinion and
stance is imperative to conducting this research. Having direct contact and emotions can
add to the necessity of this issue to be confronted. Treating women differently than men
does not slide anymore. Women are just as capable and worthy of any title and through
the years this fact has been proven.
Qualification
Being a Catholic woman and attending Catholic schools since elementary school
until high school I feel like I have a solid background on this specific topic. Growing up
with priests and nuns teaching and mentoring me allowed me to get close and personal
with the very apparent injustices the Catholic Church has been a part of for years and
years. The differences between these two titles are tremendous. Men hold so much more
power and status over women in the Catholic Church. In reality, there is no need for this
gender discrimination. Being surrounded by the issue for most of my life has brought it to
my full attention and makes me believe that it must be addressed now. With the research
I conduct and the research others have done I believe the whole world will view this as an
outright injustice and an issue that must be confronted head on.

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Annotated Bibliography
Allen, John L. Why Pope Francis Wont Let Women Become Priests. Time. Time Inc.,
6 Mar. 2015. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.
The Time article by John Allen gives an overview of Pope Francis, the current
pope of the Catholic Church, opinion on women becoming priests. It references to the
popes book where he speaks about being the first pope to have had a female boss.
Although Pope Francis acknowledges that the Catholic Church needs to give women
higher roles in the Church, he is against ordaining them. He feels that tradition is too
deeply rooted and surrounded by the male leadership roles that it will not ever change.
John Allen also references that the pope promised to add women into the main decision
making team, but that has not happened in his three years of reign. Allen presents no bias
in this article. This article will allow me to reference the highest position of powers
opinion, the pope. He is a very influential and important person and his decision is
ultimately viewed as the only one that matters. So, this proves that women will not be
allowed to have leadership in the form of priesthood any time soon.

Egan, Robert J. "Why Not? Scripture, History & Women's Ordination." Commonweal
135.7 (2008): 17-27. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 1 Mar. 2016.
The article shines light on why the Roman Catholic Church has only had male
priests since the beginning of its existence. The reasoning Egan presents lies in the
tradition and history of the Church. The tradition he reflects on mainly leans on the fact
that, while Jesus was on earth, he specifically chose twelve men to lead his newly
founded religious movement. The decision from the Son of God to make an all male

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leadership team has a profound and lasting effect as proven today, since men are still the
only ones allowed to be ordained in the Roman Catholic Church. It also states that the
physical representation of a man in the place of Jesus only makes sense. It is more
realistic and easier for a parish to view a priest as representation of Jesus himself, rather
than a woman. Robert Egans is not bias because his motivation as the author of this
academic paper, is simply to present the historical precedence of the Catholic Church and
not make a stance one way or another about any sort of change resulting from this topic.
This article will help me support my research by giving a brief description of the history
of why the Catholic Church only allows men to be ordained even to this day. It explains
the rationale behind why this tradition has not been changed even when the world around
the church has conformed to these societal changes revolving around gender equality.

Higgins, Michael W. "A Saint From The Streets." Maclean's 116.42 (2003): 54-55.
OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 24 Mar. 2016.
This article is about Mother Teresa and her life in the Catholic faith. She was one
of the most beloved women in the world for her acts of selflessness and humility. Being
the founder of the Catholic Missionaries of Charities, she is seen as a very influential
woman in the Church. Mother Teresa is being canonized right now and will ultimately
end up a saint, but I chose this article because I thought I could use it as an example of an
extraordinary woman who wouldve made a perfect priest. This article is not very bias, it
only presents solid facts about her life and mission through her Catholic faith. Since she
was born a woman all possibilities of leadership of a parish are stripped of her, not
because of her ability but her gender. I will use her magnificent life full of love and

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charity as an example of a Catholic woman who could have lead a parish just as a priest
could, maybe even better.

Myers, Jeremy. Is It Wrong for Women to Preach in Church or Be a Pastor?

Redeeming God. 17 Mar. 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.
Jeremy Myers in his blog post for Redeeming God takes the controversy over
women pastors head on. He states how it is crazy that so many different Christian
Churches can have such a different understanding of this issue. He references two Bible
passages and goes in depth into their meaning and how they have been misinterpreted to
make people believe women should play a silent role in the church and lay low. Myers
also presents a way to solve this issue. He presents the idea of rethinking Church. I think
this new way of viewing Church will fit perfectly in my paper. He makes the claim that
women are more respected and heard out outside of the physical building of the Church.
For example during bible studies and small group meetings women usually play a crucial
role in those settings. Myers blog is a little bias because he presents a lot of his own
opinions and solutions to issues, which are inevitably going to be bias in some ways. He
ultimately presents an interesting problem solving tactic that will benefit in the writing of
my paper.

Peabody, Cynthia Reville. "Staying Power." America 205.2 (2011): 18-19. OmniFile Full
Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 24 Mar. 2016.
Cynthia Peabody is a Catholic woman who writes this article in an attempt to
reach out to other Catholic women who feel the same way she feels. She admits that

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being a woman in the Catholic Church is really lonely and can be depressing at times.
She speaks to many other women in the faith and they all agree. They say that they felt
that women had once again been relegated to meeting in dark church basements and one
another's living rooms. This is the sad truth and another reason why women should be
allowed to hold important positions within the Church. So many women are being put
down and discouraged due to their position in the faith. They all admitted to having no
hopes for this Vatican to acknowledge their efforts anytime soon, which is a really sad
truth. Cynthia Peabody presents her and many other womens opinions, which can lead to
an occurrence of biases inevitably, but this article will be very helpful to my argument
because of the hopelessness and depression the women in the Catholic faith are facing.
The fact women feel this way within a global organization during the 21st century is
mind-boggling and ties into my paper perfectly.

This is Why Women Can Lead and Preach in Our Church. Corning Mennonite. Web.
23 Mar. 2016.
This article published by a Mennonite Church, gives detailed scripture
representation for why women can preach and lead their churches. They provide roles
that women played in the New Testament, including deacon, apostle, prophet, co-worker,
and house-church leader. It also touches on the fact that God never restricted Jesus from
taking power and leadership, but instead he helped him exercise it. The paper is stating
that instead of restricting women from power positions lets help them obtain them like
God would want. These are all reasons to believe that women would equally be given
leadership opportunities in religious denominations, which I will be bringing up in my

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argumentative paper. This article depicts some biases due to the fact a Mennonite Church
writes it. This paper will be useful for me to directly quote the Bible when it states that
women could lead a parish just as well as men.