Michael Bird noted on Facebook that only 1% of presenters at the Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society are women (he counted 8/700). I wonder if anyone out there has tallied the percentile representation at AAR and SBL?
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What does this stat indicate to you, Brian?
From what I can tell, AAR and SBL are still dominated by European males.
@Bobby: It indicates enough that Michael Bird felt like writing this plea: http://www.patheos.com/community/euangelion/2011/11/07/woman-thou-art-loosed-now-get-ye-self-to-ets/
@JohnDave: Though I noticed that women do seem to a bigger part in AAR than I imagined.
Interesting. I think there ought to be more female theologians and bib scholars as well. Why do you think there isn’t? I think a nature and nurture discussion might be apropos.
@Bobby: In ETS it may be due to the dominance of those who hold stricter views on the role of women. It is hard to find a place in a society, presenting a paper, when you know people may not come hear you because of your gender or they may give you less credence for the same reason. I’m not sure if that is 100% of the reason, but it probably has a lot to do with it.
I know more than one woman who would be more active in ETS if it were not for the fact that there is a faction within the organization that is convinced that women have no business being a part of the group, or who contend that women must be under some type of male leadership.
@Tim: Doesn’t surprise me.
@Brian,
No doubt. I think it’s nurture which has impacted nature in this case. I think the Evangelical sub-culture discourages women from thinking theologically, and deeply; there is no incentive, vocationally or even personally. I am complementarian—no surprise there—but I have no problem with female scholarship in the realm of theology; I see this as vocationally different than the office of elder/pastor.
@Bobby: I assume that some within ETS would see even the reading of a paper as some sort of “teaching of men”. Likewise, I assume they are the minority, but this statistic may indicate their impact is greater than their numbers.
Brian,
I assume you’re right about that; in fact I know of some who would see it like that. Minorities in a group are often the most vocal, on either end of a spectrum.