Where Are The Women?

Kristen Welch is one of the most
influential faith bloggers I know.

Last night I read a list that got me quite a bit fired up. It was a list by Kent Shaffer on the site Church Relevance of the Top 200 Church Blogs. I was directed to the list by Ed Stetzer, President of Lifeway Research and someone I greatly respect. He amusingly and truthfully called it “a list of blogging Calvinists with some others mixed in”. Being a Calvinist myself who reads a lot of Calvinist blogs, I popped over to check out the list.

The title of this list is misleading. By calling it “Church blogs” I would expect blogs that were more corporate in nature, representing specific ministries and church bodies, but this list would be more accurately called Top Faith Bloggers or Top Christian Leader Blogs. A quick scan of the list shows that they are mostly maintained by a single author who is by their definition “many of today’s most influential church leaders, journalists, theologians, and Christ followers.”

But there’s one big, glaringly obvious problem I saw from a quick scan of the list of two hundred blogs, ranked purely by statistics. There are very very few women included.

Shaun Groves: mom blogger?

I will credit Sarah Bessey for first drawing my attention to this fact, but it’s so amazingly obvious that I went so far as to call it “an insanely sexist list” upon first reading. Out of two hundred blogs there are only six that are specifically authored by women. One of those is ranked third chiefly because it is on the USA Today platform so its traffic blows the roof off most personally maintained blogs.

Categorizing blogs is a tough thing to do sometimes because like people, they are complicated, nuanced and ever evolving. In my mind, anyone who writes about God, church or religion regularly could be called a “faith blogger” even if they also write about culture, news or even parenting issues.

I thought maybe they had specifically not included writers who might fall into the category of “mom bloggers”. But of the blogs I was familiar with (which were a LOT of them) I noticed Nicole Cottrell and Shaun Groves on the list. Shaun is a self-proclaimed “mom blogger”, I guess because he contributes over at Simple Mom and does write about his kids fairly often. Neither would be foremost classified as mom bloggers, but honestly neither would many many other moms of faith who blog and have large readerships. Shaun jumped into the conversation on Twitter last night, pointing out that Kent Shaffer’s list is largely based on another list he said that required bloggers to submit their blogs for ranking. I immediately noticed Ann Voskamp was on that other list but was notably absent from Kent Shaffer’s list. If she’s not an influential Christ follower, I don’t know who is. Ann jumped in to add that she didn’t believe she had ever signed up for such a list, which Ed Stetzer also claimed.

Melissa Fitzpatrick shared my frustration with the absence of women on the list. We both agreed with Shaun that these lists in and of themselves are meaningless, but perhaps this list reflects something larger going on in the community of faith.

I’ve heard women like Rachel Held Evans and Sarah Bessey talk a lot about how often women’s voices are drowned out in the church. How we simply don’t get a seat at the table. Yes, Rachel and Sarah are egalitarians.

I would not call myself egalitarian but I also hesitate to call myself a complementarian either. Yes, I’m pretty firmly a member of the reformed camp but I balk at the idea of John Piper’s “masculine Christianity” and I’ve come to dislike the term “biblical womanhood” as well. I think scripture is pretty clear about the role of men as shepherds of a congregation and I think men are given primary responsibility and therefore authority of a family. I also think historical culture influenced scripture and the nature of our society (non agricultural, for example) has changed a lot of the roles of husbands and wives. I have no problem with women working and dads staying home with kids or vice versa. Ok that’s a whole other blog post for another day.

However I have perceived a massive lack of female leadership in the church. Women need other women to look to for mentorship, as role models, and yes…as leaders. I need women that I can point to and say “I want to be like HER when I grow up.” I can think of a few prominent names…Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, Mother Theresa…but we need more and we need to shine the spotlight on them and give them a voice and a platform.

The blogosphere has started to do that. Women faith bloggers are major influencers whether they intend to be or not. For the most part, they do intend to be. Some have a very poetic style of writing but the thoughts and issues discussed are no less deep, spiritual and challenging than the likes of the Gospel Coalition writers. Women write differently, most of the time, but they are no less influential in the blogosphere than their male counterparts. In fact marketers would argue that they are more influential when it comes to buying decisions.

I was truly hearted to see a list the other day of 20 Women Leaders Under 40 You Should Know by Brad Lomenick. This is a great step in the right direction. I want to be like THESE women! I read many of their blogs and books all the time. If it weren’t for Lindsey Nobles I never would have read Michael Hyatt. And I promise you Jen Hatmaker and Katie Davis have influenced me in a huge, life changing way that I’ll be writing about soon. (stay tuned!)

