ROLE AND IDENTITY OF WOMEN IN THE CHURCH IN INDIA
Nirmala Vasanthakumar
In order to understand the role and identity of women in the church we
need to understand their role and identity in the society because the
Church is very much influenced by the culture and tradition of our
country. So, I have tried to give the background of our Indian
culture, which conditions and controls the role and identity of women
in the first part and in the second part I have tried to focus on the
situation in the Church.
Introduction
In one of the Gender sensitivity workshops the women were asked to
write about themselves. When they shared what they have written
it was found that 90% of what they had written was in relation to their
fathers, husbands and their children. The leader than asked them
once again to write about themselves without relating to anyone, the
women did not have much to say about themselves without relating to
other members of their families. This is a clear cut example to
show that women have been conditioned or made to think that their
identity is always related to their families and they have no
independent identity of their own. Thus, their role in church
will also be influenced and controlled by this understanding.
Women’s Role and Identity in the Society
Indian society is basically patriarchal, hence it is governed by
patriarchal values that control the behavior of women, and prohibit
them from participating in some specific activities. The norms
that are used to control women arise out of laws of man who insists
that the woman must regard her husband as God no matter what kind of
man he is. A woman should be kept dependent by her husband
because by nature she is passionate and disloyal. As the woman’s
happiness depends on her faithfulness towards her husband father and
children, she should be a faithful wife, obedient daughter and a devout
and self-sacrificing mother. We find many myths and rituals that
emphasize and reemphasize this idea and these have had a tremendous
influence on the identity of women. The belief that women’s own
salvation is only through her child-bearing and that too bearing a male
child is so deep-rooted and has been internalized so much by the women,
that this has led to a situation where,
* A woman’s worth is measured by and through her ability to
produce
children especially male children.
* A woman has no share in the property
* A woman does not belong to her father’s family, while she
becoming a
part of her husband’s family is conditional.
* A woman has no direct participation in religious ceremonies
though she
has an obligation to arrange, observe and continue
traditions and rituals
that pertains to the welfare of the male members of
the family.
* A woman has responsibilities while man has power.
* The family controls a woman’s life.1
Hence the roles that are designated to women are in accordance with
these lived realities and anyone who does not fulfill these
expectations is not a virtuous woman. So women are under pressure
to conform to these roles and identities that are forced on them.
These traditional understanding of women have given rise to certain
strong images about women. Anna V. Alexander in her article,
“Through the Feminist Looking Glass” in her book Emerging Christian
Women has listed out these images as follows:
1. Mother Maharani image. Self-sacrificing mother worthy to
be worshipped. The custom of touching the mother’s feet arises
out of this concept.
2. Virtuous happy housewife. Submissive, chaste,
self-sacrificing housewife. In the above two images women’s
biological role is made her destiny and all the burden she has to bear
playing these roles are made her Sacred duty.
3. Weak Creature. Needs male protection al the time.
Restricts her mobility and makes her dependent on man which provides a
convenient excuse to control her.
4. Tempress. The idea that the women are a source of
temptation to a man has a destabilizing effect on womanhood once again
curtails her freedom of movement curbing the woman and her initiatives
to develop her personality.
In the above images, one gathers that a woman
is to be protected from men, and in the other, man should be protected
from women. The solution offered to both the problems is control
of women. Purdah system is the result of this idea.
5. Women as men’s property. Ownership is transferred at the
time of marriage - not entitled for inheritance. Women can be
used and abused by her husband without any interference from
others. Even when she is the victim of abuse by an outsider it is
her father, husband, brother who are more dishonored than the victim.
6. Women as Sex Objects. Treated as commodities created for
the pleasure of man.
7. Women as Unclean. Excludes her from religious and
social activities.
The above cited image has had a tremendous influence on the role of
women and their identity in society, and this has led to a situation
where women feel that they are worthless. Unclean, not capable of
making decisions on their own and hence needing protection and support
all the time. This in turn has led them to accept their
subordinate role. They believe that their identity in society is
only in terms of their relationship to the male members of their
families, which has led to the practice of child marriage, sati, ill
treatment of widows, denial of ownership to property and denial of
education to women.
However, due to the struggles of many enlightened women and social
reformers, women enjoy much more freedom now. Due to the efforts
of women’s movement and change in the Constitution women are assured of
equal opportunities. But, still the identity of women and the
role she plays are influenced by these traditional understandings.
Increase in violence, adverse sex ratio, increase in dowry deaths,
rape, female infanticide, feoticide are all direct results of these
traditional understanding. Today, though many of the women are
working in non traditional jobs and have occupied decision making
positions, discrimination and deprivation continue in various forms and
women are still struggling to find their own space to redefine their
identities and roles.
