The entrance of women into ordained ministry positions is a relatively new phenomenon in the North American Christian church, and has yet to be given adequate scholarly attention. This thesis probes the experiences of several pioneering women, presenting both the substantial and theoretical contributions emerging from a qualitative study of female pastors ministering in Protestant congregations across Canada. Data collection and analysis were approached through the lens of symbolic interactionism and grounded theory. The main findings emerging from 44 qualitative, in-depth interviews have been organized into three distinct papers to constitute a sandwich dissertation. The first paper outlines how some women experience a “call” to ministry and how this change in trajectory impacts their identity and constructions of the past, while the second two papers address different facets of performing the pastoral role once within it. Paper 2 explores the dilemmas women encounter in the area of clothing and appearances, a concern many of the women identified as influencing their performance of the pastoral role. Paper 3 explores in greater depth the ways women feel they perform the pastoral role differently than their male counterparts, and raises questions about the impact this may have on changing the role in the future. Taken together, the three papers contribute to a broad range of debates in the theoretical literature about key facets of the human experience, including: changing career trajectories, role making and performance of self, and microlevel influences on institutional change. The dissertation also encourages a new direction for sociological research – human interactions with the divine. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis investigates what it is like to be a female pastor in the Christian church in Canada, as women have only recently been able to be fully ordained in most Protestant denominations. Three themes are explored: (1) how women decide to enter into Christian ministry, (2) how they navigate dilemmas around clothing in the pastoral role, and (3) how they feel they do pastoral ministry differently than their male counterparts. On a more theoretical level, this thesis also helps us understand the experiences of women entering traditionally male occupations, illuminating how they – and perhaps anyone who undergoes a career transition – navigate changes in work roles and identities, how clothing can help them achieve legitimacy in a role, and how women may be changing the professions they enter into in large numbers by doing their work differently.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/22101 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Steeves, Kathleen |
| Contributors | Pawluch, Dorothy, Sociology |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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