Women in Salvation Army Leadership

Catherine Mumford Booth lived in the 1800s or what we call the 19th Century. We are now in the 2000s or the 21st Century. In the early days of The Salvation Army Catherine greatly influenced the decisions of William regarding the development of the mores, culture and structure of our movement.

Women leaders in The Salvation Army owe a great debt to both Catherine and William who were willing to go against the grain of accepted cultural practices and beliefs regarding women in ministry especially women preaching.

Women soldiers and officers were expected to share their testimonies about what Christ had done for them. New converts were expected to read and study the Bible so that they could be called upon to speak up for Jesus. Women from all levels of society found a freedom at The Salvation Army to express themselves in ministry. Women served as officers in the corps and in expanding the work of the Army to other lands. Women soldiers and officers were full partners in the ministry of the Gospel.

Yet even this brave movement had a hard time placing women in equal leadership at the administration level. It is a paradox that continues to plague us to this day. Catherine Mumford Booth was the wife of the General.  She never had a rank or administration position of authority of her own; however her influence was vital to the founding and survival of The Salvation Army.

Here is a link to Catherine’s paper on the Right of Women to Preach

Quoting Catherine:
“There seems to be a great deal of unnecessary fear of women occupying any position which involves publicity, lest she should be rendered unfeminine by the indulgence of ambition or vanity; but why should woman any more than man be charged with ambition when impelled to use her talents for the good of her race? Moreover, as a labourer in the GOSPEL her position is much higher than in any other public capacity; she is at once shielded from all coarse and unrefined influences and associations; her very vocation tending to exalt and refine all the tenderest and most womanly instincts of her nature. As a matter of fact it is well known to those who have had opportunities of observing the private character and deportment of women engaged in preaching the Gospel that they have been amongst the most amiable, self-sacrificing, and unobtrusive of their sex.”

Women in ministry and women in leadership are subjects related to the right of women to preach and greatly affect the culture and practices of The Salvation Army in regards to women. However we do have to ask ourselves if we are ahead of or behind the western world culture in how well women are represented in our leadership and decision making roles?. We may accomplish a better representation on the local corps level than at a headquarters level.

This quote is taken from the March/April Panui Newsletter:

“Women, over time, are changing their occupational choices and increasing their participation in the workforce.

•    Since 1986 the female labor force has increased by more than 50 percent. At the current level of 72 percent, New Zealand’s female labor force participation rate is the ninth highest in the OECD.
•    The New Zealand labor market is highly segregated, both occupationally and vertically. It is estimated that occupational segregation accounts for between 20 to 30 percent of the gender pay gap.
•    Women dominate in caring, cleaning and administrative roles.
•    Maori and Pacific women are particularly concentrated in occupations that are low skilled and low paid.
•    Women are under-represented in leadership and decision-making roles within organizations and within occupations (known as vertical segregation). As work experience over years is significantly lower for women than men it means women may not gain management or leadership positions in the same way.
•    Women aged 25 to 35 years today are more likely than women of earlier generations to be working, and to be working full-time. The median age of childbearing is also now older as more women gain qualifications and work experience before starting a family.”

Do women soldiers and local officers have a voice at the corps level? Are we recruiting, educating and empowering women of all ages to participate in leadership and decision making groups? Who are your local officers and mission team leaders? Does your corps encourage and enable women to participate in the leading of worship? It is important that we model leadership of women at every level of our ministry.

Another important question to ask has to do with the perceptions regarding women officers who are appointed to board and cabinet positions. In the last fifteen years married women officers have been appointed to boards at Divisional, Territorial, National, and International levels.

Until that time, married women were not allowed to serve on management and governance boards if their husbands served on the boards because of what was at the time considered to be a conflict of interest. Once it was made clear that it was not only possible but helpful to have the voice of married women represented at boards, the next wave of criticism came that the women were only there because of whom they were married. Most of this perception and complaint comes from married women.

While it may be true that the married women are not serving on the board because of their position of a “power” appointment the truth is they are serving on the board because of their position of “influence” and because of the wealth of experience and wisdom they bring. We also tend to discount certain leadership roles because of their gender specific titles – such as Divisional Director of Women’s Ministries, Territorial Secretary for Women’s Ministries, Territorial President of Women’s Ministries, International Zonal Secretary for Women’s Ministries, World Secretary for Women’s Ministries, and World President of Women’s Ministries. Interesting that we do not discount age specific titles or even subject specific titles such as Secretary for Business, Secretary for Youth, Secretary for Finance. We do have to ask ourselves why we belittle the gender specific Secretary roles and marginalize their contribution.

The Salvation Army has taken bold steps to appoint married and single women into roles that have been traditionally held by married and single men. We have a lot to celebrate when we look at our overall record and need to beware being too critical of our advances while continuing to say “this and better will do!” Another caution is that we can get so tied up in looking at the administration and structure of our movement and forget that our most important mission is really about saving souls. William and Catherine must have realized that structure was important to the mission, but not the mission.

Follow this link to see what the Booths had to say about what was most important:

Dear God keep us ever vigilant as we employ every woman, man and child to preach the Gospel and win souls for Jesus sake. Just a thought.

By Commissioner Debi Bell