The percentage of women who serve as senior pastors in churches across America has doubled in the past decade, according to a new survey by the Barna Group.
That means one in 10 U.S. churches employs a woman as leader of the church.
Most of the women — 58% — work in mainline Protestant churches, such as the United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Episcopal Church.
The UMC and its forerunner has ordained women for five decades; the ELCA and its predecessor has for almost 40 years, and the Episcopal Church has ordained women since 1976.
Barna’s survey found that female pastors tend to be more highly educated than their male counterparts, with 77% earning a seminary degree, compared to less than two-thirds of male pastors (63 percent) .
But male pastors still rake in larger incomes. The average compensation package for female pastors in 2009 is $45,300, Barna says, while males earn $48,600. The compensation gap has closed in the last decade, though, with females earning 30% more than they did in 1999, according to the survey.
