General Shaw Clifton, international leader of The Salvation Army, announced today that the membership of the High Council, the body which elects the Army's worldwide leader, has been expanded to include all officers holding the appointment of Territorial President of Women's Ministries.
'This is an important moment for The Salvation Army,' said General Clifton. 'Although the number of members that will be added to the High Council is relatively small, this decision is a strong affirmation of the equal role that women leaders play in the Army's worldwide ministry. The inclusion of these leaders in future deliberations of the High Council is consistent with both our theology and our history, and I am simply delighted.'
As a consequence of this change, the next meeting of the High Council will see a male/female ratio of almost exactly 50 per cent of each. In fact, it is likely that the number of female members will, for the first time in the Army's history, actually exceed that of men present.
Consistent with the Salvation Army Act 1980, the change was approved in an electronic vote by more than two-thirds of the Army's active commissioners and it was verified by The Salvation Army's solicitors, Slaughter and May. A formal amendment to the Act was made through the General's signing of a Deed of Variation.
Comment
Thanks both for your comments. It seems that until we face the truth that we do not have equality of opportunity for males and females in leadership at Divisional and Territorial levels then we will never really address the issue.
As a guy I have to fully agree with Juan on this. As long as we have a Women's Ministries Department, we will never have equality.
Men get to be the TC, the Chief, the finance and the program people, the DYSs, the DCs... etc. And the women by and large... well they get relegated to some antiquated place called "Women's Ministries". The very existence of Women's Ministries implicitly suggests that all other ministry is "Men's ministry" (Corps, Finance, Social Service, Emergency Disaster Response...)
The most qualified people should hold the positions in question, whether that is men or women.
Men get to be the TC, the Chief, the finance and the program people, the DYSs, the DCs... etc. And the women by and large... well they get relegated to some antiquated place called "Women's Ministries". The very existence of Women's Ministries implicitly suggests that all other ministry is "Men's ministry" (Corps, Finance, Social Service, Emergency Disaster Response...)
The most qualified people should hold the positions in question, whether that is men or women.
I feel I must disagree with this article, including the subtitle. This announcement is not "an affirmation of the equal role that women leaders play in the Army's worldwide ministry". If, in fact, women were equal leaders in the Army world, then there would have been an equal ratio of men and women at the High Council already (i.e. half of the territorial commanders would be women). Just like back in 1995 when it was decided that all commissioners would be members of the High Council, this is merely a way of having a form of egalitarianism, but denying the women the power thereof.
Personally, I do not agree with this move. There are more significant positions in The Salvation Army world than the Territorial President of Women's Ministries that could be represented, perhaps, at High Council. Does that mean that I do not affirm the place of women in our Army? On the contrary. I think that there should be more women serving as Territorial Commanders... oh, to the tune of that 50/50 ratio the article speaks of. Then we would not need to make moves like this that distract us from the real issue. The inclusion of female leaders may be consistent with our theology and history, but the manner in which it has been done is consistent with our proclivity towards gender inequality.
Personally, I do not agree with this move. There are more significant positions in The Salvation Army world than the Territorial President of Women's Ministries that could be represented, perhaps, at High Council. Does that mean that I do not affirm the place of women in our Army? On the contrary. I think that there should be more women serving as Territorial Commanders... oh, to the tune of that 50/50 ratio the article speaks of. Then we would not need to make moves like this that distract us from the real issue. The inclusion of female leaders may be consistent with our theology and history, but the manner in which it has been done is consistent with our proclivity towards gender inequality.
I wish to share information from a paper I wrote on Women in Leadership within The Salvation Army. The statistics I share are from 2007. (Major Susan Van Duinen is the source of my numbers) I would be interested if anyone had any current stats on the subject as well as comments or reflections on the following:
The following are leadership statistics for the Canada and Bermuda territory for 2007 that reveal the proportion of Army senior positions are currently filled with women. (Note that the statistics do not differentiate between married or single women officers)
Cabinet Members: 7 out of 12 positions were held by women (58%)
Divisional Commanders: 2 out of 11 positions were held by women (18%)
Department Heads: 4 out of 14 positions were held by women (29%)
Total positions held by women: 13 out of 37 (35%)
The internationally the statistics (2007) look like this:
Total Number of DC’s Worldwide 333
Total of Women DC’s Worldwide 22
New DC’s made in 2007 Worldwide 65
The number of women in the new DC’s in 2007 9
(of which 3 are married and 6 single)
The percentage of female DC's world wide is only six percent. Three percent are married women!
Every Blessing,
Cadet Jeff Arkell