So what I’d like to see is an equal acknowledgment and promotion of the voices and leadership of men and women in our wonderful, imperfect, passionate faith community.

Your turn: what female faith bloggers do you absolutely love to read? 

Author: Sarah

Mom of three. Triathlete.

56 thoughts on “Where Are The Women?”

  1. Sarah, I really relate to your discomfort with both egalitarianism and complementarianism. You’re just my style!

    Why don’t you put together a list of your favorite faith bloggers (male and female)? I would definitely read it. I’m not as informed as I’d like to be on who the really good ones are.

  2. Sarah, I really relate to your discomfort with both egalitarianism and complementarianism. You’re just my style!

    Why don’t you put together a list of your favorite faith bloggers (male and female)? I would definitely read it. I’m not as informed as I’d like to be on who the really good ones are.

  3. Sarah, I really relate to your discomfort with both egalitarianism and complementarianism. You’re just my style!

    Why don’t you put together a list of your favorite faith bloggers (male and female)? I would definitely read it. I’m not as informed as I’d like to be on who the really good ones are.

  4. Hm…I suppose I *could* do that, although I’m sure I’d end up leaving someone out unintentionally! But at least it would be just my own humble opinion. It would also need big disclaimers, lol, like “I love reading these people but sometimes I TOTALLY disagree with them”. 

  5. Hm…I suppose I *could* do that, although I’m sure I’d end up leaving someone out unintentionally! But at least it would be just my own humble opinion. It would also need big disclaimers, lol, like “I love reading these people but sometimes I TOTALLY disagree with them”. 

  6. Hm…I suppose I *could* do that, although I’m sure I’d end up leaving someone out unintentionally! But at least it would be just my own humble opinion. It would also need big disclaimers, lol, like “I love reading these people but sometimes I TOTALLY disagree with them”. 

  7. Good job. Kind, reasonable perspective. Thank for that.

    For the record, I don’t know how Kent makes his list. I THINK (because it’s structured so similarly) that it’s based on that list by INVESP I mentioned to you. But I don’t know. I have asked and will let you know what Kent says when I hear from him

    Ann is on the INVESP list because I signed her up for it. I believe in her and more importantly, I believe what she believes, and I want more people to know her and her words. Getting her on that list is just one way to get her a bit more attention. Maybe. I hope.

    Perhaps someone signed Ed up as well?

    On my to-do list today (thanks to you) is to sign up all the great bloggers I work with at Compassion Bloggers – male and female – if they’re not already on it. It take sup to a year to be ranked once you’re signed up so by this time next year that INVESP list should look pretty different.

  8. Good job. Kind, reasonable perspective. Thank for that.

    For the record, I don’t know how Kent makes his list. I THINK (because it’s structured so similarly) that it’s based on that list by INVESP I mentioned to you. But I don’t know. I have asked and will let you know what Kent says when I hear from him

    Ann is on the INVESP list because I signed her up for it. I believe in her and more importantly, I believe what she believes, and I want more people to know her and her words. Getting her on that list is just one way to get her a bit more attention. Maybe. I hope.

    Perhaps someone signed Ed up as well?

    On my to-do list today (thanks to you) is to sign up all the great bloggers I work with at Compassion Bloggers – male and female – if they’re not already on it. It take sup to a year to be ranked once you’re signed up so by this time next year that INVESP list should look pretty different.

  9. Good job. Kind, reasonable perspective. Thank for that.

    For the record, I don’t know how Kent makes his list. I THINK (because it’s structured so similarly) that it’s based on that list by INVESP I mentioned to you. But I don’t know. I have asked and will let you know what Kent says when I hear from him

    Ann is on the INVESP list because I signed her up for it. I believe in her and more importantly, I believe what she believes, and I want more people to know her and her words. Getting her on that list is just one way to get her a bit more attention. Maybe. I hope.

    Perhaps someone signed Ed up as well?

    On my to-do list today (thanks to you) is to sign up all the great bloggers I work with at Compassion Bloggers – male and female – if they’re not already on it. It take sup to a year to be ranked once you’re signed up so by this time next year that INVESP list should look pretty different.

  10. Well reasoned, Sarah, without being alarmist. You’re exactly right. The church would be richer for including the experiences and voices of women among the faithful. Just because every few posts includes real life anecdotes doesn’t preclude one from being an influential faith blogger. And many Christian female bloggers would blow those guys out of the water in terms of traffic….

