Estimated reading time: 14 minutes

Yes, but only if it makes it happen. It will not happen naturally. If The Salvation Army is going to have gender equality it will need to choose to change things.

The Salvation Army has a responsibility to do better with gender equality. Particularly for women in ministry. This is a theological imperative. The Army has made theological claims about the equality of people for ministry, asserting that sanctification is the only requirement and qualification for ministry. This is something I’ve known for years. It’s something that I’ve argued for before. But it was brought to my attention more sharply whilst my wife and I were on holiday.

I had generally assumed that, bit by bit, the Army was getting better at promoting women in ministry and that, once previous generations had died off and culture changed, things would be better. I’d thought that if I did my bit to centre and highlight female ministry, then I was doing my part. I had made two mistakes.

First, I had assumed that the Army had begun with equality of ministry for women, but it had been lost somewhere along the way, and we now had to try to recover our original spirit. This is wrong. Second, I assumed that the Army would increase the equality of ministry for women over time. This is, I think, also wrong.

The catalyst for this thinking came from seeing a wall covered with cool graffiti in Bratislava, Slovakia.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the only way the Army will live up to its promise of equality in mission is if it enforces the change at the organisational and systemic level, and that this is a theological imperative. I am far from the first person to realise this, and far from the first person to suggest that this needs to be done.

There are better people than I to make this argument, and there are people who have made better arguments. But this is my attempt to offer support for the argument that there is a theological requirement for the Army to ensure equality in ministry for women. I am writing as an officer who is passionate about the Army’s life and work and wants to see it live up to its theological promises.

This article focuses explicitly on questions of female ministry in full-time spiritual leadership roles, not on broader questions of employment in the Army.

Hierarchy and Patriarchalism

Hierarchy and Patriarchalism go hand in hand. Hierarchy almost always privileges those with higher social, economic, and educational status. Those with higher social, economic, and educational status are also frequently male. Hierarchy produces, reinforces, and is reinforced by patriarchalism. This is particularly true in organisations where social status is the predominant means of establishing hierarchy.

James Allison, a Roman Catholic priest, academic and author, explained in a Nomad podcast that even in organisations where there is limited economic difference between members, such as a university or a church, status must be measured in some way. In those cases, status is measured in social and educational terms. Social status almost always trumps educational status, particularly because one often leads to the other; however, social status frequently devolves to a balance of power. In a hierarchical organisation where there is minimal economic difference between the strata, what remains to distinguish the higher-ups from the lower-ups? It is power.

Power provides social status and distinguishes between those in charge and those who are not. Even in a relatively flat or informal hierarchy, social status is important. Humans are social and tribal animals, and this is particularly prevalent in hierarchical structures. The power a person has over another person confers social status within a hierarchy, including within a church hierarchy. Power, in this case, is not only the ability to tell others what to do, and to be limited in who can tell you what to do, but, far more importantly, in the control and possession of information.

Patriarchalism is part of this hierarchy of control and power. The control men have over women is institutionalised in hierarchical structures and maintained through the social networks that emerge within them. The small groups of men, meeting together, working together, and sharing information with each other, contribute to the subversion of merit and the oppression of those with a weaker social status.

Egalitarian vs. Complementarian

One of the most dangerous ways that the church contributes to hierarchical patriarchalism is through the doctrine of complementarianism. Put simply, this belief says that women and men have different but equal roles to play. Although I am not sure it can be equal when complementarianism means the man being in charge and the woman being subservient. Complementarianism is a common doctrine across denominations. For some, this doctrine is held ideologically. This usually results in no female ministry or female ordination, with the husband being the head of the household, and with the social status of women being reduced.

For others, this doctrine is held unconsciously. This can look like a couple saying that each partner has different strengths or interests, but it almost always ends up with the man in charge. It can look like the woman taking responsibility for the children, taking the hit to their career rather than the man, when someone needs to stay home with the children, or with the man’s career taking priority over their partner. It can also look like a couple in ministry, assuming that the female will be better at children’s work or pastoral care, while the man will be better at leading committees, preaching, and teaching.

