Understanding Gender in Clergy Family Life: A Contemporary Sociological Analysis

Lead Research Organisation: Durham University
Department Name: Theology and Religion

Abstract

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Description This Award was a consolidation award relating to previous research, with a particular emphasis on professional development. There have been a number of significant achievements:
(1)The networking opportunities amassed have been enormous; the Award has allowed me to develop networks with academics both in the UK and the USA, as well as enabling me to cultivate contacts with user groups, particularly clergy and spouses. This was specifically aided with Durham's location as a centre for ministry training. These networking opportunities have meant that my work is much better-known, both amongst academics and non-academics, and I have been asked to contribute to a number of things in light of this awareness, e.g. undertaking one of the keynote lectures at a specialist event on clergy motherhood at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, at which there were many clergy mothers in attendance.
(2) The consolidation of writing outputs has been significant; the Award gave me the space to concentrate on writing outputs and extended reading on the themes of the research, resulting in publication in high-quality journals such as Gender, Work and Organization and Travail, Genre et Sociétés. The latter publication also allowed my work to be better-known in the French-speaking context.
(3) This Award enabled new knowledge to be presented in new academic spaces, such as gender and feminist research networks, where religion can often be ignored. As well as the aforementioned publications in journals that do not routinely focus on religion, I have also participated in events such as the Feminist and Women's Studies Association Bi-Annual Conference: Futures of Feminism; what is exciting is that more feminist and gender-specialist spaces are starting to incorporate religion, with for example the Motherhood in post-1968 European Literature Network holding a one-day event in 2013 entitled Motherhood, Religions and Spirituality, and at which I was a respondent.
(4) As a professional development award, a key aim of the ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship was in enhancing employability, and after this Award I went on to secure a full-time, permanent lectureship in sociology at Aston University, Birmingham.
Exploitation Route There is increasing capacity of research looking at clergy motherhood, especially from priests themselves undertaking postgraduate study. My attendance at various events where priests undertaking research are in attendance (e.g. the Faith Lives of Women and Girls Symposium, held annually at the Queen's Foundation, Birmingham) confirms that my work is routinely consulted in such projects. This emphasises the ways in which user groups themselves are taking this research topic forward, particularly the development of the theological dimensions to clergy motherhood. So my research considering the specifically sociological elements of clergy motherhood are utilised to complement studying the topic from a theological angle.
Sectors Other
 
Description This research has added to the knowledge-base about women's integration into professional organisations, emphasising an under-researched field. It has given narratives for women priests themselves to work from, and how the findings of the research resonate with their own experiences (such discussions have taken place through clergy mother networks, e.g. Facebook groups and formal conferences on the subject). Discussion and support has been given to women priests themselves who are designing research projects to develop this research area.
Sector Other
Impact Types Cultural,Societal
 
Description Teaching materials
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact Articles I have published are used on courses connected with gender and the Church of England, used in educational contexts with priests-in-training (E.g. Queen's Foundation, Birmingham)
 
Description British Sociological Association's Sociology of Religion Study Group Seed Corn Funding Competition
Amount £4,175 (GBP)
Organisation British Sociological Association (BSA) 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 04/2017 
End 09/2018
 
Description Symposium on the Faith Lives of Women and Girls 
Organisation Queen's Foundation
Department Faith Lives of Women and Girls Symposium
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution I am a member of the Symposium on the Faith Lives of Women and Girls, based at the Queen's Foundation, Birmingham and comprised of scholars in religious studies, theology and sociology, as well as research practitioners (e.g. priests). I have attended three of their conferences and events, including delivering a training session on using visual methods, and I have had an article published in a book developed out of the network, with another article pending.
Collaborator Contribution Development of publications that are angled at a practitioner as well as an academic market, to which I have contributed. Creating a framework for conversations and publications about this area of research, especially involving the contribution of practitioners such as clergy.
Impact Page, S. (2014) 'Exploring Faith Lives through Visual Methods', Workshop at the Symposium on the Faith Lives of Women and Girls, Queen's Foundation, Birmingham, 5th April. Theology, Religious Studies, Sociology Page, S. (2013) 'Feminist Faith Lives? Exploring Perceptions of Feminism among Two Anglican Cohorts' in Slee, N., Porter, F. and Phillips, A. (Eds.) The Faith Lives of Women and Girls: Qualitative Research Perspectives, Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 51-63. Theology, Religious Studies, Sociology Page, S. (2011) 'Clergy Spouses, Identity and Expectation: Does Gender Make a Difference?', The Faith Lives of Women and Girls: Qualitative Research Perspectives - A Symposium, The Queen's Foundation, Birmingham, 25th-26th November 2011. Theology, Religious Studies, Sociology
Start Year 2011
 
