THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME

In my continuing series on John Wesley’s Manifesto, we’re brought to the line that says “promote equal treatment for women.” Obviously, this one is near and dear to my heart!

“Difficulties” have been experienced simply because I’m female. I doubt I am alone when I make that statement. And as I say that, I am thinking only about family, my profession and the church.

I grew up in a loving family, but I felt females being viewed a particular way. I was certainly encouraged to do well in school, but working in an office, or having children, etc., was assumed to be my future. From the very beginning of my memory, and maybe just to be annoying, I stated myself a “feminist.” I borrowed books from the library that supported that viewpoint. I even remember a Bible written from a feminist viewpoint. And, I went to business school to be a legal secretary. Feminist or not, I did what I was supposed to do. BUT, I didn’t return “home” a year later, but got a job and found a way to continue my education, first becoming a paralegal, then an accountant, and then ordained clergy.

With all of that, I stepped out into the world, anticipating being accepted simply because I had graduated with an accounting degree and passed my CPA exams. The small firm I was hired by had one owner and one employee that was male, and a second owner and the majority of the staff that was female. Over time, I became an owner and the firm was owned by three women! Exciting, but we still encountered other accountants and clients, insisting that they had to talk to a male. Despite that, within the firm, my being female has actually been treated as a positive!

Even church has sometimes been this way, even when I was laity. Being the youngest and first female chair of church council, I expected having to defend myself, imagine my surprised to encounter women as the persons most upset by my position.

Why would John Wesley have a statement specifically about women? He was an Anglican priest in the 1700s when all priests were male. But his mother, Susanna, was a strong influence on his life. There are boundless stories that abound from her life:

• She led a Bible study in her home, even though her husband and the acting priest of the parish objected
• She made sure ALL her children, male and female, were educated, even in Greek and Latin
• She felt that if God called someone to preach, even a woman, that it was not up to the church (or many) to object

Methodism, in John Wesley’s time, was one of the first groups to allow female preachers! The more things change, the more they remain the same. One brief Google search resulted in these:

• Mary Bosanquet Fletcher was an early lay preacher in the 1800s and is credited with convincing John Wesley that women should be allowed to preach.
• In 1866, Helenor M. Davisson was ordained a deacon in the Methodist Protestant Church
• Anna Howard Shaw, after being refused ordination by the General Conference of the Methodist-Episcopal Church in 1880, joined the Methodist Protestant Church and was ordained by its New York Annual Conference.
• Ella Niswonger was the first woman granted full clergy rights by the United Brethren Church in 1889.
• In 1956, The Methodist Church granted women full clergy rights.
• Maude Jensen became the first female full clergy member ordained that same year by the Central Pennsylvania Conference.
• Twenty-six additional women were also received as full clergy members that year.
• And in 1980, the first woman, Marjorie Matthews, was elected and consecrated as a bishop within the United Methodist Church.

There are many more women who were not able to achieve. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

There is a history of women, strong women, that have come before me. Women in my family, women in my church, women in the accounting profession, and women in the church, both lay and clergy. And there are women that have come before you!

If we keep our eyes open and on them, and our ears closed to negative family stereotypes, things will continue to change.

I look forward to and pray for the day when being female doesn’t require a conversation about the equality of women to men, and their treatment or mistreatment. This prayer isn’t just for women, but for all others who suffer and strive for equal treatment!