The danger of this doctrine is less in its more obvious presentation but in its unconscious assumption by so many people. It builds on systemic and assumed patriarchalism, combined with a particular reading of Scripture, which focuses on a few key proof texts rather than the broader narrative of Scripture. The damage that this doctrine causes comes from its basic assumption that there can be equality of status without equality of roles. It makes people think they are in favour of equality while covering up the inequality it creates.

Home, Work, and Worship

The consequences of gender inequality in a hierarchical organisation are carried over into the home, into work, and into worship. As already outlined above, when there is a disparity in social status between men and women, the relationship between them in the home and family is disrupted. The home becomes a place of inequality rather than mutual submission. When headship is assumed to mean being in charge or the decision-maker, the one who is not the head is reduced in status and value.

The assumption of inequality between men and women also causes problems in the workplace. But the design of the workplace, historically based on male needs and assumptions, reinforces the inequality of men and women. Whether in maternity time, different values of acceptability for behaviour and confrontation styles, paternalistic approaches from line managers, or sick leave and accommodations for specifically female needs, women often find it harder to build a career in the workplace. This only further establishes the inequality of men and women that already exists in the hierarchical social realm.

Worship is one of the most obvious places where gender inequality can be found. The ratios of female members to female leaders, of female children’s workers to female church leaders, and of female worship leaders to preachers all tell a story. Who we choose to lead worship and to lead our church activities says a lot about what our church values.

Externalised Vs Internalised

The problem is exacerbated through internalised hierarchy and patriarchalism. When the social status and structure of an organisation becomes part of our assumed identity, and especially when issues of gender equality become part of our inner assumptions, then there are damaging consequences.

Internalised patriarchy means that women will start to accept the assumptions of gender inequality and make it part of their own self-understanding. Women who have internalised patriarchy assume that men have roles that place them in authority over women, see themselves as having lesser roles than men, and so do not seek to take on those roles or will subordinate themselves to a man even if they are better suited than that man for the role in question.

Women and The Salvation Army

Part of the sad irony is that the Army has consistently and successfully campaigned and worked for better conditions for women around the world. Whether in education, health care, employment, or in social or political representation, the Army had worked for women. The Army has done and continues to do amazing work to support people who have survived and experienced domestic violence or who have been subjected to modern slavery and trafficking.

The Army has invested significant time and energy in the work to transform the lives of women around the world. Unfortunately, the work of the Army for oppressed and suffering communities around the world has not always been matched by its institutional approach to women in ministry.

A significant point to be made here is about married female officers in the Army. It is easy for Salvationists to say that the Army has gender equality because there have been three female generals and female territorial commanders. However, all those generals were single, and it was only recently that a married female officer was appointed as a territorial commander. There is an assumption of gender equality which is only skin deep and isn’t actually found in reality. But because women are in ordained and commissioned leadership and have held senior leadership positions, it is easy to overlook the underlying inequality that persists.

The Salvation Army’s International Positional Statement on Sexism notes honestly:

While valuing gender equity, The Salvation Army acknowledges with regret that Salvationists have sometimes conformed to societal and organisational norms that perpetuate sexism.

The Army understand and accepts that it has sometimes failed to live up to the divine calling for gender equality and has conformed itself to the ways of the world that place men over women. This honesty is essential for the Army to understand and move forward with the theological need for gender equality in all its fullness. The key to this is understanding that the need for gender equality is not only social, it is theological.

Theological not Social Equality

The Salvation Army has always proclaimed the equality of gender, but they have done so theologically and not socially. The Army has maintained and reinforced the social inequality of gender. But it has, from the very beginning, established a theological belief in the equality of the genders.

For the Army, sanctification creates equality between men and women because the Holy Spirit blesses, empowers, and transforms everyone equally. When it comes to ministry, gender is not relevant; it comes down to sanctification. Since God blesses everyone with the Holy Spirit, making no distinction between men and women and blessing them equally, there can be no theological difference between them.

Theological equality should lead to social equality; however, it has not always done so. William Booth told female officers that they should not get married because it would compromise their officer status, as they would need to be subordinate to their husbands. The way the appointment process has worked —i.e., which officers are appointed to which roles —has also been informed by social inequality rather than the theological equality espoused.

However, a proper grasp of the theological equality at the heart of the Army’s theology, particularly its holiness theology, provides the foundation for implementing full gender equality in the Army.

