Majority of new clergy in the Greater Helsinki area are female

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The 20 years of the ordination of women have equalized the gender distribution of clergy in the Greater Helsinki area.
      Today more than half of the ministers ordained in the Evangelical-Lutheran congregations of Helsinki and Espoo are female, while the number of female clergy working in Helsinki parishes more or less equals to that of clergymen.
     
However, the proportion of female clergy in the Greater Helsinki area is higher than elsewhere in the country. The number of women outside the capital region is around 30 per cent.
      ”The proportion of clergywomen in Helsinki reflects the proportion of female students in the Faculty of Theology, with the majority of them being women”, said Eero Huovinen, the Bishop of Helsinki, in the Helsinki Cathedral on Sunday.
      A few moments earlier, he had ordained six women and one man as new pastors. In the Diocese of Espoo six women and two men were ordained into the Lutheran ministry on the same day.
     
Even though the substantial plurality of women in both ordinations was a coincidence, it is a valid example of the fact that today the clergy of the Finnish Evangelical-Lutheran congregations are increasingly female.
      ”Judging from the numbers of students, one can say that the majority of women will be a continuing trend”, says Jukka Huttunen, the chairman of Pappisliitto (”The Association of Finnish Pastors”).
      Today, only around 60 per cent of students in the Faculty of Theology choose a career in the ministry.
      A graduate can be ordained only after he or she has already found a job. Both the Dioceses of Espoo and Helsinki arrange ordinations of new pastors twice a year.
      The total number of clergy working in the Dioceses of Helsinki and Espoo is about 1,200.
     
However, a shortage of incumbents already exists in smaller locations, while even fixed-term posts are fought over in the Greater Helsinki area.
      The retirement of the so-called baby boomers will improve the employment situation of the Finnish Evangelical-Lutheran clergy, while at the same time, congregations are being combined, which brings pressure on the reduction of tenures.
      At present, the number of clergy who are unemployed or have sought other kind of employment is around 100.
     
According to a survey on working conditions conducted by the Finnish Evangelical-Lutheran Church last year, some 74 per cent of female respondents felt that male and female clergy are equal.
      The same response was given by 89 per cent of clergymen.
      The first women were ordained as clergy in the Finnish Evangelical-Lutheran Church as long ago as 1988 and yet around two per cent of male clergy still oppose the ordination of women.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Three men face charges of criminal discrimination against woman pastor in Hyvinkää (18.9.2007)
  Almost every second minister is female in Greater Helsinki Lutheran congregations (18.4.2007)
  Bishops´ Conference: Male clergy must work with women colleagues (14.9.2006)

Links:
  Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland

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