ORDINATION OF WOMEN IN INDIA:
A HISTORICAL APPRAISAL
N.B.E. Bharathi
Introduction
The church premises was filled with some men shouting. Some
others were not allowing the lady pastor to enter the church.
While on the other side an old emaciated woman had stood up threatening
to immolate herself if the pastor was not allowed into the church to
conduct the Sunday worship service. She challenged them that when
they could accept a female Collector and a female Superintendent of
Police working in the town, why not a woman pastor. There ensued
a disturbed silence. This is the daily experience of an ordained
lady pastor wherever she is. For her, on the one hand the
strength and the will to go ahead comes from people like the old woman
who does not hesitate to stake their lives for the cause of women and
ministry, and on the other, men prowling like wolves ready to cause
troubles and devour here at any moment. Amidst this is the solemn
responsibility of performing the sacred duty of a pastor. The
joy, the fear, a charge and a challenge resumes up the life of a lady
pastor.
Methodology
I have chosen the feminist historiographical method, especially the
qualitative method with emphasis on the category of personal
experience. Traditionally, experiences or the subjective factor
did not constitute part of the dominant history. Feminist science
however must concern itself now with the totality of society bringing
relationship and experiences to light, which previously remained
insignificant. That is, when we speak of women we must speak of
men also when we speak of poverty we must speak of wealth and so
on. We must speak of both, for one conditions the other.
Maria Mies rightly says that experiences “denotes the sum of the
processes which individuals or groups have gone through in the
production of their lives: It denotes their reality, their
history.”1 With these features in mind, the task is to make women
come alive and visible and allow their silenced voices to be heard.
Interviews
Ordination of women as a theological issue finds more space in the
sources than in the ordination or ordained ministry as a practical
reality. Thus, the paper is mostly based on the interviews
conducted. Interviews were conducted in various places including
both the ordained and the lay, though their number is miniscule. The
interviewer noticed how, for most of the ordained ministers, ministry
was not their personal choice initially but God leading them into this
through their strong sense of calling for the task. For all of
them their first parish experience was moveable one, and on the whole
the interviews went on more on a positive note as to how God was with
them in all their work. As the conversation grew their narration
of events became spontaneous and the silenced side of it emerged
gradually. Though the contexts were different, there was a
definite commonality in all their ‘affectedness’2 in the
ministry. The interviewer noticed that the structural constraints
did have a binding on the ensuing conversation and this was sought to
be overcome to bring about an awareness of women’s oppression, which
was the hidden side of history.
WOMEN AND THE CHURCH: DORNAKAL, ANDRA PRADESH
The growth of women’s ministry in the church from an ordinary Bible
women status to an ordained minister is an evolution that took place
along with the times and the changes that happened in the
society. In a way the church moved along with trends and the
changing context in which it was placed in terms of its ministry.
In the nineteenth century, women’s ministry concentrated on evangelism,
education, medical work and rescue work among widows, orphans, children
and famine victims.3 This ministry was carried out by Indian
workers called Bible Women, women workers, and Zenana workers.
The Bible Women and Zenana workers were mostly the products of the
rescue homes and orphanages run by the mission. They were mostly
widows and deserted women without any encumbrances. As per the
need and the context of the day, they had basic education and some were
even illiterate. They preached the gospel in simple and clear
terms as they understood it, to their equally illiterate and less
educated sisters in society.4 They even became pioneers in
preaching and teaching. From this role, they moved on to the
teacher status, where they had to teach in schools as church
workers. As the ministry spread and the work consolidated, there
was a slow shift of emphasis from the mission to the church. As
the Mothers Union took shape, the local pastors’ wives became
presidents of the Union. They conducted Mother Union festival,
which became one of the important events in the life of the
Church. Moreover, in order to develop women’s leadership in the
Church, Bishop Azariah introduced the ordination of deaconesses and in
1933 Miss Carol Graham became the first deaconess to be ordained in the
Diocese. This was considered by the bishop as the step in
recognizing the ministry of women in the Church. He also
introduced a new program of women’s leadership in the villages by
electing women as Church elders. By 1944, there were almost 200
women elders in 800 Dornakal Villages. Most of them could neither
read nor write but were perceived to be leaders of the
community.5 “They were often responsible for keeping the Church
clean, calling the women to services, taking up the offerings on the
women’s side and generally keeping order among women and
children. Often they would go round on Saturday evening asking
the women; ‘have you got your grain offering ready? Have you washed
your clothes? Don’t forget to get up early tomorrow’ and so on.
