280 Mary Jo Neitz
Gender as a Variable
Conventional sociology takes on the interest in gender with least disruption to main-
stream methods and theories in standard variable analyses that use a person’s status as
male or female to explain some aspect of religiosity, for example having positive atti-
tudes toward Christianity (Francis and Wilcox 1998) or seeking consolation in religion
for health problems (Ferraro and Kelly Moore 2000). Miller and Hoffman (1995) offer
an interesting variation on this type of study, in that they argue that preference for
risk is what explains religiosity, with less risk averse people tending to be less religious.
Women are more religious, they argue, because women are more risk averse. Others use
gender and religion to explain other attributes such as educational attainment (Sherkat
and Darnell 1999; Keysar and Kosmin 1995) or beliefs about suicide (Stack, Wasserman,
and Kposowa 1994). For some, gender as the explanatory variable is not one’s status as
male or female, but rather how masculine or feminine one is according to measures on
a personality inventory. Mercer and Durham (1999) suggest that more feminine scores
predict greater disposition toward mysticism. Two studies in England among Anglicans
and Methodists have also suggested that more feminine men and more masculine
women are attracted to ministry as a vocation (Robbins, Francis, Haley and Kay 2001;
Robbins, Francis and Rutledge 1997).
Women in the Protestant Mainline
Over the last two decades considerable research on women in mainline Protestant
traditions has take women clergy as its focus. In a recent review of this literature,
Chang (1997) notes three dominant themes: First, labor market approaches to clergy
careers; second, public perceptions of female clergy; and third, gendered ministry styles.
We know about the experiences of women clergy in congregations (Charlton 1997;
Wessinger 1996), and women’s career paths both within (Prelinger 1992) and across
denominations (e.g., Zikmund et al. 1998; Nesbitt 1997; Chaves 1997). Research on
gender differences in clergy values and styles offers some evidence that women are less
hierarchical, more likely to use an intuitive style, and to have developed an ethics based
on “responsible caring” (Finlay 1996; Lehman 1993; Wallace 1992). Olson, Crawford,
and Guth (2000) showed sustained interests in social justice issues among women clergy
in mainline denominations. Konieczny and Chaves (2000) use data from the 1998
National Congregation Study to add to our knowledge of demographic characteris-
tics of congregations led by female pastors. Because the sample is the first nation-
ally representative sample of congregations, it enables us to look beyond the mainline
Protestant denominations which have been the focus of most of the work on women
clergy. In contrast to earlier studies, Konieczny and Chaves find that the proportion of
women pastors in urban and rural areas is nearly the same. Female-headed urban con-
gregations, however, are likely to be predominately African American, and to have no
denominational identification.
In a departure from the focus on clergy in much of the literature on mainline denom-
inations, Julie Manville (1997) has applied a feminist analysis of gendered organizations
to an Anglican parish in Australia. Manville examines the gendering processes which
create and maintain a female “church within a church.” Manville then shows how the