An Example: New Divisional Commanders

About ten years ago, I was in a different role, which was responsible for delivering training and development, particularly during the roll-out of a new structural change for the Army in the United Kingdom and Ireland. This was a difficult time for the Army, especially its employees, due to changes in structure, roles, and responsibilities. One change was that, rather than having a divisional commander and a divisional leader for women’s ministries, there would be a divisional leader and a divisional leader for leader development. At that time, the decision on who would be the divisional leader and the divisional leader for leader development was left to the couples in those positions.

I was delivering this roll-out training to a group of officers and employees, including a couple who were divisional leaders. When asked about the roles, the female divisional leader joked that if she had been the divisional leader, her husband would not have coped. However, I am not so sure that it was a joke. I think it was true, but expressed in a jokey way to take some of the sting out. I think it is a really important insight that, at that time, none of the divisional leader couples changed their roles.

An Example: Assumptions About Toddlers

Part of the issue is the assumptions that are made about gender within leadership. I believe that this is often unconscious and unintentional. Sometimes it is conditioned by particular circumstances or local contexts. But sometimes assumptions are made based on unconscious bias towards gender.

For example, during one of my appointments, I suggested that I would explore the viability of a toddler group in the area. In the end, it didn’t align with the corps’s mission focus, and we didn’t have the resources to do it. But here is the point. During the conversation, the officer asked whether I would be leading it or whether my wife would.

For clarity, my wife is not an officer and has a full-time job.

Why would my wife, who works full-time and is not an officer, be the person to lead a toddler group during the week? I don’t know what was going on in that person’s mind. I didn’t ask. However, I wonder if there was a degree of unconscious bias at play.

How often in officer couples does the woman take the lead on the children’s work? Maybe because historically this has been the assumed role for women. Perhaps with very good social and cultural reasons. But maybe those culturally informed assumptions have sometimes reduced or limited women’s involvement in other areas of ministry.

These assumptions have been responsible at times for not only reducing the freedom of women in ministry but also for exacerbating false gender differences in ministry based on unconscious complementarianism.

Cultural Change Must Be Forced

What needs to be understood is that gender equality in the Army must be enforced at the social, hierarchical, and theological levels. It will not happen simply over time. This is not a generational issue. There are couples in my generation, and in the generations beneath me, who are complementarian. Change at this level —where systems and structures need to change alongside cultural and social assumptions —will not happen by accident. It must be forced.

In the Army, this means the way local officers are appointed and the way officers and evoys are appointed need to change. The Army will need to decide whether to appoint women to positions of authority and leadership, particularly married women. This means that women need to be able to spend more time in leadership, either on their own or with their partners, actively stepping back to give their wives space to flourish and grow. To raise up women leaders and to move for full gender equality means beginning at the beginning of ministry, and not only at the level of territorial appointments.

Until the Army decides to make the decision to prioritise the development and leadership of women through its formal institutions and appointments process, there will never be social and hierarchical equality for the genders.

The Theological Demands of Salvationism

The Army must force the issue of female ministry, but it must do so from the assumption and the groundwork of its theological commitment to equality through the Holy Spirit. Regardless of whether a person thinks men and women are equal by nature (and they should), the theological belief that God sanctifies men and women equally must be accepted and taken on board. God says men and women are equal because they are both sanctified by the Holy Spirit. If God sees men and women as equal, who is a simple human to disagree? Paul tells us that in Christ there is neither male nor female. This has to actually be put into practice.

Gender equality is a theological demand which must be worked towards. Without gender equality, there can be no Salvationist understanding of holiness.

What Comes Next?

There is a huge amount of resources on this topic from people who are far better qualified to speak on it. There are people with more relevant lived experiences than I. But I feel that this is a topic men need to speak up about. There are links below to follow to read more about the issues at hand.

Change can happen at the grassroots level by deciding to move more women into leadership roles as local officers. It can occur within relationships when husbands intentionally promote and centre their wives as leaders. It can happen structurally through appointments. All of this needs to happen. Change begins with us.

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Further Reading

https://www.academia.edu/50298359/Outlining_the_Issues_of_Gender_Equality_for_Salvation_Army_Officers

https://salvationist.ca/articles/the-salvation-army-addresses-gender-equity-for-women-officers/

https://www.salvationarmy.org/isjc/wtan_genderequality

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