Women Empowering Women to Eliminate the Clergy Gender Gap

Abstract

This exploratory study of 122 female Episcopal priests addresses the effectiveness of three types of grassroots mentoring and empowerment sessions in order to reduce women’s underrepresentation in senor leadership positions. Two questionnaires administered prior to participation and about 2 months after the session(s) ended showed increased vocational clarity in discerning a call or not to senior leadership, greater confidence in ability to succeed, and upward job mobility. Women focused on executive leadership meeting together periodically over a longer duration showed the strongest effects. The results suggest that a supply-side or trickle-up approach can improve attainment among women participating in such groups, and support the need for further comparative and longitudinal research on the prospect of organizational change.