Abstract
This paper reports on a small-scale inquiry into the experience of female scholars undertaking post-graduate research in a British mission research centre working primarily with students from international backgrounds. Drawing on previous research literature, survey and interview data is used to identify social, financial, gendered and theological factors that impact women in terms of their entry into academia, flourishing and advancement in that contact. It suggests that academic institutions, systemic processes and measures of achievement are currently largely ‘designed by men for men’ and act to exclude women who do not approach research within male structures. It suggests that measures of achievement are different for men and women and that there are systemic issues in an academic system designed by men which are restrictive for men as well as women. A healthy academic institution needs to value mutual support, accomplishment and belonging, providing mentors, role models and networks of support.
Introduction
How can we create a space where women scholars
don’t just survive … but rather thrive?
The world of mission research can be proud of a number of significant female academics who have made seminal contributions to research and publishing and had a lasting impact on the praxis of mission at an international level. This fact, however, cannot be allowed to hide the struggle that manyhigher education institutions face, in attracting, nurturing and promoting women in scholarship. The Oxford Centre for Mission Studies (OCMS) is no exception to this rule. Reflection on the under-representation of female scholars in our doctoral (PhD) and guided research (GRP) programmes as well as amongst visiting scholars, faculty members and senior leadership led to an inquiry tasked to explore the factors that inhibited and enhanced the ability of women to thrive in their research studies and then identify factors that could improve the learning environment and the ability of female scholars to fully contribute to the world of academia. This study was restricted to one institution in the minority world which maintains an evangelical ethos whilst serving scholars from all branches of the Christian Church. Further study will be required to understand whether the findings presented here are universally applicable and to what degree in different cultures.
Global Church, a Women's Movement?
Women have traditionally played a significant role in the development of the church and its mission and yet they are often under-represented in the area of academia. In a recent study carried out by the Centre for the Study of Global Christianity, Gina Zurlo (2023) has highlighted some of the issues particularly facing women as they seek to play a full part in the mission of the church. The Women in World Christianity Project (Zurlo, 2023) took place between 2019 and 2021 and utilised an innovative approach in which quantitative research was used to gain a broad overview of the statistics relating to gender and the global church, but which also sought to gather more nuanced information about some specific examples of how women were operating at the ground level through localised snap shots of the status of women in the church.
The study started by exploring who was currently writing about women in global church and what issues were being addressed; it then collected data assessing the percentage of women from every denomination across the world and finally completed a survey exploring what roles women were undertaking in the church and the attitudes held about these congregational roles.
There are many important findings that came out of the research, but it is significant to note that whilst Church membership shows gender parity, the statistics for church attendance and regular participation are far greater for women. From the snap shots that were carried out across different regions, it became apparent that the reality was that churches often had over 70% women in attendance and this was particularly noticed in African churches. Women were often among the first converts to Christianity, and it was the women who were the key drivers of activity within the life of the church, whilst it was the men who occupied the key leadership roles. However, it is extremely difficult to obtain exact numbers for the gender makeup of churches and denominations and there is scope for further research into this aspect of the primary data.
Dana Robert (Robert, 2006) had earlier argued that the current shifts in Christian demographics should be analysed as a women's movement. Whilst many of the key positions of church leadership and theological thinkers are held by men, women she claimed, constitute most of the active participants.
There is further corroborative evidence to support these findings in research conducted by the Pew research centre in 2016 which suggested that globally women (in all religious communities) are more devout than men. The findings, based on a wide-ranging set of data, indicated this was the case over several measures of religious commitment (Mitchell, 2016).
If this is the case, and women are numerically more significant and more active in the local Church, what is stopping them from being represented in higher levels of leadership in churches, mission organisations and in theological education. What are the barriers and challenges to them rising into these positions of authority and influence?
Gina suggests three significant factors that may be at play. Firstly, cultural factors can keep women constrained to roles that are particularly home based. Whilst in western contexts it may be argued that it is more acceptable that women can and should be represented across a broad range of roles in the church and mission fields, this is not always the case across many cultures. When considering a global context there are many different expectations of what is appropriate for women to be doing and in some cases this is very limiting. Secondly, she suggests that there are theological issues that can keep women from taking up the places in ministries they feel called to. There are theological interpretations applied to the role of women in leadership that have been used to prevent skilled women being able to contribute particularly to the area of leadership. Pauline scriptures have traditionally been quoted as evidence that women should not lead in churches, despite counter evidence of the way Jesus empowered women in a counter cultural way. Thirdly, she suggests that there are wider societal issues where there is a legacy of institutional expectations that exert a barrier to progression of women into higher levels of authority. The energy needed to break through these barriers can inhibit women who give up and settle for more traditional roles.
