by Michelle Bodle
A window cling on the back of my car reads “Shattering the Stained Glass Ceiling.” Over the years, it has sparked conversations as I visit different churches. Many women recognize the term “glass ceiling” in corporate settings, but fewer are familiar with the “stained glass ceiling”—the barriers and structural discrimination women face in ministry.
I have served three churches over my career, where I was “the first.” Despite seventy years passing since women were granted full ordination rights in my denomination, I still walk into spaces where a woman has not graced the pulpit. Writing about a different denomination from her own context, Rev. Dr. Alina Gayeuski tells similar stories – of being the first, of not being wanted, of mistreatment by congregations and denominations – from the perspectives of a variety of young clergy women. While women have been ordained in some traditions for upwards of fifty years, they still experience discrimination.
I remember being introduced to a new congregation where I was “the first.” A member of the committee was incredibly upset because he insisted that he had been promised that they wouldn’t receive a female pastor. He left the congregation shortly thereafter. I was new enough to ministry that I hadn’t encountered scruples about my gender, but the reality came crashing in that day – there would always be people who had a problem with me as a pastor, not because of how I live into the vocation, but simply because I am a woman.
However, what no one warned me about was what Gayeuski clearly names: that some of the deepest critics of women in ministry are women themselves. Over the centuries, we have lived through different waves of feminism – from achieving the right to vote, to being granted legal rights, to being allowed to work beyond the home, to intersectionality, and activism against sexual harassment. However, that does not mean that the work is complete. Sometimes older clergy women will not recognize the sexism being experienced in our current time, because it looks different from when they were pioneering ordination rights. Or women in the pews will speak ill of the clergywoman leading their congregation simply because she is a woman, even if they have experienced the benefits of the feminist waves in their own lives and workplaces.
What can be lost in the conversation about the stained-glass ceiling, which Gayeuski masterfully lifts up, is the use of silence as a tool of patriarchy. When sexism is unnamed, ignored, or dismissed, the root of the problem cannot be addressed. Even when sexism is experienced in the church – through wage gaps and lack of female representation amongst clergy – the reaction tends to be to make the individual the problem instead of dismantling the system. For clergy women, sexism may appear through comments directed at their bodies or their clothing, demanding more labor, both physically and emotionally (without adequate compensation), and weaponizing the role of motherhood.
While the picture of reality may look bleak, Gayeuski does not leave readers here. Instead, she calls for work beyond the stained glass ceiling. While acknowledging that the task has challenges, the first step that we can all take is to tell the truth about how patriarchy has upheld the institution of the church and that sexism is still experienced. This is not just the work of clergy women but also of allies. Another step necessary to dismantle oppression is to celebrate abundance. When the church has a scarcity mindset, people focus on competition rather than collaboration, limiting the church’s mission and vision. The day Beyond the Stained Glass Ceiling was released, I was participating online in the Albright-Deering Lectures in Methodist Studies with Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. The topic was celebrating seventy years of women’s ordination in the Methodist tradition. Throughout the day of worship and lectures, we heard of choices made by the institutional church that deny women’s calling to preach and minister. We also heard ways that women are still being discriminated against by the church, especially through the discrepancy in pay. Gayeuski, in her writing, reminds us that while we have come far, we still have a long way to go.
Beyond the Stained Glass Ceiling: Women Clergy in a Still-Patriarchal Church is published by Young Clergy Women International through our book line with Chalice Press. Read a sample or purchase your copy at https://chalicepress.com/products/beyond-the-stained-glass-ceiling.
Rev. Dr. Michelle Bodle serves as an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church in State College, PA. She is also the owner of Abide in the Spirit which strives to create sacred spaces of holy listening. She is a 2011 graduate of Drew Theological School (Mdiv) and 2022 graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary (Dmin).
