Boundaries and History in Africa: Issues in Conventional Boundaries and Ideological Frontiers

Chapter 24 Women on the Pulpit: Pushing the Frontiers of Feminist Participation in Pentecostal Groups in Cameroon

529 Chapter 24 Women on the Pulpit: Pushing the Frontiers of Feminist Participation in Pentecostal Groups in Cameroon By Albert Samah Abstract Although women constitute a major force in the numerical strength of most religious groups, they usually play a less significant leadership role in these bodies. Debate on religion and feminism usually settle on the fact that religion and especially the mainstream religions are not only patriarchal, but largely mats-dominated. This chapter demonstrates how women are benefitting from their acceptability and their rising mobility in Pentecostal Churches (a brand of Christianity different from the historical Catholic, Protestant and Baptist Churches) to occupy areas which had been solely preserved for the men in the older Christian churches. It is about pushing the frontiers of feminist participation in Pentecostal groups. We have demonstrated in this chapter that, Pentecostal groups in Cameroon have largely encouraged female leadership. The new involvement of women in these new groups has greatly promoted the growth of Christianity in the Country. Key Words: Women, Frontiers, Pentecostal Groups Résumé Malgré le fait que les femmes se constituent en majorité dans la plupart des groupes religieux, elles jouent un rôle de leadership dans ces groupements. Les débats sur la religion et le féminisme se situe sur le fait que les religions dominantes ne sont pas seulement patriarcales 530 mais aussi, elles sont largement dominées par les hommes. Cet article, démontre comment les femmes tirent profit de leur montée en puissance dans les Eglises pentecôtistes (une branche du christianisme différente des églises historique telles que l’Eglise Catholique, Protestante et l’Eglise Baptiste) pour occuper des positions qui étaient autrefois réservées uniquement aux hommes dans les Eglises. Tout cela a pour objectif de repousser les frontières de la participation féministe dans les groupes pentecôtistes. Nous démontrons à travers cet article qu’en général, les groupements pentecôtistes au Cameroun encouragent le leadership féminin. L’engagement renouvelé des femmes dans ces groupes a grandement influence la croissance du christianisme dans le pays. Mots Clés: Femmes, participations, frontières, groupements pentecôtistes. Introduction The last decade of the 20th Century witnessed an unprecedented growth of new Christian groups in Cameroon. It marked the height of new religiosity in the country with the proliferation of the Pentecostals, a new Christian Movement made up of several denominations, ministries, Para-churches and revival groups. This brand of Christianity remains the fastest growing in Christianity. Unlike in most world’s religions and especially Christianity, where leadership positions were and are still largely imbalance in favour of the male folk, women are taking advantage of their acceptability in the Pentecostal groups to break barriers, thereby rolling boarders established in the older Christian groups in Cameroon. The Pentecostals were and are still made up of three different categories: the Orthodox (Holiness Movement), the Classical and the Neo-Pentecostals (liberals). These various Pentecostal types arrived the country in waves. The first wave was made up of the classical, then the orthodox and lastly the liberals or Neo-Pentecostals, who greatly benefitted from the 1990 Laws of Liberty that opened the democratization process in Cameroon. Though the older Pentecostal 531 types from their inception greatly restricted female participation in leadership roles, in a whole, women are occupying space and expanding the frontiers of their involvement in these new Pentecostal groups. This chapter is divided into three sections. The first section looks at the role women occupied in the Holiness Movement or Orthodox Pentecostal churches. The second treats the beginning of the upward mobility of women in leadership position amongst the Classical Pentecostals. The third and the last section shows prominent female actors who have successfully broken down the barriers established against women (thereby rolling back frontiers) and thus setting a pace for women to occupy positions which were no go zones for women in the past. Feminist Participation in Orthodox Pentecostalism Many scholars of Pentecostalism agree that there were and are basically two main groups found in the Pentecostal Movement, namely; the Classical Pentecostals and the Liberal Pentecostals911 . However, authors like Allan Anderson, see the African Initiated Churches as part of the Pentecostal Movement that preceded the modern form of Pentecostalism that began in Azusa on 1st January 1901.912 However, in this study, we shall look basically at the Classical or mainstream Pentecostals and the Charismatic or Neo...