Description Anglican Clergy Husbands Negotiating Class and Christianity 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Much discussion occurred about consolidating this paper into a broader research output

Development of a special issue submission on the theme of class and Christianity
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2013
 
Description Clergy mothers in the Church of England 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact This paper, based on recent doctoral research investigating priests who are mothers within the Church of England, will examine the processes of inclusion and exclusion in the sacredly masculine organisation. Based on interviews with priests aged between 31 and 54, a vast range of Church experience was captured, incorporating women who were curates, parish priests and those in senior roles at the diocesan level. Consideration will be given to issues such as women's ongoing experiences within the parish context as well as their experiences of senior posts, with a specific focus on how mothers negotiate the Church as an organisation. A fresh insight is thus offered into existing perspectives and understandings. Indeed, pertinent to this discussion will be women's experiences of maternity leave and how they are incorporated into the structures of the Church when they become a mother. It will emphasise that priests who are also mothers are marginalised vis-à-vis other priests, with discrimination arising from their status as mothers to dependent children. Already a numerical minority within women's leadership, many structural factors impact on devaluing their role, thus making it more difficult for them to participate. Interestingly, women are not encountering one overarching Church culture, but many fractured positions, highlighting the different oppositional mechanisms in place.

Stimulated thinking for further research
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
 
Description Clergy spouses, identity and expectation : does gender make a difference? 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact The clerical wife became an established role within the Church of England following the English Reformation, particularly so in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, attracting epithets such as 'unpaid curate'. However, it was not until the Church voted to allow women's ordination to the priesthood in 1992 that the gender landscape started to change, with the inclusion of men as clergy spouses. Very little research has documented how men experience life as a clergy spouse. At the same time, women's relationship to the traditional clergy spouse role has come under enormous pressure, with women's greater occupational participation. This paper will focus on female and male clergy spouses, considering what part, if any, spouses play in church life and whether gender differences can be ascertained. The data is based on twenty-five in-depth interviews with spouses across England and the paper will illuminate whether men and women derive any sense of identity from being a 'clergy spouse', whether becoming a clergy spouse affects their faith life, and whether any expectations are put on spouses to perform the role in a particular way.

This paper was delivered to a mixed audience of priests and academics (unfortunately there was no box to select that the primary audience here was not my research participants directly, but it was the 'user group' (women priests) that I had researched; the event took place at a training centre for priests). Therefore, the impact was a raising awareness of the research among a group of people who could identify with the research directly, and also generated interest from priests wanting to do sabbatical-type projects of their own on this subject.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
 
Description User-engagement event for practitioners and religious leaders on the Church of England (Researching the Church of England) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The aim of the event, "Researching the Church of England", was to showcase some of the research being undertaken at Aston University on the Anglican Church to a wider audience, especially clergy practitioners and the general public, and to generate broader conversations across varying constituents. After a series of presentations, the afternoon ended with a general discussion about future research priorities, and developed connections between practitioners and academics, leading to further conversations with, for example, churches and the research unit at the Church of England. I co-organised this event, with Dr Demelza Jones.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.aston.ac.uk/EasySiteWeb/GatewayLink.aspx?alId=324999
 
Description Workshop: Women's Religious Leadership and Family Life 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Co-led a workshop event for practitioners to discuss the interaction of family life with being in ministry. Led to much discussion, and understandings of the similarities and differences of different religious traditions.

Requests for further information about my research
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012