Can the Story Be Told without Them? The Role of Women in the Student Volunteer Movement

Abstract

Too much of the history of missions has been written about the men who went to the field. Studies of Victorian missions have followed this course. While women played a pivotal role in the Protestant missionary enterprise of the late nineteenth century, their story has often been neglected. This essay analyzes the role of women in the Student Volunteer Movement and challenges historians and missiologists alike to reexamine the SVM saga in light of the contributions of women.