  11. Well reasoned, Sarah, without being alarmist. You’re exactly right. The church would be richer for including the experiences and voices of women among the faithful. Just because every few posts includes real life anecdotes doesn’t preclude one from being an influential faith blogger. And many Christian female bloggers would blow those guys out of the water in terms of traffic….

  12. Well reasoned, Sarah, without being alarmist. You’re exactly right. The church would be richer for including the experiences and voices of women among the faithful. Just because every few posts includes real life anecdotes doesn’t preclude one from being an influential faith blogger. And many Christian female bloggers would blow those guys out of the water in terms of traffic….

  13. Great post, and thanks to Sarah Bessey for tweeting it!  I’m going to have to check out the lists, but it is very disappointing–only 6 out of 200?!  Really?!

  14. Great post, and thanks to Sarah Bessey for tweeting it!  I’m going to have to check out the lists, but it is very disappointing–only 6 out of 200?!  Really?!

  15. Great post, and thanks to Sarah Bessey for tweeting it!  I’m going to have to check out the lists, but it is very disappointing–only 6 out of 200?!  Really?!

  18. My take is that women need even more encouragement in ministry because they are not only trying to discern God’s calling, which is tough enough, but they also have to deal with a lot of negativity and criticism from men who question their callings for a variety of reasons.

    You can find some great women who are leaders and talented bloggers at my blog’s Women in Ministry Series (see http://www.inamirrordmly.com) or just search for it on Twitter at #WIMSeries. My goal is to create a conversation that is fully committed to the complete equality of women in the church and aims to merely tell the stories of women who have been discerning God’s calling for their lives. We’re not debating or arguing. We’re just a group committed to the equality of women and creating an affirming discussion. 

    I only started to support women in ministry when I started to listen to the stories of women who had been in ministry. I trust the same will go for others. 

  19. My take is that women need even more encouragement in ministry because they are not only trying to discern God’s calling, which is tough enough, but they also have to deal with a lot of negativity and criticism from men who question their callings for a variety of reasons.

    You can find some great women who are leaders and talented bloggers at my blog’s Women in Ministry Series (see http://www.inamirrordmly.com) or just search for it on Twitter at #WIMSeries. My goal is to create a conversation that is fully committed to the complete equality of women in the church and aims to merely tell the stories of women who have been discerning God’s calling for their lives. We’re not debating or arguing. We’re just a group committed to the equality of women and creating an affirming discussion. 

    I only started to support women in ministry when I started to listen to the stories of women who had been in ministry. I trust the same will go for others. 

  20. My take is that women need even more encouragement in ministry because they are not only trying to discern God’s calling, which is tough enough, but they also have to deal with a lot of negativity and criticism from men who question their callings for a variety of reasons.

    You can find some great women who are leaders and talented bloggers at my blog’s Women in Ministry Series (see http://www.inamirrordmly.com) or just search for it on Twitter at #WIMSeries. My goal is to create a conversation that is fully committed to the complete equality of women in the church and aims to merely tell the stories of women who have been discerning God’s calling for their lives. We’re not debating or arguing. We’re just a group committed to the equality of women and creating an affirming discussion. 

    I only started to support women in ministry when I started to listen to the stories of women who had been in ministry. I trust the same will go for others. 

  21.  Good thoughts here!  As someone who LOVES to read blogs and who is daily encouraged in my faith by the blogs of other women out – I’d say women have a wonderful ministry in blogging  – although just like so much of mothering goes unnoticed..  perhaps it is true of really great blogging..  women blog, and others are encouraged and that is that..  Although I agree w/ the person below – you should create your own list of influential female blogs!  🙂 

  22.  Good thoughts here!  As someone who LOVES to read blogs and who is daily encouraged in my faith by the blogs of other women out – I’d say women have a wonderful ministry in blogging  – although just like so much of mothering goes unnoticed..  perhaps it is true of really great blogging..  women blog, and others are encouraged and that is that..  Although I agree w/ the person below – you should create your own list of influential female blogs!  🙂 

  23.  Good thoughts here!  As someone who LOVES to read blogs and who is daily encouraged in my faith by the blogs of other women out – I’d say women have a wonderful ministry in blogging  – although just like so much of mothering goes unnoticed..  perhaps it is true of really great blogging..  women blog, and others are encouraged and that is that..  Although I agree w/ the person below – you should create your own list of influential female blogs!  🙂 

  24. I think the argument about traffic alone is what struck me the most about this. Having been deeply enmeshed in the “mom blogging as a business” community for quite some time I know a thing or two about analytics and I know lots of women whose numbers would make the vast majority of those guys envious. I’m a numbers gal so I studied the traffic and PR data on that list pretty closely. 