Women’s Role and Identity in the Church
The situation with regard to the identity and role of women in the
Church is not any way different from what we find in the society due to
the fact that the culture from which Christianity originated was
patriarchal. The identity and role of women in the church in
India is also very much conditioned by the Indian culture as well as by
the biblical tradition. Women in the Church did receive a certain
amount of freedom and enlightenment due to the initiative taken by the
missionaries to provide education to the women. Their concern
towards the victim of rape, widows, unwed mothers, victims of famine
etc, gave an uplift to the women’s causes but this did not affect the
role that a woman was expected to play or to her identity.
Bible was used to emphasize the fact that the secondary position of
women and the subservient role that she was expected to play was
ordained by God. The following images were used to affirm the
same.
1. Loving, caring, self-sacrificing wife and mother.
2. Hardworking housewife - e.g. Martha, Proverbs 31
3. Submissive women - e.g. Mary, mother of Jesus.
4. Temptress - Eve
5. Property of man - Levite, concubine
6. Unclean - the Leviticus laws
7. Nameless - in the genealogies
With these images as the guiding principle women in the church were
encouraged to be wives, good mothers, obedient and faithful
wives. They were also encouraged to be homebuilders and guardians
of the teachings of the church. When we look into the early
church history most of the major churches used Bible Women to preach
and teach Christian faith at the grassroots. They were engaged in
teaching, counseling and played a key role in keeping the traditional
identity of women as homebuilders. Though women were active in
the church work in the community outside the church they had no part to
play within the church or in its administration.
As the nature and emphasis of the church’s mission changed, the role of
those women became invisible. The women’s fellowship was formed
and the women took leadership positions in the women’s
fellowship. But they were always under the control of men as they
were answerable to the local pastors or Bishops. The emphasis of
the women’s fellowship was also on the role of women as married women
and mothers.
Though there were number of single women involved in the ministry of
the church, the role they were assigned with did not change. Women were
assigned to ministries that concentrated on teaching the young and the
illiterate. They were involved in secretarial work, social work
concentrating on women, children and in the areas of financial
management, policy making, legal matters and manangement of property
and hence were excluded from the administration and management of the
Church affairs. In the 70’s as the secular women’s movement
revived observance of the International Women’s Year and decade, many
Christian women leaders identified the issues of women both inside and
outside the church and began to address them. The question of
ordination of women, equal participation in church activities were some
of the issues addressed during this time. But the majority of
Churchwomen remained inactive being satisfied with the passive role
they had in the church.
Due to the growing consciousness and untiring efforts of women leaders
and other enlightened men, in the mid 70’s the ordination of
women was accepted by one major church, and a number of women in
various committees and decision making bodies increased.
Theological Colleges opened their doors to women students and a number
of women theologians emerged. Women’s participation in the
Churches’ worship service and ministry became visible.
The ecumenical decade of churches in solidarity with women declared by
the WCC awakened some churches to look into their constitutional and
also provided the church women and opportunity to organize them.
The All India Council of Christian Women (AICCW), Theological Colleges,
Joint Women’s Programme (JWP) took up themselves to organize various
seminars and workshops for women to challenge them to seek new
roles. They also provided opportunities for the church women
tore-read the Bible with new insights. Many social issues like
violence against women, Personal Laws etc. were also taken up.
Networking with secular women groups became very important.
Let us have a look at some of the major churches in India and the role
women play in these churches.
Church of South India (CSI)
The CSI is spread over four states of the South and also in Jaffna (Sri
Lanka). It was the first Church to ordain women in India.
It has officially stated that, “Woman is an equal partner to Man in
Creation, Redemption and Calling to the Ministry and mission as part of
the Church. Every place in the church where men are, is therefore
now a proper place for the Indian woman also ... the ordained ministry
including the Episcopacy, Decision Making bodies at all levels in all
aspects of ministry and mission."2 Though this is the official
position, women have a long way to go as their attempt to seek equality
in the power structure is not accepted or appreciated. There are
80 women pastors in the CSI, which completes 25 years of accepting
women in the ordained ministry in 2001 May.
Church of North India (CNI)
The Church of North India (CNI) was formed in 1970. In 1974, the
ordination of women was accepted in principle and was confirmed in
1980. The first Indian woman was ordained in 1983. The
Church has strong women’s wing but the status quo continues, with the
imbalance power sharing between men and women.
Baptist Churches
Existing both in the North East India and in the other parts of the
country, women have equal opportunities in principle and have fairly
good representation at the council and convention levels. But at
the local levels their roles are defined and restricted. There
are many theologically trained women often employed by the women’s
organizations of local churches. But at the convention level only
few are working in churches.
