women: educated but still no job?

Here's a NYTimes article that describes the latest statistics of women in leadership in various countries. The US is definitely lagging behind most of Europe as well as behind other notable nations throughout the world. Get with the program, yo! The article states that women are just as educated as men, but there is not an equal share of leadership that would reflect this shared level of education. It does mention that Norway is one of the leaders when it comes to equality of the sexes - what up home roots. Here are two noteworthy quotes from the article:

“The world’s women are nearly as educated and as healthy as men, but are nowhere to be found in terms of decision-making,” said Saadia Zahidi of the World Economic Forum.

&:

“A nation’s competitiveness depends significantly on whether and how it educates and utilizes its female talent. To maximize its competitiveness and development potential, each country should strive for gender equality.”

I don't know if competitiveness should be our final goal, but I guess that's capitalism for you. Nonetheless, the quote still raises a good point - we must ask, first of all, whether we are offering true and equal education for women (in many world areas, education is not even an option for women), and second of all, whether we are then utilizing this female talent. Even in the US, we still have a long ways to go with this second one.

Specifically looking at the Church, how many women are currently being educated and supposedly "prepared" for a vocation that would serve the Church (say as a Pastor), and yet we find virtually no women in positions of leadership in the Church? Are we utilizing our female talent? I can't say with confidence that we are. Because in looking at the Church, and looking at very the education that prepares one for life and service to the Church, I think we're failing in both arenas: more often then not, girls and young women don't even grow up with the slightest notion that they too could serve the Church in leadership (we're talking more than just organizing the craft fairs and bake sales); we don't make space for exploration, where young girls could even dream about the possibility of serving as a pastor someday. So for the second account, it goes without saying that we aren't utilizing our female talent; if women haven't been able to simply consider pursuing vocational ministry in their education, then how can we even utilize them, even if we have the best of intentions? This ought not be! The Church must first show, in truth, to both boys and girls, young men and young women, that BOTH genders get to dream and consider a life of 'ministry' - with equal opportunity to serve as a Pastor. Then after that, we must follow through to Educate AND Utilize; the two must go hand in hand. [But then we're left with a little bit of a chicken-egg scenario... how can we show this truth to kids and youth if we aren't educating and utilizing our female potential in the immediate sense...?]

Homes, villages, cities, and countries are often carried on the backs of women... almost always in all of the behind-the-scenes work. Gender equality means a sharing of both the 'behind the scenes' work as well as positions of leadership and influence.

You can read the rest of the article here:

WORLD

Women Gain in Education but Not Power, Study Finds

By REUTERS

Published: November 13, 2008

A study found that women still lag far behind men in top political and decision-making roles, though their access to education and health care is nearly equal.