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Factors Influencing Women Participation in Church Leadership in Tanzania; A Study of Evangelical Lutheran Church, Pare Diocese

Ibrahim Azayo Ndekia*, Samuel Obino Mokaya, Florence Ghamunga

Women participation is important aspect in leadership despite that the number of women participating in church leadership is still low. However, the goal of the church is to ensure full women’s inclusion in the ordained ministry. Therefore, many churches have adopted some policies and frameworks to empower women and to increase the number of women participating in church leadership. The main purpose of the study was to examine the factors influencing women participation in church leadership in Evangelical Lutheran Church, Pare Diocese of Tanzania. The study adopted a case study design to collect data from a sample of 154 respondents from a target population of 309. The population comprised of the diocese management team, executive committee, church elders, pastors, and evangelists. The study collected both qualitative and quantitative data using questionnaires and unstructured interviews. Quantitative data was analyzed using both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics through SPSS version 20 whereas thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. Descriptive statistics such as measures of central tendency and measures of spread was used to describe and summarize data in a meaningful way which allowed data presentation through descriptive tools such as percentage and mean. Further, correlation analysis was used to analyze the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. The study achieved a response rate of 84%. On the factors influencing women participation in church leadership; the study found that the relationship between educational qualification and participation was low. To some extent, organizational culture influences women participation in church leadership. Further, gender-sensitive policies play and important role in women participation in church leadership. The study recommends that the theocratic structures and policies that govern the Evangelical Lutheran Church should be revised so as to create suitable environment for women participation in church leadership.