Women in Christian Missions: A Comparison of the History of Men’s and Women’s Experiences
Though the population of churches and participants in the Great Awakenings were predominantly female, American Protestant only reluctantly recognized women’s responsibility for social reform and the burgeoning foreign missions movement. Charles G. Finney, a leader of the Second Great Awakening and preacher of Pure Practical Christianity, required women to have a public voice not only in worship but also in social reform, urging them to spread their influence outside of the home. Unfortunately, men who felt the need to enforce the prohibition against women’s public speech pressured women to justify Christ’s inspiration for their reform work, to justify their right to speak to reform issues, and to justify their activity in public spheres. In response to this, many women validated their work by the positive effect it had on the home.
However, women called to foreign missions could not rely on this appeal to the traditional view of women as domestic creatures to defend their desire to minister. In New France, single women like Marie de l’Incarnation and Marguerite Bourgeoys took the initiative to minister to society’s needs, providing education, medical care, and social work for all people. Male clergy and other men in the community opposed this mobilization of women and carefully distinguished between female work and the work done by male preachers and missionaries. Eventually, the education movement in New France, the area in which women had the greatest influence, conformed to a rote pattern, taking from female teachers their creative initiative. Once again, women had to obey rules imposed on them by others. On the other hand, men, the very ones creating and enforcing rules about female propriety, faced none of these restrictions. Men were free to engage in whatever social reforms they so wished without being forced to justify their every move. The adventurous spirit that called men to begin different ministries and to travel to spread the gospel was supposedly intrinsic to manhood but foreign and incongruent to the feminine spirit.
While single men were encouraged to take a wife before leaving for foreign missions, single women were rejected outright at the beginning of the foreign missions movement. If single women were allowed to be missionaries, they had to accompany another family and were subject to the authority of the male head of that family. Thus, many women married simply to be able to follow their call to missions. Missionary wives unfortunately found themselves fulfilling the same roles as at home – caring for the “real missionary” – the husband – and for the home. Men, on the other hand, were seen as the principle ambassadors for God and active ministers in missions. However, they could not speak to women, so missionary wives and the eventual but steady flow of single female missionaries performed the needed work that men could not do. Likewise, women were prohibited from speaking to men, and even in their work with women and children, they were often censured for “preaching” or speaking publicly and thus overstepping the bounds of feminine propriety. Women took it upon themselves to evangelize and educate local women and children as a means of uplifting the moral tone of the society. Their work in medicine, education, and social work, though frowned upon by many, led to the realization that they indeed were capable of serving in a great capacity.
While women had to fight doggedly for the opportunity to work outside the home in missions, both on the field and in supportive organizations in the United States, men received an open invitation to use their gifts to spread the gospel and to help others. Men too were limited in many foreign countries to speaking solely to their own gender; however, their work in the public realm was not questioned but instead encouraged. Women had to overcome open opposition to their service in missions, which took the form of explicit hostility to the idea of women as missionaries and also the more subtle form of required submission to male authority and regulations. However, women’s continued passion for the Lord’s work led to an overwhelmingly female presence in the foreign mission field, greater opportunities for women at home and abroad, and the spread of the gospel, of healthcare, and of education to traditionally ignored and oppressed populations such as women and children worldwide.
