Women man the church!

Denmark leads the Nordic churches in the number of women pastors

Previous issues of Church News from Denmark have reported the increasing numbers of women manning the Danish Lutheran Church. The latest figures from the Pastoral Training College, where Theology graduates complete their training for ordination, the ratio for the past 2-3 semesters has been 3 women for every 1 man. The college principal in Aarhus, Henning Kjaer Thomsen, says the trend is ongoing and will even increase as senior male clergy retire and younger female pastors replace them: “It’s difficult to explain why, but it is possibly linked to the loss of authority that the role of pastor has in our society. I think it’s fine that we now have a majority of women pastors after so many centuries with men in command!”

Corresponding female percentages in the other Nordic countries are: Sweden 40%, Finland 38%, Iceland 30%, and Norway 21%.

Professor of Theology at Aarhus University, Viggo Mortensen, sees the trend as a sign that the ‘caring gene’ associated more often with women is taking the church in a ‘softer’ direction. Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Copenhagen University, Hilda Roemer Christensen, welcomes the trend, arguing that the gender mix “promotes more dynamic working environment”.

It is 63 years since the first women pastors were ordained. Six months ago the gender ratio for pastors reached total parity. But in East Jutland already 6 out of every 10 pastors are women. Commenting on the situation Dean of Odder, Dorte Rebsdorf Sorensen, says that she is now hoping that more men will join the ranks, simply because she wants parishioners to have a choice between genders.

However, since all the signs are that the trend towards women pastors will continue, Bishop of Aarhus, Kjeld Holm, wants Theology at university to be linked to more socially related studies that appeal to men. This is gradually becoming the case. But Kjeld Holm is otherwise unperturbed: “It would be best with some kind of parity, but on the other hand women often attach greater importance to children’s work and family services as well as to pastoral care.”

Elsewhere in the church there is a real shortage of men, especially where children’s work is concerned. This is also true of the country’s schools, where two-thirds of all classes for the 6 to 16-year-olds are taught by women. Carsten Hjorth Pedersen, leader of the Christian Educational Institute says to the Christian Daily, “It would be best if children developed both a male and a female identity by having both genders around them. Men are simply underrepresented in our work.”

It seems as though ‘manning’ is no longer the appropriate word: perhaps we must use ‘womanning’ instead!

 

Edward Broadbridge

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