Male mentor midwives for Black female religious leadership

Abstract

An African proverb says, “I am because we are.” This proverb reflects the importance of individual and communal relationships that help to form and shape us. The Black Lives Matter guiding principle of the “Black Village” also emphasizes the importance of the collective village that takes care of each other. This article reflects on the praxis of being mentored by caring mentors and being a caring teaching mentor to others. I write as a male who has served as a guide, gatekeeper, companion, and midwife for Black women in spaces where male leadership is the assumed norm. I seek to challenge, inspire, and inform other men and women who are still tethered to hegemonic patriarchal notions of masculinity that fracture the potential of women who are on their journeys of “becoming” all the Creator intends. I intentionally select the image of a male mentor as “midwife,” a feminine image associated with the birthing process, to disrupt toxic masculinity as a strategy for gaining or maintaining cultural and political power. My thesis is that males who are actively deconstructing the sexist temptation to objectify and marginalize women and who engender trust can serve in the Black Village of caring and collaborative relationships, exercising the magic of midwifery to assist female religious leaders on their journeys of realizing their sacred potential. To risk being guide, gatekeeper, midwife, and companion on the journey with others is a holy transformative privilege and responsibility.