What Does the Wider Literature Have to Say?
Having gained insight into some of the findings of the Women in World Christianity Project (Zurlo, 2023), the current study then reviewed some of the wider literature to gain a broader understanding of the issues identified. It soon became apparent that his area of study is vast, and it is recognised that the work that is quoted here is just a small representative sample in a complex field of study. The literature has been selected to represent the nature of OCMS, an academic institution governed by British standards, whilst also recognising the international issues that the students face.
Statistics from the United Nations Human Development Report (Nations, 2019) indicate that nowhere in the world have women reached equality with men. And whilst some of the easier markers of progress such as primary education are improving, there is still resistance to women progressing into higher ranking positions of authority.
Further data collected through a project facilitated by the British Council (Morley, 2014) has reported that globally in 2012, men had the edge as researchers by an enormous ratio of 71% to 29%. They found the position of women in senior academic leadership positions varied enormously with Norway at the top with 32% female vice-chancellors in 2012 and Jordan despite having over half the undergraduate population female only having just 5.7% at the level of professor and no female vice-chancellors at all in 2012. In India whilst there has been a growth in the number of women involved in higher education with these women far exceed the number of men working in the sector, it should be noted that, most of these women do not advance beyond middle ranking positions.
These statistics make depressing reading and raise the question, what is stopping women from being promoted into these higher positions and how do women perceive career success since what motivates them may be different from traditional academic measures. A recent study conducted by Effat Borna (Borna et al., 2022) reviewed 18 articles published between 1999 and 2020. The articles were selected using a systematic approach and drew on the following four databases: Sociological Abstracts, SocINDEX, SCOPUS and Google Scholar. All the articles were selected because they contained information about how women view career success and about the barriers they perceived to making progress. A qualitative meta-synthesis approach was taken, and key themes were identified across the articles analysed. The total number of participants in the studies reviewed was 379 and the countries represented were the USA, Canada, UK, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Spain, Australia and Saudi Arabia. From this review three key themes emerged.
The first factor women considered significant in career success was having the support of others. ‘According to participants, support from others can teach, motivate, and guide women to set their ambitious plans and push forward’ (Borna et al., 2022: 325). Support from family was considered particularly important but also being supported within the working environment. The second factor identified as significant to career success was a feeling or sense of having significant accomplishments. These could be tangible, such as awards and promotions, or less tangible such as recognition for what they do, significant opportunities to be creative or having a good work life balance. The third factor was that of feeling a sense of belonging. Borna identified that almost all of those taking part in the studies cited a sense of belonging as important to career success. ‘This included creating a good relationship with others, influencing others, being a role model for others, dedicating time to the service of others, contributing to a community, having an impact on society, and making the world better’. (Borna et al., 2022: 328) This sense of belonging extended to an inclusive attitude that sought to benefit others on the outside wanting to join. It is significant and important to note that these three factors of support, accomplishment and belonging are not traditional measures of academic success.
This same study also highlighted some of the barriers that these women encountered which reflect to some extent the negative sides to the themes above. The traditional working environment required long hours of working away from home, this put pressure on families and created a tension between the priorities of work and family. This experience is more profoundly felt by women who still encounter cultural and societal expectations that they function as homemakers and carers. Many participants quoted examples of pregnancy, maternity leave and childcare issues which negatively impacted their career advancement. Role conflicts make it difficult for women to succeed both in the workplace and with their families. The lack of mentors and role models was also raised as a barrier to progression which interestingly could easily be addressed through the desire for women to support and encourage others as part of the theme of belonging and career success.
