UCZ women form mother body, National Mirror...
UCZ women form mother body, National Mirror
Date: January 1, 1970
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Women leaders in the United Church of Zambia reactivate a grouping for women theologians to encourage them to reach for the highest leadership positions in the church.
Women leaders in the United Church of Zambia reactivate a grouping for women theologians to encourage them to reach for the highest leadership positions in the church.
This article may be used in training to:
- examine the portrayal of women in religion
- challenge gender stereotypes in religious organisations
- look at the limited number of sources
Trainer’s notes
Gender,media and religion
Religion, like tradition and culture, is used to justify women’s subordinate position in society. In all the world’s major religions, religious texts have been interpreted to reinforce the power of men in society. In most religions, women are the majority of believers, but it is men who claim to hold the positions of authority and have the rights, including the authority to interpret religious texts. In many religions, historically, women have not held leadership positions. While this is changing, the fight to stand in the pulpit or at the altar has been a long and arduous one for women. Some religions still bar women from holding leadership positions.
Religious texts are often interpreted and used as a justification for gender discrimination. These arguments are persuasive, because the texts are considered sacred, and hold divine authority for believers. Most lay people, however, are not aware that many authoritative texts are in fact the result of a process of selection, and thus reflect the views of those making the selections.
There is limited coverage of religion in the news. When religion does appear on the media’s agenda, it usually shows men in leadership positions and women are either portrayed as the faceless faithful, or are conspicuous by their absence.
As in general media coverage of women, the portrayal of women in religious contexts tends to be stereotyped: women as victims of religious persecution or oppression, women as selfless charity workers, or women as entertainers, such as gospel music singers.
Coverage of religious women seldom includes a gendered understanding of women’s complex experiences of religious beliefs and practices, which give them a sense of personal meaning and social belonging, while at the same time conflicting with the modern ideals of universal human rights and gender equality.
The media rarely portrays women’s struggle to resist religious oppression. One of the major “missing stories” around religion is the active role many women play in transforming their religion and communities.
Changing gender stereotypes
The case study on women theologians in
This story portrays women as working together and encouraging each other to be strong leaders in the church and to aspire and prepare for the highest position of Bishop. The article conveys the message that women are equal to men in the Church and can play a leadership role at all levels.
The article does not portray women religious leaders as having an easy time in reaching their goals. The main source in the story mentions how the people in the community where she was first posted as a preacher, protested against her coming to the area.
Women are not portrayed as victims of religious oppression, nor as passive followers in the Church. They are depicted as active participants who believe the power for change and movement lies in their own hands.
Sources
This story is told from the perspective of one woman who speaks for herself and on behalf of the women theologians in her group. No other sources are in the story. Using only one voice and that of a woman, the issue of women’s leadership in the Church has been reduced to a women’s issue.
Through the voices of other women and men, the reporter could have focused on the experiences of women in leadership; how church members respond to their leadership; and some of the challenges they face, which are alluded to by the source in the story.
Sub-editing
The story has several grammatical errors and could have been more tightly edited. The story also was not edited for clarity. For example, Rev Mulenga is sourced as saying the ‘gender sensitive association’ was formed ‘to challenge the progressive approach’ (i.e. the policy of encouraging women into leadership positions). It is assumed, from the tone and information in the story, that Mulenga means that women wanted to ‘test’ the policy to see if it was more than words on paper. But the same phrase could be interpreted to mean that the women are not in favour of the policy.
The intro and the headline also do not accurately convey the ‘news’. The intro and the headline indicate that the women theologians have just formed their organisation. But it becomes clearer in the story that the grouping was formed in 1990 and is now being strengthened since the number of women in it has increased.
The story also mentions a policy of the UCZ which encourages women to take up leadership positions, but no details of when this policy was instituted and how it has paved the way for women theologians are given.
Also note that the headline perpetuates the gender stereotype of women as ‘mothers’, instead of the diversity of their lives. The emphasis of the umbrella organisation is on leadership, mentoring and achievement. These attributes are not captured in the headline ‘UCZ women form mother body’.
The headline shows how the media finds it difficult to tag women other than within the socially defined traditional roles. When women step out of these roles, the media finds ways, usually through language, to ‘keep women in their place’.
The story also alludes to the challenges and temptations women and men in the ministry face, but these are not developed in the story. Do women and men in the ministry face the same challenges and temptations? Do women face different challenges than men? Do men face different temptations than women?
The story also could have been strengthened with data on how many women are in the ministry in the UCZ compared to men; and what leadership positions do women hold in the larger governing body of the church where women and men are together?
Some training exercises
Exercise one: Give trainees a copy of the case study, ‘UCZ women form mother body’ and discuss the following:
- How are women portrayed in the article?
- How does this article depict women’s roles in the church?
- What message about women is conveyed in this article?
Exercise two: Discuss the following:
- Count the number of sources in the story.
- Whose voice is missing from the story?
- How do you think the story might have changed if men were sourced?
- Is this a women’s issue or a gender issue? Explain your answer.
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