Barriers Inhibiting Women's Path to the Pulpit and the Gender Gap in Compensation

Abstract

This study examines the gender gap in Protestant churches’ leadership and its connection to head clergy compensation, using the National Study of Congregations’ Economic Practices (NSCEP) data. The analysis reveals that women's leadership as head clergy is most common within smaller and theologically liberal churches and during a time of declining membership. These findings imply that clergywomen face both the barrier of a glass ceiling and the disadvantages of a glass cliff, which limits their access to the pulpits that lead to greater compensation and prestige. The analysis also indicates that head clergy compensation is primarily determined by congregational characteristics, most importantly by church size, and the underrepresentation of women in larger churches’ leadership is what drives the gender pay gap for Protestant clergy. Still, the findings hint that the bottom-up pressure created by the expectations for gender equality from highly educated congregants may help dismantle the barriers for clergywomen.