Many participants explained that in their experiences those in positions of authority tend to be male and they apply male outlooks and assumptions about working practices particularly when looking for potential leadership candidates for promotion. Because of this, women can feel that they are ‘othered’ and become outsiders who are instantly at a disadvantage facing gender bias and discrimination. When we consider the important earlier observation that women value belonging as a key marker for success, this alienation not only disadvantages them in their chances of promotion but also erodes their sense of success. A double loss. Whilst this was the case for many of the participants it should be noted that there were those who did find themselves in healthy environments where this discrimination was not felt so intensely.
Christopher Westoby with a team of fellow scholars (Westoby et al., 2021) also considered the barriers to and facilitators of success for female academics. This work was based in UK Higher Education Institutions and applied a narrative review approach. They selected 32 papers through a systematic inquiry to identify research that addressed the issue of gender inequality. From this study six key themes were identified. Whilst networks are an important way to make progress in the work environment, women found it harder to access these networks. Home-work balance was again a huge factor with women facing the need to make a choice of either family or career in a way that their male counterparts did not. Institutional structures linked to hierarchy and power continue to prefer men over women. This was even more significant for non-British women. Everyday sexism and constantly being disadvantaged caused a psychological impact on women's desire to progress in the academic field. There were some women who benefited from facilitators who supported them, but these were in the minority. From their findings three recommendations were suggested to address some of these issues.
Firstly, the study highlighted the significance of developing local, accessible women-based networks. Places where women could offer each other support and encouragement, share successes and frustrations and build a network of like-minded people. Secondly, the study recommended that institutions should develop strategies to identify and challenge some of the overt and covert processes that discriminate against women. They argued that until institutions start seeing some of the issues, calling them out and challenging them they will not be able to change. Building this culture of accountability into the structures of organisations can help uncover and address some of the hidden biases. Thirdly, the study recommended developing opportunities for mentoring and coaching where appropriate to build confidence and establish the skills and attitudes women need to be able to progress and make the most of their gifts and abilities. From these findings there seems to be some overlap with the work of Effat Borna. Both studies highlight the importance of developing a supportive community through role models and mentors to create a culture that supports the wellbeing of female scholars.
Each of these studies discussed has offered possible solutions to help women to succeed in the current academic culture but Ruth Van Veelen et al. (2022) has gone further to argue that there may be a more deep-rooted and subtle problem. For many female scholars there is a general concept of a ‘Lack of Fit’ in a system that was designed by men, for men and with male based measures of success. This lack of fit can lead to lower engagement, work exhaustion, not feeling able to be yourself leaving less energy to invest in the work itself.
In a comprehensive study of the 14 Dutch Universities, Van Veelen and Derks (2022) conducted a nationwide survey to review perceptions of academic stereotypes and related personal self-image. The study took place in the academic year of 2017/2018 when 12,414 assistant, associate and full professors were invited to take part in an online survey called ‘Working in Academia’. The survey took between 15 and 20 min to complete and over the two-week period of data collection 4295 responded.
Participants were asked to consider their own professional self-perception and a prototypical successful academic in their field of study. Two groupings were applied to reported attributes. The first was based on agency and contained attributes such as self-confidence, self-focused, competitive and performance orientated. The second was based on commonality and contained attributes such as being a team player, a nice colleague, a good teacher or collaborative worker.
The research found that ‘…the subtle psychological process of cognitive lack of fit’ based around the agency attributes formed yet another barrier to women being successful within the academic context and that this was particularly noticeable in women at an early stage in their career (Van Veelen et al., 2022: 760).
Much of what has been proposed in this discussion so far has suggested developments which would support women so that they can have a greater impact in a system already established. This puts the pressure back on women to adapt to a system that does not fit them and in which they are already exhausted. What Van Veelen is suggesting is that: Rather than teaching women how to fit better with the current masculine standard of success in academia, the findings in our research advocate for a systemic change. This means to change the narrowly defined standard of success and move towards a more inclusive academic culture in which not only agentic but also communal behaviours are recognized and rewarded. (Van Veelen et al., 2022: 761)
She is not suggesting here that it is unimportant to publish, attend conferences and gain research grants, rather she is proposing that we widen the scope for measuring success using attributes based on commonality as well. Academic departments also need scholars who are good teachers and collaborative workers to run effectively.
What Good Practice is Already Happening?
There are some excellent Christian groups for women in academia that have been growing in the last decade, aiming to address some of the issues highlighted in the literature above. Women who have seen a need and begun to develop solutions to the challenges women scholars face particularly those in the world of theological education and mission studies.