They were also trying to raise the moral standard of women, healing
quarrels, and even taking part in the village courts when a case
concerning women came up.”6 As the mission work became
institutionalized, the ministry expanded along with the educational
level of the congregations in general. “An increasingly
sophisticated Church found little use for these women of limited
ability.”7 This in turn brought about new avenues of work and
ministry for women as hostel wardens, head of institutions like head
mistresses, Bible women Supervisors etc.
The fact that women were given the opportunity to teach and work in the
field as mission agents along with men was indeed the beginning or the
seed for the women’s consciousness for equal rights. The women of
that time might not have realized this part of their role, however, we
can find its roots here.
Especially in villages the Bible Women taught a mixed audience.
Even in evangelistic meetings, they preached as main speakers.
For example, in one village an aged widow preached to a gathering of
400 people, while a prominent Hindu leader of the village
presided. At the end, the chairman thanked her and remarked that
“times were changing when a Hindu audience would listen with interest,
respect and profit to an address on religion delivered by a woman, and,
especially, by one whose husband had died.”8 The freedom for
women in the mission field cold be one of the main reasons for the
expansion of women’s ministry. While on the other hand women were
given freedom to preach and work along with men in the mission field,
we also find, as the shift from the mission to Church started to take
place, the role of women began to be sidelined.
CSI
After the formation of Church of South India (CSI) in 1947 and the
formation of women’s fellowship in 1948 and the order of Sisters in
1952 by Sister Carol Graham, women’s ministry was delineated from the
mainstream and confined to women alone. Women’s Fellowship were
organized in all the local churches and women’s wing in the Synod or
Association levels, where women themselves served as leaders and
managed their local fellowships and women’s wings. In the Church
women did not participate in decision making.9 They became only
representatives of women’s ministry in the committees but were not
recognized as active workers in the church. Thus, women were
relegated to a secondary position in the church. They were
rendered even invisible by the prevailing structure and tradition.
Even the India Christian intellectual elite could not think of their
female counterparts as their equal intellectually, and conformed to the
patriarchal notion of women’s restricted spheres of action within the
narrow understanding of domesticity. The primary role of the
Indian Christian woman was seen in the home and confined to the narrow
sphere of her own sex away from men. Women sat separately in the
churches and they rarely held any position or office in the
church. They never participated in conducting the worship, the
main church activities and in the decision making. The struggle of the
Indian Christians regarding their identity in the post independent era
must have not only made them adhere to the Indian ideals of womanhood
of being good wives and mothers but also confined to the traditional
norms of domesticity. No wonder we find the emphasis during the
50’s and 60’s was on Christian home, Christian marriage and women’s
ideal role in this.10 Thus, “the traditional patriarchal
assumptions about the Indian woman provided the frame work within which
discussions on the up building of the church took place.”11 The
role of women became invisible for they never competed with men in the
ministry. They carved their own niche for themselves and brought
about the needed ministry that was essential for women. They were
not concerned with how many others they were bringing into the church
or being baptized. For them ministry and religion meant more
personal than structural. They did not hesitate to perform all the
ministerial work that men did like preaching, conducting worship, house
visiting etc. However, they never claimed that as their
ministry. This could, to a certain extent, be seen as a kind of
resigned attitude towards the patriarchal dominance and their own
attitude of not disturbing the harmony of the family and community.
