Challenges of Single Ordained Women Ministers in the Presbyterian Church of Ghana

Abstract

In the Presbyterian Church of Ghana every woman is expected to marry because within the Ghanaian culture marriage is believed to confer on a woman a high degree of respectability. Again, women who decide to remain single for one reason or the other are looked upon with suspicion that they sleep around with men. In some instances some men take sexual advantage of the single women. Even if a woman is ordained and manages her affairs successfully without a man the negative perceptions on single women affect them and their work as ministers. Indeed such negative perception on single women has so much affected the mindset of the congregational members of the Presbyterian church of Ghana that some congregations feel so reluctant to accept ordained women ministers as their congregational leaders. Even the single ordained women ministers who lead congregations feel uncomfortable working so closely with their male counterparts for fear that they will be accused of sleeping around with men. This paper examines the challenges that ordained women ministers face in the Presbyterian church of Ghana. It examines how the existing structure which in my opinion is very patriarchal helps in maintaining such stereotype of ordained single women in the church. Again, the cultural, religious and moral bases for such stereotyping of single women are examined.