Study reveals barriers in women’s path to leadership and equal pay in Protestant churches

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – A new study from Associate Professor Brad Fulton at the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs and colleagues from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IU Indianapolis shows that although women face barriers to obtain leadership positions and equitable compensation in Protestant churches,  solutions to this problem may already be in place to produce change from the bottom-up.

In an article published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, “Barriers Inhibiting Women's Path to the Pulpit and the Gender Gap in Compensation,” Fulton and colleagues Young-joo Lee and David King analyzed data from the National Study of Congregations’ Economic Practices to examine the gender gap in Protestant churches’ leadership and its connection to head clergy compensation.

The data show that women are less likely to hold senior clergy roles in Protestant churches, and when they do, it tends to be in theologically liberal churches or those with declining membership. This trend keeps women from pulpits with greater compensation or prestige.

Church size also tends to drive compensation, and the underrepresentation of women in larger churches’ leadership amplifies the gender pay gap.

However, data suggests that demographic diversity in a congregation and the resulting expectation of diversity in leadership can create “bottom-up” pressure for greater equity in leadership. Congregations with a greater percentage of women among their members are more likely to have a woman as their lead pastor, as do congregations with a higher percentage of college graduates.

Increased bottom-up pressure could lead to more opportunities and better compensation for clergywomen in the future.

The National Study of Congregations’ Economic Practices, which was funded by the Lilly Endowment, is a nationally representative survey of 1,231 congregations designed to assess the financial state of congregations in the U.S. It is the most comprehensive study of how congregations receive, manage, and spend their financial resources.

Media Contact

Ken Bikoff, Faculty Liaison and Public Relations Officer
Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs | Indiana University
onnews@iu.edu

About the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs

The O’Neill School is a world leader in public and environmental affairs and is the largest school of public administration and public policy in the United States. In the 2024-25 U.S. News & World Report "Best Graduate School" rankings, the O'Neill School is listed as having the top Master of Public Affairs among public universities and ranks #2 overall out of 271 public and private institutions. In addition, the O’Neill School’s Bloomington campus received #1 rankings in the specialty areas of environmental policy and management, nonprofit management, public finance and budgeting, and public management and leadership.