An observation was recently made about the absence of women in leadership positions in the emerging conversation in Canada, and this has been a subject of discussion. It’s not a unique characteristic to the situation in Canada from what I observe. Don’t worry, this post is not going to be about any kind of “affirmative action” or anything like that. I don’t believe those undertakings are genuinely helpful…. they tend to insist on taking an equal number of people from a smaller pool, which is itself an imbalance and necessarily means that less qualified people displace others. In general, I think they seek a good goal in a bad way.
Now, in prior contexts when the criticism of a lack of women in leadership has arisen, I’ve heard it responded to by saying that women teach Sunday School, work in the children’s ministry, serve in the hospitality area…. and let’s just agree that there’s no point in ranting on that one, at least not at the moment — everyone knows that response sounds cheap. I’ve also heard the response that it isn’t actually true, because — and then followed a list of almost every woman who had been in leadership of some type there in the past 25 years. Giving this response is just as hollow, but it isn’t really as immediately apparent to most. In resorting to this answer, the respondent is basically indicating they haven’t actually got a proper response and can’t see or admit that there’s a real issue. Why is it hollow? Think about this — the retort that immediately comes to my mind in that situation is, “That’s great, thanks for that. By the way, off the top of your head, how many men can you name who have been in leadership of various types here over the past 25 years?” You see where we’re going, of course. There are too many men on the list to start listing, but it’s not a difficult task for the women.
So here’s the rub. Where are the women in the emerging church conversation worldwide? In the context of the aforementioned question, this evening I was asked by one of people in our little gathering (who seems to like being referred to as one of the “missional chicks”) what women were blogging in the emerging church conversation. She thought she gravitated toward the male bloggers, but I think my response would support a different interpretation, or at least explain that one.
At the risk of saying something offensive — a risk I’ve taken and lost at far too often to count — I told her that there were very few. I told her to visit Maggi Dawn, perhaps the most preeminent female voice in the conversation. I also directed her to Emerging Grace, a more recent entry into the conversation, at least as a blogger. I was a bit more hard-pressed to think of any others though, and told her that most of the female bloggers I knew of spent a fair bit of time talking about themselves, their kids, and what they did that day. They all have “wonderful” husbands (a description which I doubt that even they believe all the time, though that single word seems to describe all of them without exception in their profiles). It isn’t that we don’t like their kids or anything, and I really don’t want to offend, but for most of us, these are not that interresting to us unless (or until) we know the blogger. For these, even though they may be part of the emerging church, their blogs are not part of the emerging conversation in quite the same way. See, I told you I risked offending people. I’m not saying that personal entries are bad — even I do those from time to time… what I am saying is that when they’re the vast majority, the blog in general takes on a different character, and the emerging conversation becomes somewhat secondary at best.
So here’s my question: who and where are the women bloggers in the emergent church, the ones who are talking about missional or emerging church subjects and participating in that conversation? I’m sure there are more out there, and I’d like to know.
Update: Don’t miss the followup post to this one, Located: Emerging/Missional Chick Bloggers.
Well, I would like to count myself in the category of women blogging about emerging church stuff (albeit as a part of a team)
Well, after Maggi Dawn, who you’ve already mentioned, the names that come most immediately to my mind are Karen Ward, Jen Lemen, Rachelle Mee-Chapman, and Susie Albert Miller, all of whom you are probably already familiar with. A recent discovery who I have found has some worthwhile things to say at times is A.J. Schwanz as well. All of these are linked on Planet Emergent.
Now I’ll return to my non-emergent neo-catholic and monastic corner and shut up.
Peace
“On this note, we could maybe be asking ec/missional women which blogs by men they read and more easily identify with, and why, because in the “whyâ€? perhaps maybe we’ll start to better understand how the intersection works in both directions.”
Excellent idea. Do it!
Peace,
Jamie
This morning I was sitting with my wife over a leisurely breakfast on our deck talking about our planned fall forum. I was suddenly struck that she is one of the most articulate females voices I know.. she has experienced the journey, she is very sensitive to the Spirit, she is profoundly missional, and she is female.