Partnership in Ministry
From the mid 1960’s there started a consciousness among women regarding
partnership with men in the ministry. Also the question regarding
the relationship of the Order for women in the Church, its function and
status led to the Synod’s direct involvement regarding the place and
role of women in the church by referring the matter to the Theological
Commission. Till then women’s ministry was not a major concern
nor did it appear in the mainstream of the church activity. In
1970 the synod approved the Theological Comission’s recommendation to
ordain women as deacons subject to the same conditions as pertained to
men and referred to its Ministerial Committee an application from the
Madras Diocese for the ordination of a woman presbyter.12 1970
also witnessed the entry of women into higher education in the
theological colleges. The 70s not only had its mark in the
ministry of women but women in general internationally. The
movement, which started with the order of sisters questioning their
role over place in the church was given impetus by the declaration of
International Women’s Year and Decade in 1975. This was aided by
the feminist and liberationist theologies questioning the patriarchal
framework of the church structures.13
The Church of South India synod resolution, which was passed to ordain
women to the deaconate, was implemented only in 1976 with three women
ordained as deacons. The need to amend the constitution for
presbyter ordination was at last accepted in 1982. In 1983, the
first presbyter ordination took place, thus paving the way for ordained
ministry for women in CSI. The Church of North India also
ordained its first women presbyter in 1986.
Ordination of Women
Patriarchal14 power structures over the centuries have constructed and
defined the role and identity of women. They have been
trans-historically persisting in ordaining some areas as a male
preserve and others as that of female domain. Example, women operate in
the family and men in state and society, women are temperamental and
emotional and men are rational. Women are thought of not fit for
spiritual experience as they are essentially sensual and
materialistic.15 Women’s experience of religion is also mediated
through power structures and tradition such that their role in the
church was defined and confined to the ‘womanly’ role images.
“Victorian sschool of thought emphasized the ‘natural’ separation of
the spheres between sexes, and a rigid sexual division of labour ...
Females were seen as ordained by God to be dutiful wives and mothers,
guardians of the home and family.16 This ideal did not contradict
the concept of the ideal woman as mother in India. This lead to a
subordinate role of women confining them to the domestic scene,
separated away from the mainstream. Thus the preparation for Christian
home life, training to be teachers and mission agents, and above all to
exercise Christian influence aver the community, were the main aim of
women’s ministry and these were to be conducted with the womanly graces
of patience, quietness and simplicity. Thus, women were
considered good in working with children and women, counseling, caring,
and teaching and not in the so-called male roles of administration,
legal and political matters, policy making etc. By locking women
within these structures they also internalized these constructed images
within them and they strove towards maintaining and keeping them up.
Women’s sphere of activity in the church revolved around women and
children. The separation of women’s ministry from men’s work did
not give an autonomy or independence for women away from male
authority. They were under the male dominated structure and under
men’s authority. Thus, the mindset of the women who entered
theological colleges or ministry in the church was that they were to
work among women. The issue of ordination was a forlorn dream
never sought after. The exposure to and the influence of the
western churches through the working of NCCI and WCC brought about the
consciousness of the need of women’s ordination. However, our women
were not prepared for it when it started in their face. The
initial experience of the first ordained women was coming to terms with
the fact of being accepted in the ordained ministry. One of the
ordained lady took a month to give her consent to be ordained.
AELC
There are 10 district Lutheran Churches in India, each based on a
different missionary background. Bringing them together is the
Union of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India. The General
Secretary of this is a woman. Although in principle all churches
agreed to ordain women, only four seem to be implementing it.17
In 1999 AELC (Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church.) had a mass
ordination of 18 women, who were already actively working in the church
in positions as Bible Women supervisors, wardens, Bible College
teachers, etc. However, ordination has in no way changed the
status or the ministry of the ordained. Except for one lady, who
was given an additional Pastor’s post for some time, no one was
allotted a parish. All remained in the same old designations they
were holding.
North East India
Coming to Nagaland, of over two thousand Baptist Churches, only two
women were ordained by the Baptist Churches Association.
Ordination is believed to be a divine perspective, and supposed to be
granted only to mature persons. Women should remain single to be
ordained. They should not ask for ordination but prove themselves
by their actions that they are committed to the ministry. While men are
given even posthumous ordination, women cannot even ask for it.
Women full time ministers are not allowed to administer the sacraments,
while lay male deacons can do so.18
Mizoram Presbyterian Church produce about fifty women
theologians. Only eight women are employed by the church as
different capacities such as teaching in theological college,
Coordinator of Women’s Desk and others engaged in mission work.
