CLERGYWOMEN OF THE PIONEER GENERATION - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY

Women who entered Master of Divinity programs leading toward ordinatio n in the 1970s were part of the first generation of women to enter Pro testant ministry in large numbers. Utilizing a framework suggested by the work of Everett Hughes on contradictions and dilemmas of status, t his paper examines these women's experience of going first, of combini ng gender and work in a new way, particularly in settings of congregat ional ministry. The analysis is longitudinal based on interviews in th e 1970s with a sample of 30 women then enrolled in a United Methodist and a Lutheran seminary in the United States, and on interviews with t he same sample of women 15 years later.