Who We Are

Our mission is to challenge The United Methodist Church at all levels to work for full and equal participation of women in the total life of the denomination, including ordination of women, equal access to policy-making and recognition that Jesus Christ calls men and women alike to salvation, liberation, discipleship and service in church and society.

GCSRW history: The Journey is Our Home

GCSRW Mission Statement

Our mission is to challenge The United Methodist Church at all levels to work for full and equal participation of women in the total life of the denomination, including ordination of women, equal access to policy-making and recognition that Jesus Christ calls men and women alike to salvation, liberation, discipleship and service in church and society.

The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women—and its equivalent structures in annual conferences, districts and local churches—functions as an ADVOCATE on behalf of women and girls in the denomination; serves as a CATALYST for positive change, calling the church to redress inequities of the past and prevent further inequities and gender bias against women (individually and collectively) in the church; and MONITORS United Methodist structures, policy-making bodies and related agencies to ensure inclusiveness in the TOTAL life of the United Methodist church.

Specifically, the Commission:

• Monitors agencies, annual conferences, seminaries and church policy-making bodies for gender bias, and recommends ways to address institutional sexism as expressed throughout the church.
• Conducts research and gathers data on the participation of women in the church in order to chart the denomination’s progress in eradicating institutional sexism and to discover areas where institutional sexism still exists.
• Supports annual conference commissions (or equivalent bodies) in addressing sexism and supporting the full participation of women at the regional and local-church level.
• Recommends plans, curricula and theological studies to support new understandings of theological and biblical history that speak to the status of women in church and society, and that point to the unique spiritual gifts of women.
• Challenges the church to use inclusive imagery for God and for humanity, and to consider historical, biblical and theological scholarship that supports a rich diversity of names and images for our God.
• Advocates openness to women’s participation, ideas and administrative and theological perspectives—including those of racial/ethnic women and women from outside the United States--as they contribute to the mission of the total church.
• Offers confidential support and advocates for victims of-- and offers training for bishops, district superintendents, agency management, staff and board members on issues of--sexual discrimination, harassment, abuse and misconduct. Further, the Commission cooperates with other agencies in the denomination to ensure that every church and related entity is a “safe sanctuary,” where women, children, teens and men may worship, work and fellowship without fear of sexual abuse, harassment or discrimination. (To report an incident of sexual misconduct by a clergyperson or lay professional call toll free 800.523.8390.)
• Raises awareness in the church about the emerging concerns of women and groups composed largely of women, such as clergy spouses and families.

Our Organization

The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women is one of 14 churchwide agencies of The United Methodist Church, which is financed through the World Service Fund (apportioned giving from local congregations). It is one of two independent commissions (the other is the General Commission on Religion and Race) charged with advocating, monitoring and challenging the church to seek justice and inclusiveness. The Commission is accountable to the General Conference, and is a member of the Connectional Table, the denomination’s body for coordinating the program and administrative life of the churchwide agencies.

The Commission is governed by a 43-member board of directors, representing annual conferences in the United States and beyond. Elected every four years, the board engages in a rigorous self-study to ensure that our members represent the diversity of The United Methodist Church, including laity and clergy, youth and young adults, older adults, racial/ethnic women and men, persons with disabilities and regional representation.

Commission bylaws stipulate that the board president must be a woman, and members work to ensure that clergypersons and laypersons are equally represented as leaders in the agency.

Our officers for the 2005-08 quadrennium are:

• Mary Virginia “Dindy” Taylor, president. Dindy was elected bishop in 2004, and is episcopal leader of the South Carolina Conference.
• Eva Thai, vice president, a laywoman from the California Pacific Conference.
• Dianne Spencer, secretary, a laywoman from Decatur, Ga.