Ordination is denied for them that implies denial of privileges such as
housing, low salary and many other privileges. They are not given
other perks and facilities, which are given to other male
teachers. The reason is that they do not come under the ordained
ministers category. it is not only that they are deprived of
ordination, they are even deprived of equal rights as lecturers in a
theological college, where, of course, the criteria is not ordination
but their theological qualification. It seems quite illogical as
to how one is allowed to teach those preparing for ordination while
they themselves are denied of it. They are not allowed to preach
in the church. All the more they are accused that they are going
for theological education to fight for ordination.
The Mizoram Baptist Church had ordained women Local Church Elder.
But the ordination as Presbyter had not come. Other churches do
not ordain woman but have separate ministries for them. The
Manipur Baptist Church ordained two women. Garo Baptist Church
ordained two women.
Experiences
The experiences that these women pastors had gone through in facing the
task of encountering the male bastions of ecclesiastical power and the
conditioned mindset of the congregation of a traditional female role of
women in the church and above all creating a place and a dent for
themselves in the existing structures of the church form the crux and
give meaning to the whole issue of women’s ordination
As they were still working on the exposure and the possibilities of
ministry in the event of ordination, they were struck down with the
first blow in the form of court cases. Though the opposition
appeared to be on the basis of theological and cultural reasons, it was
never devoid of political reasons. Ordination was viewed more as
seeking for power and authority in the system and the structure than a
legitimized office of dignity and service in the church. Thus,
ordination of women became a ploy in the power structure of the church
and in this, women became pawns in the game. Things did not
remain the same. However, women took up the challenge themselves to be
on par with others as pastors.
Most of the women who enter ministry in the church and the theological
colleges came with a strong sense of calling. This sense of
calling not only made them enter this arena of ministry but also face
the initial opposition from their families. Later it was the
support of their families, who helped them to withstand the opposition
from the congregation, when they were obtained.
For some of the pioneers the initial experience was one of
rejection. As already noticed, they were not allowed into the
church to conduct services. They were dragged to the courts for
years to get ordained, they were jeered, shouted at and abused of
trying to spoil the church. They were not allowed into the houses
when they went for house visiting and some id not participate in the
holy communion administered by them. However, the grit with which
these pastors handled the situation slowly dwindled away the opposition
from the congregations over the churches began to accept them.
In one denomination a lady, who was given the additional pastorship,
was not allowed to do house visiting, nor preach in the church except
on Women’s Sunday. The only added privilege was to assist in the
communion service and stand on the pulpit to preach. Lay
assistants, who did go for house visiting and did other chores had the
right to give benediction, and pastors’ wives as women’s fellowship
secretary could give benediction but not a lady pastor, who was
obviously a spinster. During the absence of the pastor, a pastor
from another congregation was invited instead of giving in charge to
the lady pastor. The plight of single women is worse for they are
shuffled from one type of ministry to another according to the
need. The additional pastor’s move was also one such
adjustment. She was not given the regular salary she was
previously drawing, nor the additional pastor’s scale but a
consolidated pay. While a fresh male graduate from the seminary
is given a parish, theologically trained women with more than 15 years
experience in theological teaching is denied a parish. To make
matters worse, after ordination they stopped using them for some of the
local ministries they were previously involved in. However, women are
of late allowed in the decision-making bodies.
The solace for married women pastors is that they assist their husbands
in taking responsibility of some of their congregations. Though
this is not an official appointment atleast, they have the
satisfactions of being an ordained minister. There is no specific
assigned role as such for ordained women. The church had earlier
boasted of ordaining women by making it a gala occasion. It
remained just a boasting, for neither those, who ordained nor those who
were ordained knew for what it was being done. It turned out to
be an administrative, political and a fund raising gimmick with no
value meaning to the whole issue and dignity of ordination.
However, the respect, the love and the dignity given to the lady pastor
by some of the congregations that which not only endeared them to the
ministry but at times embarrassed and humbled them to a greater
responsibility to the task ahead. One pastor says that the very
call of ‘amma’ by both old and the young makes her feel more
responsible. Another pastor said with feeling, how elderly men
and women including Hindus come and touch her feet. The joy of
building up families, being a part of all the major events in the life
of congregation and above all their confidence add meaning and strength
to their ministry. They begin to have a sense of satisfaction and
fulfillment in their work with the congregations.