  25. I think the argument about traffic alone is what struck me the most about this. Having been deeply enmeshed in the “mom blogging as a business” community for quite some time I know a thing or two about analytics and I know lots of women whose numbers would make the vast majority of those guys envious. I’m a numbers gal so I studied the traffic and PR data on that list pretty closely. 

  26. I think the argument about traffic alone is what struck me the most about this. Having been deeply enmeshed in the “mom blogging as a business” community for quite some time I know a thing or two about analytics and I know lots of women whose numbers would make the vast majority of those guys envious. I’m a numbers gal so I studied the traffic and PR data on that list pretty closely. 

  27. I think the argument about traffic alone is what struck me the most about this. Having been deeply enmeshed in the “mom blogging as a business” community for quite some time I know a thing or two about analytics and I know lots of women whose numbers would make the vast majority of those guys envious. I’m a numbers gal so I studied the traffic and PR data on that list pretty closely. 

  28. Thanks Shaun…I suspect you may be correct that someone else signed Ed up for the list. And I love the point you made about women not writing to win. This is especially true among Christian women who view their writing first as ministry and second as a source of income. 

  29. Thanks Shaun…I suspect you may be correct that someone else signed Ed up for the list. And I love the point you made about women not writing to win. This is especially true among Christian women who view their writing first as ministry and second as a source of income. 

  30. Thanks Shaun…I suspect you may be correct that someone else signed Ed up for the list. And I love the point you made about women not writing to win. This is especially true among Christian women who view their writing first as ministry and second as a source of income. 

  31. Thanks Shaun…I suspect you may be correct that someone else signed Ed up for the list. And I love the point you made about women not writing to win. This is especially true among Christian women who view their writing first as ministry and second as a source of income. 

  35. I think our stories are so important and they need to be told. I believe that both other women and men alike can learn and be edified greatly just by being willing to listen to the stories of women of faith. While I don’t necessarily agree with the need for complete equality of women in the church in terms of women filling every role, I think we do need more emphasis on equality in terms of worth and value. Thanks for your great comment! 

  38. What’s crazy about this to me is that Ann already has a serious voice. A bestselling book. (Been on several bestseller lists for a while now.) An extremely active and passionate blog following. A strong speaking career. There is absolutely no reason she should not have been included in this list. I love that you are so supportive of Ann, Shaun, but based on numbers alone she should be making these kinds of lists without any help. 

    I have a bit of a competitive streak, so I keep a pretty close eye on my numbers and those of other bloggers. My numbers and Ann’s are better than a lot of these guys. 

  39. I saw the same list by Kent Shaffer and had the same reaction. I’m glad I’m not the only one. There are some mighty fine women bloggers and church leaders out there that aren’t under 40 and aren’t recognized by anyone either. I count myself in that group.

  41. Yep I totally agree…Ann is one of the most glaring omissions in my book. She shouldn’t have to submit herself for a list that purports itself as the “top church blogs”. That should be a given. 

  44. I wonder if part of this is because of our underlying cultural perception that the audience for female writers is women and the audience for male writers is both men and women. Though this is true in our general culture, it’s particularly true in Christian culture with our historical sense of gender roles. So a writer like Ann Voskamp, though she’s writing to a wide audience, could be easily pigeon-holed as a “woman writer,” which implies that her work is not for men. This list makes me both sad and frustrated–as a college professor in English, I can say that it’s always been an uphill battle for women (I’m teaching a class right now called “Reading Women Writers”) but we’ve made great strides in the last several decades–except, it seems, in the church. In my opinion, that’s ridiculous. Thanks for your measured response (and thanks to Sarah Bessey for tweeting it!)

  47. Yeah it is.  Even 8 is still less than half a percent!  I KNOW there are great female Christian bloggers out there; I come across their blogs all the time.

  52. I guess I’m not familiar with that perception. In my experience women do primarily write for women but men also primarily write for a male audience…it just so happens that enlightened women are more likely to pick up a book (or read a blog) written by a man than vice versa. 

  54. The list was based on AdAge’s Power 150: http://adage.com/power150/

    I’ve only referenced Invesp to look for blogs that I may have missed. I try to look for new blogs on my own, but recommendations are the best way for me to discover new blogs to evaluate.

  55. Yeah, I’m the same way….which is why the list seems off. I keep a pretty close eye on how my stats/ad impressions compare to some of those Reformed guys. 🙂 

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