The Commission’s headquarters is in Chicago, Ill. Staff members are:

• M. Garlinda Burton, General Secretary. Contact her regarding sexual ethics training for churchwide agencies or annual conference cabinets; for confidential advice/support for victims of sexual harassment or abuse; to secure a workshop leader or presenter on institutional sexism, the intersection of racism and sexism and other forms of bias.
• S. Kim Coffing, Assistant General Secretary for Education and Advocacy. Contact her for help in organizing your annual conference or district Commission on the Status and Role of Women; for educational or training resources on institutional sexism; resources about feminist theology and resources on inclusive language; information about annual conference Response Teams; for ideas on supporting clergywomen and clergy spouses and families.
• Elaine Moy, Assistant General Secretary for Finance and Administration. Contact her for information on GCSRW research projects; to learn about or contribute to our Advocacy for Women Endowment Fund; for help and resources on monitoring church events and policy-making bodies for inclusiveness; for training on monitoring.
• LeeAnn Goldman, Administrative Assistant. Contact her to subscribe to The Flyer (the Commission’s quarterly newsletter), or to order Commission brochures, and for general questions about the Commission’s upcoming events.
• Heather Peck Stahl, Communications Coordinator and Editor of The Flyer. Contact her with news, information and announcements for The Flyer or the bimonthly enewsletter, eFlyer, and issues concerning the website.

(To contact a staff member by email, click on the person's name).

Ways GCSRW serves women and the church

Advocate

As advocates, we speak on behalf of women so that they may claim their rightful place in decision-making arenas in the church. Our advocacy aims to ensure that the church benefits from the wisdom, life experience, and perspectives of women.

• We believe that an advocate stands alongside and shares the pain and joy of women.
• We work with women individually in the church—lay, clergy, employed, and volunteer—who experience gender-based harassment or disparate treatment.
• We take the initiative to make changes collectively on behalf of all women and special groups, such as laywomen, racial ethnic women, and clergywomen.

Catalyst

As a catalyst, we work simultaneously within the structures of the church and with women:

• We seek to raise awareness of ways in which women are not fully included in the life of the church and to spark new perceptions and ways of being women in the church.
• We inspire new women leaders to find their places in our denomination.
• We train women to act as catalysts in their own arenas on behalf of themselves and other women.

Monitor

As monitor, we examine the ongoing life and commitment of the church to the full and equal participation of women.

• We conduct a quadrennial survey of women’s participation in local churches.
• We monitor decisions and policies that affect women, including those at General Conference.
• We monitor for gender inclusiveness through on-site reviews of UM institutions and gatherings.

Throughout all our work, we model alternative ways of conducting it. To foster openness and careful reflection, we use consensus style of decision-making in our meetings.

Timeline of women’s empowerment in the United Methodist Church and predecessor churches

1819 - Missionary and Bible Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church established with auxiliary New York Female Missionary Society

1869-98 - Societies for women active in mission created by several Methodist denominations, including: Methodist Episcopal; United Brethren; Methodist Episcopal, South; Methodist Protestant; African Methodist Episcopal Zion; Evangelical Association; and African Methodist Episcopal Zion.

1892 - First women delegates seated at the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church; in 1893, at the General Conference of the United Brethren in Christ Church; in 1904, at the Methodist Episcopal Church (where women were also granted laity rights); and in 1922, at the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

1901 - First clergywoman delegate seated at the General Conference of the United Brethren of Christ Church.

1956 - Women in the Methodist Church granted full clergy rights.

1968 - The United Methodist Church is created through union of the former Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren churches. New denomination affirms full clergy rights for women.

1972 - General Conference of the United Methodist Church creates an action-oriented commission to address the discrimination against women at all levels of the denomination.

1976 - General Conference establishes the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women as a standing commission.

1980 - the North Central Jurisdiction elects The Rev. Marjorie Matthews the first woman bishop in The United Methodist Church.

1984 - The Western Jurisdiction elects the Rev. Leontine T.C. Kelly, an African American, as the UMC’s first woman of color bishop.

2000 - General Conference reaffirms the need to pursue full participation of all women in the denomination and outlines a vision for working toward that goal.

