Portrayal vs. practice: Contemporary women’s contributions to Christian mission

Abstract

From the late 1800s onward, women have comprised two-thirds of the missionary workforce. Yet despite their numbers, women’s mission practice is frequently overlooked in accounts of mission work; instead it may be attributed to a male missionary. Single women are frequently cast in supportive roles and their work credited to that of a male supervisor. Married women’s mission practice is often attributed to their husband as part of the two-person career structure. As a result, women’s mission practice is rarely considered in mission theorizing, and few women are counted among missiologists even today. Studies that do seek to uncover women’s mission theorizing and practice typically focus on their historical contributions. There is a need for further research on contemporary women missionaries to understand their contributions, both embodied and theoretical, to the global mission enterprise. This article presents the findings from the study of women in one mid-sized mission organization. Results show that the women engage in a wide variety of ministry, face specific gender-related challenges, and struggle to understand themselves as valued contributors to the global mission enterprise.