Be subject to “one another” out of reverence for Christ
(Ephesians 5:21. RSV)
Christianity had also seen women rise to the fore even since its inception and origin. There are traces of such assertion in the Bible which recorded the germane roles played by women in the ministry of Jesus Christ (from whom Christianity originated). Owing to the effective participation of women in the ministry of Jesus Christ, the courtesy of being the first to see Jesus after resurrection was granted Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9. RSV). Despite such important roles of women in the emergence, sustenance and spread of Christianity, women were in-between adjudged to be marginalized as they were restricted from occupying sensitive positions in the Christendom. In the classically organized churches, women were prohibited from occupying sensitive leadership positions. Basinger (1988) espoused traces of such restrictions in the Roman Catholic and other Orthodox churches where only men were allowed to serve as priests or deacons and in other leadership positions such as pope, patriarch and bishop.
Down the line, the case is in comparison to the past relieved of such static analysis as currents and undercurrents of women’s roles and agitations for inclusiveness and emancipation have found a basis. Christian women are now at the forefront of administration or share the same pace as men with the emergence of Protestantism. Since 1970s, there has been the drastic shift in the doctrine of the orthodox churches such as the Roman Catholic and Anglican where women were initially relegated (Bollag, 1992). Brook (2018) presented that Ludmila Javorová, a Czech Roman Catholic woman (who worked in the underground church during the time of communist rule in Czechoslovakia and served as a vicar general for bishop Davidek) was adjudged the first ordained female priest. She is known for being one of a number of Czech women who underwent an ordination ceremony as a priest, despite the dispute generated by such action.
Since then, facts have emerged on women being ordained to occupy the highest position of a parish in the doctrine of the Roman Catholic such that in 2002, seven women were ordained Roman Catholic priests (Brook, 2018) by Bishops Ferdinand Regelsberger and Rómulo Antonio Braschi. Though seen as a radical act, these individuals championed the course of history in the empowerment of women as these seven women are believed to be among the first to be given the right to oversee a parish since after the 70s (Brook, 2018).
Contemporarily, numerous women priests and bishops have emerged and more are still expected with the advent of advocacy democracy which has led to the awakening of women to the equal (or superior) role they play in comparison to men in the society. The place of Christian religion in the empowerment of women is central as Turpin (2018) posits that;
The very first college in world history to offer a bachelor’s degree to women, Oberlin, did so in 1837, with the goal of training more people (women) to spread the evangelical gospel. In other words, theologically conservative Christians pioneered women’s higher education for religious reasons (Turpin, A.L. 2018. Women’s Higher Education was Pioneered by Evangelical Christian Leaders).
Pertinently, Christian theology has not been the same since the emergence of the protestant denominations and this has most often heralded calls to shift church authority, with the aim of balancing same among men and women. Subsequently, women have ridden on the back of religion to rise to prominence in the contemporary world- a somewhat herculean shift without religion. Bimbo Odukoya, who through Fountain of Life Church became a world renowned personality with over 60 international awards and recognition until her demise. Owing to her exploit through religion, she was one of several individuals chosen by Samsung to represent Nigeria in carrying the Olympic Torch in Athens, Greece at the 2004 Olympic Games (Ranker, 2018).
In a similar manner, religion had over the years accelerated the journey of notable women to the echelon of fame and recognition albeit empowerment as through religion, Margaret Idahosa (the archbishop of Church of God Mission) became the first Nigerian woman to be ordained as archbishop in 2009 and the first female chancellor of a university in Africa-Benson Idahosa University, Benin city, Nigeria. A fit realized through the contribution of religion.
The controversy in the church has been undergirded by the gender of clergy inadvertently justified (explicitly or implicitly) by the gender of God. This theology of exclusion appears to have been justified by the ways men in authority use the Christian Bible, but such orientation is gradually finding oblivion as the above examples present an empirical evidence of the place of religion in the empowerment of women which has taken roots in the contemporary society owing to several factors chief of which is the advent of the age of inclusion (Pillay, 2017), awareness creation and state deregulation of societal institutions to include women in several positions of authority.
Theoretically, the origin of Protestantism (which is embedded in agitation) saw to the somewhat involvement of thought-radical and ideologically stimulating aspect of religion which has ensured greater participation of both genders through awakening. The emergence of New Right (Haralambos et al, 2008) introduced a more thought-provoking process geared towards the assurance of greater individual rights. People as a result of this began to realize more and more the depth of their rights and their ability to participate in societal reforms.
Women began to look beyond their age-long role as commonhousewives and were poised to make economic change and command relevance. Religion became the ready-made tool for such attainment hence their greater participation which has contemporarily yielded more gains as those women that attained relevance became trailblazers, role models and decision makers in the other spheres of the society as well.