2004 - The Western Jurisdiction elects the Rev. Minerva Carcaño as the denomination’s first Latina bishop. A total of six women are elected as bishops, the largest number of women ever elected in a single year.

Values that shape the Commission

• The full inclusion of women, especially those who are on the margins of the church and society.
• Our call to be a prophetic voice for women, as we work in a style that is collaborative and hospitable.
• Our commitment to research about the issues that affect women, including quantitative and qualitative data that help to educate the church about the status of women.
• As advocate for women in the church and society.

Theology grounded in the gospel

The life and work of the Commission are grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Judeo-Christian scriptures. Within that Word is expressed God’s profound desire for justice and peace.

Genesis: The creation stories tell of God making female and male in God’s own image. God placed them in the garden to work in harmonious partnership.

Old Testament prophets: They call for justice, speak out against inequities, and stand with the oppressed and marginalized.

Jesus Christ: Christ, our inspiration, had women as friends, disciples and witnesses, challenged the conventional sexism (a belief that women are inferior and men are superior) of his time.

Apostle Paul: He calls the people of God to create a world where the gifts of both women and men are celebrated and used, where “there is neither male nor female, but all are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

In many ways the church, the body of Christ, has followed the world by embracing the sin of sexism, rather than living out of the scriptural vision of justice and mutuality.

The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women (GCSRW) stands as the UMC’s confession of its participation in this sin and as the church’s commitment to embrace more fully the promise of the gospel: Abundance of life for all persons.

Our History

The 1972 General Conference of the United Methodist Church established the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women. This came after a 1968 report from the Women's Society of Christian Service (now Women’s Division, United Methodist Women) asked the church to create a study commission to document the involvement—or lack of involvement—of women in the total life of the church.

The new commission was mandated for 1973-1976 to raise awareness of the challenges women faced in becoming full participants in the church at all levels, from roadblocks to ordination as clergy to impediments to women as voting delegates at the annual conference and churchwide agency level.

Bishop Kenneth W. Copeland convened the first meeting of the Commission on the Status and Role of Women Sept. 18, 1972. Barbara Ricks Thompson, who later became the general secretary of the General Commission on Religion and Race, was elected president of the new commission. From the beginning, Commission members were concerned about their style of working together. They wanted to avoid the rigidity and legalisms of the Robert’s Rules of Order approach. . . . They expressed their intention to work by consensus as much as possible and to use parliamentary procedure only when necessary. (To this day the Commission operates by consensus.)

In spring 1973, the Commission elected Nancy Grissom Self and Judith Leaming-Elmer as a two-person Executive Secretariat (later called the “General Secretariat, and comprising three persons), an unprecedented model of shared leadership among church executives that would endure for three decades, until the financial and logistical challenges would lead the Commission to consolidate leadership into a single General Secretary.

Racism and its relationship to sexism was tops on the first Commission’s agenda. The concerns and struggles of racial/ethnic women were addressed in the task force on Third World Women. The first Hispanic women’s conference in the church was held during that first quadrennium. In 1974, a joint task force including members and staff of the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women and the General Commission on Religion and Race was organized.

Also during that time, the Women’s Commission developed a talent bank to help groups within the church who were seeking women for employment. In 1975, the Commission and the Division of Ordained Ministry co-sponsored the first Consultation of Ordained Women, as a way to support clergywomen who were often isolated in their assignments. The Commission also recommended to the denomination’s Curriculum Resources Committee a resource on the changing roles of women and men in the life of the church.

The Commission’s report to the 1976 General Conference included statistical information on the participation of laywomen and clergywomen in the church, an extensive report about the findings and accomplishments of the new commission. As a result, General Conference delegates voted to make the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women a permanent and ongoing agency of the denomination. The purpose, as stated in the Book of Discipline, was to challenge The United Methodist Church “to a continuing commitment to the full and equal responsibility and participation of women in the total life and mission of the Church, sharing fully in the power and in the policy making at all level.”

--Adapted from The Journey is Our Home. A History of the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women by Carolyn Henniger Oehler. Order copies from the Commission office.