To the pride of the congregations some women pastors have proved
themselves not only in the ministry as such but in administration, in
handing finances and even in building new church structures. Most
of these pastors have made it a point that to provide a proper
worshipping place for their congregations. Two women pastors were
known to construct church buildings in the urban areas worth more than
half a crore. two different urban congregations have labored to
construct church buildings worth more than half a crore.
However, there is other side to the coin too. Experiences not
only have their subjective concreteness but also its societal
entanglements. The entanglements these pastors had to untangle and let
themselves free came in the form of administrative, structural politics
of patriarchy and professional prejudices.
The first of its kind is related to the posting of the lady
pastors. Most of them had their initial postings in remote
villages where there was no male pastor for years. One woman pastor for
example was transfered to twelve parishes in twelve years. Some
of them were allotted to villages where there was no proper conveyance
and travelling became too arduous for them. Some of the pastors
felt the most difficult thing for them in their ministry was travelling
distances in the parish. While single women pastors were
appointed to remote villages, married pastors were at times appointed
to distant parishes away from their husbands’ parish. They were
also posted to parishes where the congregation was difficult to handle
or known for their rowdyism. One pastor was posted immediately to
a parish where a bomb was thrown at a male pastor. The logic
behind this was that in the ministry they should be prepared to go
anywhere.
While this was at the administrative level, almost all the women
pastors were unanimous in their opinion that most of their difficulties
in their ministry was with their male colleagues. This issue was
one of the major concerns of the interviewees, and the conversation
advertently moved over to this. The interviewer also notices that
there was still pain in their tone and their eyes moistened as they
narrated their experiences. Thus the presenter found the need to
focus on this part as was also felt by the interviewees.
Having had the experience as unordained workers earlier, even as
pastors felt that ordination gave them certain authority, freedom and
independence in the ministry. However, they also observed that
there was no objection either from the congregation or other male
pastors in discharging all the pastoral duties then. It was only
when it come to sharing of power as ordained ministers that the problem
started. Most of them acknowledged that they had encouragement
and support from the bishops in their ministry. Be it in the
committees, conferences or local situations they were always under the
threat of this mistreatment. Their harassment went to the extent
of threats to kidnap and even to sexual harassment. It would
start with sly remarks on the person leading to their performance as a
pastor. One male pastor had sent goondas to a woman pastor and
she was even threatened of being kidnapped. It was then the
congregation member for example, was hired just to abuse her and to
irritate as she went out and came in. With the intervention
of the local Hindus, who observed this, the man was sent to jail where
he confessed that a male pastor had hired him to harass the lady pastor.
Harassment of women also has its political underpinnings. In one
parish, a widow pastor was not allowed to solemnize the wedding in the
church. The members had been instigated by another pastor, who
wanted to be transferred there, and who got marriages solemnized
outside the church in spite of the lady pastor’s willingness to drop
out. Another spinster pastor was also not allowed to
solemnize marriages so as not to allow her to stay longer in the church.
In spite of the congregation’s request for a lady pastor and the
approval of the church administration, a local pastor did not allow
women to take up the post. He got another male pastor appointed
even before a woman pastor could go and report. Local Pastoral
committee members also humiliate the lady pastors, who would be
presiding over the meeting by directly telling that they would vote her
out of the parish and that they do not want a woman pastor. The
male colleagues at times do not hesitate to talk openly that woman
pastors that they would get them transferred or sent away from the
church.
Professional jealousies do not seem to remain at the professional level
but also enter the family situation where both husband and wife are
clergy. This is leading not only to harassment but to the
extent of wife battering and even separation.
But how did these women cope with these humiliating experiences?
It was here that the backing of the family comes in. Most of them
said that it was the moral support from the family, which kept them
going. However they also said that they could not share all their
experiences and feelings to their family members. Then where
would these women go? Some of the pastors who are spinsters have
friends among their colleagues. They come together for sharing
and prayer. They discuss and try to find solutions for some of
their problems and this they found very helpful in their
ministry. This interdependence and fellowship can be a model as
to how women can come together in sharing and solving their
problems. Almost all the pastors I interviewed said their
strength rested on prayer group, which they formed in the church.