When Women Speak
When Women Speak is a global group of Christian and Muslim women that aims to build a supportive community where faith is central to the conversation. It was set up in 2015 and grew out of a successful conference held in Melbourne in 2018. It was envisioned that it would provide a space where Christian and Muslim scholars could work together to provide support and encouragement in a way that allowed faith to be seen as an integral part of who they were as academics and a safe space for their voices to be heard.
At the time the group was set up it was felt that there was little chance for women scholars to give voice to their learning through dialogue and the sharing of ideas in a traditional academic context. The group wanted to provide a place where a different type of voice could be shared in a female friendly environment. Secondly, a lack of publishing opportunities was felt to be a barrier due to the style of writing needed for academic journals. To address these challenges, a website was created to showcase work that had been completed and whilst it was not peer reviewed it did offer space to get voices out into the public space.
The website (‘When Women Speak’, 2023) now hosts a range of resources that consist of blogs, stories, book reviews, podcasts and bi-annual magazine known as ‘Webzine’. This provides a forum where women can build the confidence to share what they are learning in a safe way. Women have often been led to believe that they cannot write, and many organisations do not offer a voice to women as published authors. This website addresses both these issues. They publish, train and mentor women in this interfaith space but they also want to develop research opportunities and help facilitate this so that women's voices can be heard.
Speaking with Dr Cathy Hine and Dr Georgina Jardim, leaders in the organisation, some key frustrations came out of their experiences as women scholars in this space. It was recognised that in academia a standard of written excellence is expected from women and yet time is not taken to teach them how to communicate in a way that equips them to publish books and journals which are designed by and for a male worldview. Often when women do engage, they get negative feedback and push back from a system not designed to enable different styles of voices. Alongside publishing it has traditionally been assumed that attending conferences is an important element in establishing a professional portfolio. For women this can be more complex as when funding is found few centres prioritise releasing women to attend who may well have family commitments that prevent travel and time away from home. The system is designed to favour those who are 100% committed to their academic work and this is not a world in which women operate. Most women have too many commitments to navigate to be able to contribute.
Moving forwards Hine and Jardim suggested that finding mentors to support young female scholars was a significant factor in their potential success. Providing training workshops that teach women the writing skills needed for publishing could help them to develop an academic footprint that raises their profile and puts them in a position where they do find themselves being invited to conferences and publishing more widely.
Angelina Nobel Centre
The Angeline Noble Centre (ANC) came into existence in 2019 as a network of concerned women in mission studies, mostly connected to evangelical mission agencies or colleges, who wanted to bring about some change in this area. All had faced frustrations and hurt at different stages of their careers and saw a definite ‘glass ceiling’ restricting their advance in academic circles.
The ANC now provides a place for conversation, mutual support and encouragement, with a limited ability to offer practical support to emerging female scholars. The ANC is a community of about 50 researchers working at MA and PhD levels as well as those who are ‘women just learning’ with 12 mission scholars offering support for new female researchers.
The ANC provides an online virtual ‘home-base’ for women mission scholars involved in mission research and is quickly becoming an international network. Women are invited to connect through online meetings during the year, where they can showcase current research projects; these are open to men and women. It also hosts two conferences each year aimed at the needs of their women scholars active in cross-cultural mission, these are held in April and October and details are announced on their website (Angelina Noble Centre, 2023).
Speaking with Dr Evelyn Hibbert, one of the leaders of the group, she highlighted some of the challenges female scholars face through the complex identities and responsibilities that they need to balance. As mothers, carers and wives they are more inclined across many cultures to empower others, often at a cost to themselves. This means there is less time to read, write and think creatively and this makes it harder for them to build a professional platform with publications, conference papers and the networks these events generate. She also highlighted the fact that there was little visible representation of women in positions of authority and whilst there is some improvement in lower and middle academic roles, senior positions remain predominantly male. She highlighted the need for good mentoring and support for emerging female scholars.
Other Examples of Good Practice
There are also several smaller groups in this space that seek to promote opportunities for female researchers in mission and theological education. For example, 2023 was the first time that the European Council for Theological Education (ECTE) held a conference in Cyprus where 15 women met to support each other and begin to think about how to build a supportive network to encourage emerging female scholars.