Catholic Church in India
One of the largest churches in India, it is highly hierarchical. Women
are completely excluded from the major decision-making bodies of the
church. Some of the women may be nominated to serve in various
commissions or in parish councils. The Lay and the women
religious are very active involved in education, health care and social
concerns. But though there are more than 100,000 Religious Women
in the Catholic Church in India, ordination is denied to them.
Even discussing about the ordination of women is banned.
Lutheran Church
There are 10 Lutheran Churches spread all over India. The women
of the Lutheran Church did not have voting rights till the late 80’s,
but they could participate in the worship services. Now, many of
the Lutheran Churches have ordained women. But not many of the
mare involved in pastoral ministry. There are many
theologically trained women. Some women leaders have occupied
important posts in the hierarchy. But this has not resulted in
paving way or opening the door for all capable women.
Marthoma Church
The prevailing church structures are highly patriarchal here. The
church assembly is the supreme body consisting of 800 members, out of
whom 10 may be women. There may be just one woman in the Church
Council and one or two women in the same church committees. Some
parishes allow women to read the scriptures, to preach and in leading
prayers. There are a number of theologically trained women who
have no opportunity to work for the church except as pastor’s wives
doing voluntary service in the parishes of their husbands. It has
strong women’s wing known as the Sevika Sangam and few of the
theologically trained women are employed in the Sangam.
Methodist Church
The Methodist church is spread all over India. Women have
representation in the decision making body and women can take part in
church worship. It has strong women’s wing and also a structure
for full-time women’s ministry called, “Deaconesses Conference” with
full voting rights in the regional conference. Ordination is open
for women since 1956, but not many have opted for this.
Orthodox Church
There are two major Orthodox churches in India namely the Syrian and
the Malankara Orthodox Church. Being highly hierarchical, there
is no representation of women in any decision making body of the
church. Women are not even voting members. Women may preach
or read the Bible in ordinary prayer service but have no part in the
church worship services except for singing in the choir. They
have a women’s organization - Martha Mariam Samajam. One or two
theologically trained women are there who have no opportunity to serve
in the church.
Penticostal Churches
As a very fast-growing group of churches, it recognizes women’s
ministries. Women actively participate in the activities of the
church that are undertaken outside the church i.e. in the community,
but within the church women are not encouraged to preach. No role
in the administration. Ordination is not accepted.
Secondary status of women is re-enforced by using the Bible. There are
quite a few theologically trained women and some of them are teaching
in the theological colleges. But most are not employed by the
church.
Presbyterian Church in India
The Presbyterian Church in India consists of Mizoram Presbyterian
Church, Khasi and Jaintia Presbyterian Church, Manipur Presbyterian
Church and Cachar Hill Tribes Presbyterian Church. The church is
hierarchical and patriarchal. Though there are many theologically
trained women there are no opportunities for them to serve in the
church as all have been appointments in the church created in relation
to the ordination. The churches can claimed the tradition of more
than 100 years, especially, the Khasi and Jaintia church can claim the
church existence more than 170 years. In spite of their
long-standing tradition of mission oriented, still women’s ordination
is not accepted. Only a few theologically trained women are
employed by the women'’ organization of the church.
What can women do?
The brief overview gives us the role the women play in churches.
Through sharing of ideas, it is evident that though there have been
visible changes in the identity and role of women in the church.
There is a tremendous need to bring in changes in order to make the
participation equal.
More efforts have to be made to help women discover new identities and
make positive changes in the roles that they have played so long.
Since the Bible is used to keep the women in a controlled or submissive
position it is imperative we become the correct interpreters of the
scriptures.
Thus,
* Biblical hermeneutics becomes our primary concern.
Re-reading the Scriptures, relating it to our context becomes our
responsibility.
* Since all the power structures are male models and women find
it impossible to fit into these models there is a need to understand
those structures and critique them.
* We need to search for new models of leadership, which
will give more space for participation.
* The role models we have so far needs to changed into
something more dynamic.
* Resist violence.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Desai, Neera and Maithreyi Krishnaraj, Women and Society in
India,
(Place), Ajantha Publications India, 1990.
Faria, Stella, Anna V. Alexander, Jessie B. Tellis-Nayak, Emerging
Christian Women - Church and Society Perspectives, Pune,
Satprakash Ishvani, 1984.
Gill, Kenneth E., Count as Equal - The Ministry of Women in South
India,
Bangalore: Santon DPT Center, 1990.
Webster, John C.B. & Ellen Low Webster, The Church and Women in the
Third World. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1985.
Proceedings of the Seminar on Community of Women and Men in Church,
Bangalore: United Theological College, 1978.