They felt that the team ministry and working with a core group brought
better fruits in the growth and development of the church. The
only recourse for the pastors as a dependable source of strength was
prayer. It was their main stay, it was here that they find
strength to go ahead and also pour out their hurts and desires to
God. They also believed that it was because of this time of
personal prayer, and in their prayer groups that they were able to
solve many problems.
A Culture of Silence
The motto of one of the pastors is “ In silence there is
strength”. This seems to be true with some other pastors
too. Some times they cannot but keep silent, for by speaking they
may not solve the problem but can aggravate it. This happens specially
when the congregation members shout at them and when male colleagues
humiliate them. They observe that when women argue men brand them
as quarrelsome and unwomanly. So silence not only avoids such
comments but also public humiliation for opening their mouth.
Thus, they believe that in a way silence is a weapon with which they
can sort out many problems. This appears to be a defense
mechanism, which the pastors are forced to employ. This culture
of silence is not only to be viewed as a strength but also as to how
the system has bound them from expressing their views and also how one
to or tries to keep up and live up to the conditioned images of the
society. Speaking is considered as unwomanly. Woman are
jeered even in conferences when they spoke. Personalizing general
concerns of women and isolating when one expressed her feelings,
thereby humiliating them was a common sight in the conferences.
The plight of single women and widows is even worse. They become
a prey to the whims and fancies of the male counter parts. They
have to be constantly on their guard lest they would be harassed and
humiliated. The constraints of reputation, witness, and family
pride all these socialized images not only silences the victim more but
makes them more insecure and even guilty. Thus the brunt of
silence turns out to be a personal trauma and a public virtue.
While on the one hand silence is their strength to achieve their
immediate goal, on the other it is an incentive to the party that
wrongs. Thus silence not only perpetuates the wrong but
strengthens their cause, so much so victimization and oppression
continues.
The constraints that these pastors faced, specially the pioneers, were
the responsibility of being models to their predecessor. This is
fact had stopped them many times from doing things the way they wanted
to do. This became an added burden to the pioneering
pastors. Moreover the whole question of reputation and witness in
the church constrained them not only to maintain a status qua but also
to keep silent even when they were wronged.
The fetters of hierarchy, patriarchy and power structures conditioned
and bound these women that any assertion was seen as threat to the
existing structure. Thus the performance of women pastors
not only challenged the self- serving male images of women in the
church but also posed a threat to their authority. However by
wading through these troubled waters women pastors not only proved that
they can subvert structures but also bring in the new threating images
into otherwise confident and complacent patriarchal power bastions.
Twenty five years of ordination and this is where we stand
The questions that need to be answered is not whether the congregations
have accepted women as pastors or are they performing well or did they
prove themselves fit for ordination or is there partnership in the
ministry or not? But, did the male pastors accept women as their
colleagues, consider them as their equals and with dignity? How
long are women to continue in this? What should be the churches’
role and action in bringing in an awareness of gender equality within
its own circle before going out into the world.
Should women pastors continue to live in this insecure and helpless
situation. But for how long? How long is silence to be a
weapon? When can women atleast in the church speak out without
fear and in confidence? When the church, which was the pioneer in
rescuing widows and deserted women, a pioneer in giving dignity and
value to womanhood, which fought for the cause of equality and believes
in gender equality, fails, where are they go? It is time for
women to clean our own house by upholding our women pastors, as the old
woman did, and restore the dignity, pride and God given worth and value
as heirs and coworkers in God’s vineyard.
Interviews:
Mr. Diwakar, Rajahmundry 25.4.2002
Rev. Jyothi I.M.B., Cuddapah 1.5.2001
Mr. Manohar, Gooty 4.5.2001
Rev. Nirmala Vasanth Kumar, Bangalore 7.4.2001
Rev. Pushpalatha, Bangalore 6.5.2001
Rev. S. Subhashini, Rajahmundry 27.4.2001
Rev. Salome Joshua, Bangalore 17.4.2001
Rev. Shanthi David, Bangalore 6.4.2001
Ms. Thuami, Bangalore 16.4.2001
Ms. Usha, Gooty, 4.5.2001
Ms. Victoria, Rajahmundry 27.4.2001