Jun 25 2024 43 mins
Imagine it is the 1970’s and you are a young woman just beginning her journey as a minister within a protestant denomination that is comprised of at least some members and leaders who oppose your ministry because of your gender. In fact, imagine that you, as this young woman, had heard a radio minister of the same domination declare that the ‘pulpit was no place for petticoats.’ And, finally, imagine that when you were a young girl, you remember even your minister father stating his opposition to women holding official church leadership positions (a perspective that changed over time). Well, today’s profiled leader, Dr. Patricia Suggs, does not have to imagine such a scenario–she lived it and is here to tell us about it.
Dr. Suggs is a former minister–one of the first women in her denomination to fill that role–and is currently the CEO of Arise Leadership, which focuses primarily on offering coaching and training to women in leadership positions. Because her career began during a time in the U.S. in which women were often openly discriminated against, Dr. Suggs’ perspective as a woman leader just starting out in such a climate is essential to understanding how much progress has been made–and how much more still needs to be made.