Male Privilege in the Church

Last week my friends over at the Junia Project posted 10 ways that male privilege manifests itself in the church. The entire post is here, and here’s the bullet-pointed list:

1. A person’s male privilege is reflected the second he wonders why people are still talking about gender.

2. Male privilege means never having your intelligence or qualifications questioned because of your gender.

3. If you apply for a pastoral staff job, you can be sure your gender won’t be an issue.

4. If you perform the same task as a woman, chances are people will think you did a better job even if the outcomes were the same.

5. The governing boards of your church and denomination will be composed mostly of people of your same gender.

6. As a man, you are more likely to be trusted with responsibilities, even if you are new to the church.

7. When you attend church meetings you can be emotional or assertive without being thought of in a negative light.

8. Biblical characters of your own gender will be featured as primary subjects and as positive examples  90% of the time in the educational curriculum.

9. You can be confident that the language used in all aspects of corporate worship will always include you.

10. God will be pictured as male and described in masculine terms 90% of the time.

I think this list is spot-on, and I’d just like to add three more:

11. You get paid more than the woman who holds your same job at the church down the block. After all, there’s a wage gap, both in the culture and in the church.

12. You won’t be scrutinized over what you decide to wear. OK, as a guy you might get Fashion Police treatment if you go really wild with the outfit, but, for the most part, men get a pass while women get the critique.

13. When you speak, people will listen closer. And, as a man, you’ll get better eye contact, people will sit straighter, minds will wander less, etc. In general, to be a man in the church (or in the larger culture) is to automatically be given respect in communication.

What about you? Can you think of other examples?