So as I was about to ask her if she would tell her story at our coming forum, I saw Wendy McAlpine and Tammi Smith (Andrew’s wife) both of whom are or will be local, on stage with her. I started getting excited. I really want these three women to tell their own stories at our forum this fall. I believe we can make this happen. More female voices need to be heard by women and men..
Hey again,
My own wife is thoroughly emergent in her faith and leadership, though she doesn’t follow or engage in the dialogue (I know many women like this). I wonder how many are out there that are either unaware of or not interested in the conversation?
Peace,
Jamie
chick – yes. emerging – probably. missional – wannabe.
My wife, Kris, is also a blogreader but not a blogwriter. She loves it all, and keeps me informed about some of you all. Plus, she’s a psychologist, so be careful what you write because she might see more in it than you think you are saying.
I hope, Brother Maynard, you’ll be composing a complete link list of all these so we can follow them all.
Many many dankes for mentioning me on your list of women ec bloggers! I saw this post’s title, and my heart went pitter-patter at seeing that folks actually read my modest little blog! I rarely get comments, and thus assume that I’m writing out to the empty cosmos. But I perhaps that stems from being more relational in nature. If I bake cookies for my mother, she gushes with praise, whereas my husband just mutters “mmm, good” and I assume they’re crappy and spout off that I’m never baking again. :) Getting feedback is my way of feeling as though I’ve been heard, as well as allowing for further/deeper/more meaningful engagement and conversation.
That’s what I’ve noticed about blogs written by women: not only are they a place to share stories (and let me tell you, there are some storytellers out there!), but they’re a place to chat with others who are or have been at the place where you’re at. They’re relational – conversational – engaging.
[Broad general statement about to be made] Perhaps women view and live their lives more holistically than men. Being a woman and a writer and a mom and a cook and a blogger and a friend and a daughter and a child of God – these are all elements of me, and they’re not easy to separate out.
I admit that I have two blogs – one that’s a mom-blog where I feel free to talk about the beautiful nature and the ugly aspects of motherhood. Not everyone wants to hear about yarf rags and mastitis: shocking, I know. ;) Sometimes I feel the need to write about the graphic nature of what I’m going through: it’s tricky to balance getting your message across without potentially offending others with non-related material. I’ve often found that folks who are interested in talking about ec/faith walk/spiritual stuff don’t necessarily want to hear about the nitty-gritty details of my life. But for most women, that’s what’s on their minds: they don’t live in the theoretical, but the utterly elemental and practical. That’s what’s interesting, though: it seems easier in my American culture/society to live a (w)holistic life than it is for my husband – his life tends to be more compartmentalized.
Reading ec blogs for me is like being back in college, listening to lectures or engaging in a few group discussions, with the occassional random story from the professor when he/she digresses about their trip tracing the early journeys of George Fox. But then I read knitting blogs, and I imagine they’re they closest thing to creating a knitting circle online: lots of practical information on the craft, but woven in with personal stories.
So, where’s the balance? Is the style and content of ec blogs in harmony with the message? I believe cool chick bloggers are out there: in true missional fashion, how do we go out to them?
Thanks for including me in your list also. If I were to label myself it would be as a new-to-the-scene, sharing-my-journey-of-learning, emerging blogger. Does the fact that I am female make my journey or my contribution to the conversation different than others? I don’t know.
As far as the blogs I read and identify with, there are several categories. There are those I view as someone to follow, and I draw from their writing and experience. There are others I see as being at a similar place on their journey as I am, and it’s helpful to learn from them as they wrestle with the same issues. Finally, there are some whose writing or personality that I find entertaining.
For me, that connection of being able to relate to someone’s blog doesn’t seem to depend much on whether they are male or female, but rather whether we came from or are head in similar directions.
We are out there, we just don’t use all the emergentspeak that you guys seem to be so attached to. We talk about connecting and missions, worship and growth in grace on a more basic level. Trying to reach the unchurched and those unfamiliar with the old church language. Tried to get in on the Resonate conversation and got nowhere.
