Occupational Gender Inequality among American Clergy, 1976–2016: Revisiting the Stained-Glass Ceiling

Organizational Resources and the Gender Gap in Congregational Lay Leadership

“…For example, women are more likely to be executives in weakly performing Fortune 500 companies (Cook and Glass 2014) or in companies with lower sales and fewer assets (Brady et al 2011). 3 The glass cliff pattern is replicated within religious denominations that allow women's ordination, though it is often called the stained-glass ceiling (Adams 2007;Schleifer and Miller 2018;Sullins 2000). Women clergy are less likely to lead large, well-resourced congregations and are more likely to be tracked into lower-status positions, such as assistant clergy or the head clergy of small, rural, or declining congregations (Carroll, Hargrove, and Lummis 1983;Konieczny and Chaves 2000;Nesbitt 1993;Schleifer and Miller 2018;Sullins 2000).…”

Are Bivocational Clergy Becoming the New Normal? An Analysis of the Current Population Survey, 1996–2017

“…Once these high‐earners are accounted for, clergy incomes have actually increased relative to the general population. There is also evidence that female clergy, who experience a pay gap compared to their male counterparts, have been gaining ground in terms of compensation over time (Schleifer and Miller ; see also Ferguson ).…”

“…Specifically, research suggests that clergy who are female, black, and live in more sparsely populated areas experience an income gap relative to other clergy, mimicking the income processes these groups experience in the broader population (Carroll ; Condon ; Hartzell et al. ; Miles and Proeschold‐Bell ; Schleifer and Miller ; Zech ). Consequently, we expect that these clergy are more likely to face the sorts of economic disadvantages that would necessitate them taking on a second job and that these disadvantages may be increasing over time.…”

“…Consequently, we expect that these clergy are more likely to face the sorts of economic disadvantages that would necessitate them taking on a second job and that these disadvantages may be increasing over time. Related to this, unmarried clergy would likely experience increasing pressure to take on a second job since these clergy are often paid less than married clergy (Schleifer and Chaves ; Schleifer and Miller ) and they would not have a spouse to provide another potential source of income (McMillan and Price ). Thus, we expect to see a positive trend in the percentage of unmarried clergy working additional jobs.…”

“…On the one hand, some research suggests that an oversupply of clergy in an area may depress wages, such that clergy would feel more pressure to take on a second job (Chang ; Chang and Bompadre ; Clarke ). Because clergy are more concentrated in the southern “Bible Belt” of the United States, this might contribute to the lower relative wages that clergy in the South receive compared to those in other parts of the country (Schleifer and Miller ). Therefore, we might expect that clergy in this region would feel increasing pressure to take on second jobs.…”