DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/6SB8-7E14
Defense Date
2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Sociology
First Advisor
Dr. Victor Tan Chen
Second Advisor
Dr. Ying-Chao Kao
Third Advisor
Dr. Katie Lauve-Moon
Abstract
Complementarian theology is employed by some evangelical religious structures to restrict women’s leadership. Despite this, throughout time, evangelical women have devised ways to lead and teach within and outside the bounds of the institutional church and parachurch organizations. This research utilizes the extreme case method and digital content analysis to examine how complementarian evangelical women navigate issues surrounding agency, authority, and precarity as they engage new opportunities for leadership that digital technologies offer. The IF:Gathering is an extreme, or ideal, case because it represents the confluence of contemporary evangelical women’s organizational methods, language and leadership, and digital expertise. This research analyzes the content of the 2022 IF:Gathering conference videos, the official IF:Gathering website pages, emails sent from the IF:Gathering organization to subscribers, official Instagram posts, and one IF:Equip study. It examines how evangelical women enact agency and authority and explores how these women engage existing gender stratifications and precarities, often by employing facets of hegemonic femininity. The women leading the IF:Gathering have amassed algorithmic and relational authority that in many ways makes them more influential than most evangelical men. Yet that authority is tempered by their strategic adherence to hegemonic femininities and submission to male-led evangelical structures. This research contributes an understanding of how these components interact through this ideal case and it provides a foundation for applying findings to other gender stratified contexts in the evolving digital landscape.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
5-9-2023
Included in
Gender and Sexuality Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Sociology of Religion Commons, Work, Economy and Organizations Commons