Assessing Women's Leadership in the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda :

Challenges and Opportunities for Governance

Résumé

This paper assesses the challenges and opportunities for woman leadership within the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda, specifically in governance roles. Drawing upon a document analysis and survey, the study examines the barriers faced by women leaders within the presbyterian church in attaining to leadership positions and the opportunities available for their advancement. It discusses two positions about the correct roles for females in church leadership and rejects the complementarian position, which believes that women should not be allowed to participate in leadership positions initially reserved for males. This study supports the egalitarian position, which asserts that men and women should share equally in church leadership. Though presbyterian women face various challenges, like the low number of women with theological degrees and their cultural context, they are now in different church leadership positions. The Presbyterian Church in Rwanda has a good number of opportunities available to women, including access to theological training, eldership, and deaconship. This study shows that empowering women within the church not only benefits the individual women themselves but also enriches the entire faith community and contributes to the church’s mission of serving the broader society. The study recommends that the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda should continue to expand access to theological education for women by offering scholarship support for their studies, implementing policies and practices that promote gender equality within its governance, and creating opportunities for women leaders to collaborate and network with one another, as well as with women leaders from other denominations and organisations.