Sushi, thanks for dropping in on this conversation. I’m not sure what emergentspeak I’m attached to, but I won’t even try to deny it ;^) Funny how people can be saying the same things and both call it “plain English” yet it doesn’t sound alike sometimes. Sorry to hear about the response from Resonate, but I couldn’t begin to address that — I do hope you’ll join in on this conversation though. I would like to see some women involved in the Emergent.ca discussion from the outset… helps make sure we keep our eyes on what we’re about rather than bulldozing ahead to conquer the goal.
Good addition, Alan.
I’d like to know where you think you have the power to be giving me a set of rules on how to have the ‘conversation’ – What right or authority do you have to invalidate my ‘conversation’? I mean no offense but merely would like to point out that perhaps the reason you see so little women talking about ‘it’ more is because of the general opinion and attitude we get from the “men’s club” putting us down for talking about families, day to day life. Accounts of Chrsit himself are day to day life…do you think they had a script each day on how to share? Women are multi taskers who write about what goes on in our lives,men are more common to write article formatted thoughts. It is no better nor worse than the way we at least I , share my life. I am driven by relationship because God created that part in me. I find that comments like yours shoot women in the head and drown us out so we don’t bother speaking out in the first place..unless angered or wounded enough to be prompted to yell out.
Sliver; respectfully, I think you may be reading in some ideas and motives that aren’t there. I don’t think I have the “power” for what you’re suggesting, and I wouldn’t want it. This entire thread is largely about making sure there’s space in the conversation for the female voice, and if someone — especially men — try to “shape” it somehow, it’ll stop being the voice we need it to be. I wouldn’t invalidate your conversation at all, even though it takes a different format than the way I “talk.” That’s the point here: I think the one thing that this thread has highlighted more than any other is the fact that men and women converse differently and see their practice of emerging / missional (perhaps church generally) in a different way. Nothing wrong with that, but for a guy reading a large number of blogs which are more article-type, it helps to be reminded that some of these blogs are going to take a different shape simply because they’re by women, and that this different shape is critical to keep in the conversation. At a glance, we might think it’s not a part of the same conversation (because of our tendancy to want to categorize) and I think the conversation in this thread has probably demonstrated that it is part of the same discussion.
General comment — as Scot suggested, I’ll be compiling a list of the blogs we’ve listed and will add a few thoughts summarizing the conversation here. Hopefully I’ll get some time for it and have it posted next week.
Unfortunately I think that there is the implication of “shaping” in your post. I also think this one could get ugly though SO I think I will step back and not respond right now – we do have a few barriers here to note as well, text lacks the ability to always form the sincere impression and the fact that men and women honestly do think and process differently. Maybe I’ll tackle it at a later date!
I’d like to note however that it is appreciated and refreshing to see the desire is being voiced to hear what God is impressing on the hearts and minds of His daughters.
2 cents.
Brother Maynard. Yes, Dan is short for something – Danielle. When signposts started I was a little opaque about my identity, partly because I have a job elsewhere. But I also found it interesting that most people who read the blog assumed that I was a guy, until I “came out” a little while ago.
I think that women, like men, participate in a whole range of different ways in this conversation. There is definitely a difference in the way that Phil and I blog and what fires us up. This is one of the reason I like having a “co-blogger” – we each tend to cover different areas and perspectives.
i’ve just started a blog… it’s angled more towards alternative worship (as part of a project i’m working for)…
gotta give props to my wife who has been a faithfull blogger for about 4 years now
http://www.bethkeck.com :)
I’m a few months late for this discussion, but I thought I’d chime in. I recently saw a listing of emerging church blogs, 200 in all and 8 were from women. This is pretty f**ked up, so I started my own:
http://www.sarcasticlutheran.typepad.com
Let’s go girls….
Nadia
Hey everyone, I just started…. some years behind… and I try to learn from you all ;-D
I noticed that some of the women in our group do the work their guys talk about in numerous meetings ;-D but hey: this is The Netherlands, we are wicked good in talking, there’s even a name for our way of talking: Poldermodel… yeah… translates something like poldermodel … ???
So, here’s maybe a thing about blogging: my lovely hubby blogs a lot, talks a lot, and I’m not, just starting…
Remember: we missional/emergings (f) are out there -> doing the job
;-D