Women's Peer Leader Forum provides peer support for some of those international pioneering women who have broken the glass or bamboo ceiling. These 12 women meet each year for a retreat to share experiences and encourage each other. They also support each other during the year through on-line meetings both formal and informal and stay connected through a WhatsApp group. This peer support has proved to be incredibly helpful especially during times of pressure or when difficult decisions need to be made.
Langham Scholars is also particularly keen to support women through their funding programmes at all stages of the research journey (Equip Scholars, 2019). They offer funding to facilitate formal professional development through to post-doctoral opportunities for publishing and attending conferences. This year of the 98 current PhD scholars being supported 28 (29%) are women, and of the new cohort starting their PhD this year 9 out of the 21 scholarships have been offered to women, this brings the proportion up to 43%, a significant increase.
What Are We Noticing With Women Scholars at OCMS?
Having considered some of the literature and explored some examples of current good practice to the current study sought to find out a little more about the current experiences of OCMS students. With the encouragement of the senior management team we set out to explore how those in our own community were experiencing some of these challenges and review how we might be able to address some of the issues in adapting our institutional practices, provision and working environments.
To achieve this we collected primary data through an online short questionnaire and a small focus group with representatives from across the research stages and global contexts who took part in an online conversation. The sampling was small and self-selecting and was designed to test out in our own context the data we had already collected rather than to gather original primary data.
Findings From the Questionnaire
The questionnaire focused on how respondents felt their gender had impacted their admission process, process and successful completion of their studies at OCMS. All responses were anonymous. Twenty-five completed questionnaires were received from across a wide geographical spectrum (28% Africa, 24% Asia, 32% North America & Europe and 4% Middle East) and from both PhD (68%) and GRP (32%) current scholars. The majority of respondents were female with just 24% male.
Most students (52%) did not feel that their gender impact their application process with 6% answering ‘Yes’ and one person reporting ‘I was surprised to realise how few women there were on my Research Induction’.
When asked ‘What helped you to progress?’ the most common factors mentioned were, the support of (i) their OCMS mentor and faculty members (x7), (ii) academic supervisors (x2) or (iii) family (x2). Three people mentioned their sense of calling and the grace of God, determination and being assertive. The lowest scores were given for ‘OCMS study facilities’. A spread of scores but on the low side were given for ‘Oxford library access’ which seems to relate to students’ experience when not in Oxford.
Respondents were next asked about the barriers to progression they have experienced. The most common barriers mentioned were, Lack of support from employer and pressure of my work (x5); Lack of library access (and internet access) when outside the UK (x4); Financial difficulties (x3) and Unclear directions or lack of engagement from supervisors (x3). Rather surprisingly only two people mentioned family responsibilities and two the lack of acceptance of women scholars in their church community.
When asked whether they felt their gender impact on capacity to complete research, 9 people (37%) simply responded ‘no’, ‘no not really’ or ‘not that I am aware of’ but that included all of the male respondents and only three of the women which means that 84% of the women identified some gender-related impact on the completion of their research. The most significant factors mentioned were, more responsibility at work, home and in the Christian community is a challenge (x4); not being believed or considered credible (in evangelical circles) (x3); lack of opportunity for faculty appointments, teaching, sharing, engagement (x2) and masculine voice quite oppressive and unwelcoming (x2).
The penultimate section of the questionnaire concerned specific issues which were scored on a scale of 1–10 with 10 denoting the highest significance. The only issue which scored highly was the time available for study with 36% scoring this 8 or above. Finance and home community support were a significant issue for a minority of respondents.
The final question invited respondents to reflect on why OCMS has an imbalance of male and female students. The most frequent responses were: Females need to balance home, work, studies (x8); Less women are in leadership positions in churches and NGOs/‘Headship’ theology (x7); Cultural issues/Gender stereotyping (x4); Men are more inclined to spend time and money on advanced study and are more confident (x3); and Difficult to enter this world as a minority when men are already a majority/Sexism is alive and well (x2).
Respondents were invited at the end of the questionnaire to make suggestions for improvements within the institution but most of these related to general improvements for all scholars such as improved on-line library access, fees-structure, etc. although two related to gender, namely ‘Help me get input from female scholars that are experienced’ and ‘Some kind of seminars that highlight the role of women in mission’.
