Called to the ministry: Narratives of career choice amongst female pastors in South Africa

Abstract

There is a noted shift in society, characterised often by women’s entry, especially in careers that may traditionally be the domain of men. This shift may be responsible for challenging the old order of thinking. For instance, Cooper (1995)’s values of ‘strength, robustness, boldness, stoutness, bravery’ (pp. 146–147) may be questioned as to their relevance to men alone. Some (e.g. Gagnon & Sandoval, 2020) argue for the need to question the relevance in contemporary society of gender stereotyping with their argument being for the need for inclusivity as is being performed in the career paths in the sciences and technology. Part of this process concerns exploring pay differences between women and men (Albrecht, Bronson, Thoursiec, & Vroman, 2018). The process also entails understanding continually those barriers affecting the career development of minority groups such as women.