Gender, tokenism, and the construction of elite clergy careers

Melt and women holding both upper-level and elite denominational leadership positions were found to have different personal and structural resources accounting for their attainment, based on occupational biographies of 299 female and 843 male Episcopal priests. When comparing clergy ordained between 1970 and 1990, male gender persisted as a highly significant resource. Important resources for men were those facilitating intradenominational networking while those for women had a more objectified character. The few women holding elite jobs prior to 1985 had more visible and nontraditional attributes than did women who attained them subsequently, suggesting that tokenism might be differentiated into groundbreaking and maintenance dimensions. Comparing resources of priests ordained since 1970 with those ordained in 1950 and earlier suggests that the ministry also has become more open to racial and age diversity, and to attainment through achievement rather than ascriptive networks, despite a relative decline in elite placement opportunities since the 1950s.