Findings From the Focus Group
There were 7 students who took part in the focus group out of the 27 PhD and (19) GRP students invited. The group was self-selecting but included representation from all three stages of the PhD programme and across different global contexts from Asia, Africa, Europe, North and South America. The online session lasted for about an hour and all the participants had a chance to comment on some of the challenges they faced and then reflect on ways the organisation might wish to improve their learning provision.
There was much appreciation for the open and inclusive environment offered to women, and this was evidenced in comments such as ‘…it has been very freeing for me to find both opportunity and respect. People expect me to use my voice and my brain and to make that contribution’. The sense of community and belonging at OCMS was seen to be an important part of the research journey. But whilst most spoke positively of the institutional culture there was an observation made about the number of female academics and more particularly about the lack of representation of women within the senior management team. This lack of representation was seen as a particular issue. Two of the participants spoke of how part of their motivation for embarking on a PhD was to become empowered, to get their voice heard, and gain access to those positions of authority.
There were incidents mentioned when students felt uncomfortable in their learning environment. Two participants commented on the pressure they felt was being exerted by male figures to change the focus of their research, others commented on feeling uncomfortable sharing in mixed groups, particularly when dealing with prayer requests. This highlighted the need to be aware of power relationships and cultural sensitivities when working in mixed gender groups. This applies to all those involved in the research across the student peer group, the faculty and includes the supervisors who are more loosely aligned with the institutional values and behaviours.
Another aspect that emerged was the very different cultural and familial backgrounds that the students present with. A couple of participants reported having helpful husbands, others commented on the lack of support for single women, while others highlighted the challenges of having children during the research process. It is difficult to generalise about the needs and demands of women when there is such diversity but helpful to be aware of the different issues.
Mentoring and peer support were highlighted as important factors to success. There was a real appreciation for the mentor system that is offered at the induction stage of the programme ‘I’m an educator by profession and I just know what it is to have great mentors and people that you can talk to that kind of guide you and I just am very grateful for all of the open doors’. Developing this system further to include peer mentors was suggested and whilst this already happens on an informal basis it may be worth considering in the future.
What Recommendations Would Make a Difference?
This small-scale inquiry sought to explore some of the challenges Christian women scholars face particularly in the disciplines of theological education and mission studies. What are their challenges and the opportunities available in terms of entry into programmes, their flourishing within that context and in their advancement into higher levels of leadership. We found that there were some common threads in the literature, which were also being identified by active Christian groups for women and also through feedback from our own scholars. We would like to propose a list of ideas coming out of this inquiry that might help to build an academic environment where women feel that they are able to succeed using criteria that are valuable to them.
Suggested Recommendations:
Encourage the use of mentors and coaching for young women at the start of their academic journey.
Develop accessible women-based networks, where peer support can be encouraged and a sense of belonging facilitated.
Provide skills training to support women as they build a personal academic platform through publishing and attendance at conferences.
Promoting female academic role models within and beyond the institution.
Signposting funding opportunities to facilitate the resources needed to open opportunities for women to study.
Developing an institutional culture that recognises and seeks to mitigate against the challenges wherever possible to ensure equality of opportunity.
Create an admissions process which is ‘designed by women and men for women and men’, which is inclusive of a broad range of life experiences.
Progression processes (paperwork, assessments, meetings, etc.) that recognise female as well as male ‘indicators of achievement’.
To conclude we think it is important to recognise that many women find the academic environment does not ‘fit’ well with the way they experience the world. They do not feel that they belong and the traditional indicators for academic excellence do not match the values they aspire to. Much of what has been discussed in this paper has highlighted the way women can adapt to a male environment in order to make progress in an academic culture, yet Van Veelen et al. (2022) has suggested that we need to go beyond that and begin a systematic change – a change that will build a culture that not only values agentic attributes but also values communal behaviours. If we are to make the most of all that women scholars can bring to the world of theological education and mission studies, perhaps we need to not only provide a framework that can help develop agentic attributes such as peer support, publishing opportunities and mentoring, but also review the academic structures themselves so that women do not feel like outsiders but rather fully contributing members of the academy.
Footnotes
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
