Empowered Without Power

This book examines
women’s participation in the executive structures of the Basel Mission
and Presbyterian Church in Cameroon in order to tell a new story of
women and church leadership. In 1886, the Basel Mission commenced
mission work in Cameroon and successfully established an indigenous
church which gained independence in 1957 as Presbyterian Church in
Cameroon (PCC). In both churches, women were underrepresented in the
echelons of power owing to entrenched patriarchy and recourse to
controversial empowerment. Female missionaries to Cameroon trained women
in fields like motherhood, domestic science and marriage, which yielded
little or no opportunities for local women to participate in the power
structures of the Basel Mission. This patriarchal culture was handed
down to the PCC, whose initial all-male authority ensured that the power
structure was all-male. But growing feminism within the church and
pressure from international ecumenical partners led to timid gender
reforms which ended women’s exclusion from the ordained ministry,
promoted female eldership, led to the establishment of a convent, and
the adoption of a gender inclusive policy. But women’s dearth in
positions of leadership persisted, with most executive structures filled
by men.

So, this book tells the story of women’s involvement in the
executive structures of the Basel Mission and Presbyterian Church in
Cameroon. It is the first effort at a holistic approach to interpreting
women’s lack of power in these two churches. Based upon archival
research and oral sources, the book tells the story of the people,
forces and events that led to the consistent underrepresentation of
women in the churches’ echelons of power. The lived realities of women
who challenged patriarchy and held leadership positions in the church
are illuminated. It documents the reality of women’s lack of power, with
particular focus on the dilemmas of female pastors, elders, nuns, and
female Christian groups.