A seat at the table: Webinar explores women in leadership

Dallas Baptist University’s Gary Cook School of Leadership held a webinar Sept. 30 exploring challenges, opportunities, and unique perspectives of women in leadership positions.

Panelists included Norma Hedin, DBU provost; Monica Comeaux, chief human resources officer at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas; and Amanda Walker, director of Christian formation at College of the Ozarks in Lookout, Mo.

For Hedin, leadership was always about God’s call on her life. As a teenager, she served at Vacation Bible School, in camp settings, and at church. It was in these places she felt God draw her into a leadership role.

“I had this desire to study how to help others grow in Christ and to develop their relationship with God. So, I didn’t have any clear plans for leadership. There was no sense at all that I was going to be a leader. I just wanted to say ‘yes’ to God. And so, that was the decision,” Hedin said.

According to Hedin, the emphasis was less on leadership and more about obeying the call.

“I didn’t really think about leadership. It was just one of those things where, as I followed God and said ‘yes’ to him, he provided opportunities for leadership early on in my life.”

The importance of female role models

When asked which models of leadership she looked to, Walker reflected on one of her earliest realizations as a woman in ministry: how few women she saw in leadership.

“My first realization of being a woman in ministry … [was] it was just men, until I went to Southwestern [Baptist Theological Seminary]. And even then, there were a lot of men,” she said.

While at Southwestern, Walker met Terri Stovall, the current dean of women and professor of women’s ministry. Stovall, along with other women, journeyed with Walker throughout seminary, offering a formative example of female leadership and teaching her to lead with confidence.

“They’ve taught me how to lead, when, at times, I was the only female in the room, and how to lead with confidence, how to lead knowing that the Lord has called me there and put me in that place,” Walker said.

Those role models also helped Walker lead as a woman, she said, teaching her how to show up and be authentically true to herself “and not try to be something other than a woman, … and God has made me a woman. He’s made me in his image.”

Unique challenges faced by women

Walker explained that, to some extent, women can feel pressure to prove themselves.

“There is … a level of having to prove yourself that I notice. I’m now in my 40s, and, especially in the ministry space, it’s amazing how, even in my 40s, I have a lot more life experience than I did in my 20s. But yet, a 20-something-year-old male leader can walk in and automatically get [more] respect than I as a female,” she said.

“So, you have to learn a little bit of how to prove yourself, but at the same time, not become bitter,” she said.

For Walker, navigating pressure without becoming bitter or prideful is part of the challenge of being a woman in ministry. She said the desire to prove oneself worthy of respect can sometimes give rise to both bitterness and pride.

“I think one of the mistakes that I see a lot of young female leaders do in their quest to prove that they’re capable [is] they come in with a lot of pride instead of humility. And I think that as a leader, whether you’re male or female, you should lead with humility,” she said.

Comeaux echoed Walker, emphasizing the importance of female leaders remaining authentic to who they are rather than focusing on proving themselves, and instead recognizing God has already given them a seat at the table.

“There’s this space of, when you are trying to prove yourself, I feel like you’re coming out of yourself … because there are some things that you are attempting to do to prove that you’re worthy to be at the table, to prove that you are worthy to provide the feedback on a certain thing,” Comeaux said.

“But the reality is, God has called you to it. … And so, in God calling you to it, he has already proven your worth at the table,” she continued.

Using the full range

Comeaux said women do not need to prove themselves worthy of their place in leadership.

“There are no requirements that a woman really has to have that justifies her place as a leader. There are some leadership behaviors that women should have the opportunity to use at the full range,” she said.

Comeaux also challenged the expectations placed on women’s leadership styles, particularly when certain traits are viewed as inconsistent with traditional expectations of women.

“There is this thought that sometimes if a woman is too assertive, then that’s sort of outside of a woman’s place. But I think we do injustice to leadership generally, when we have these … expectations on gender. So, as a woman, I want to be able to use the full range of leadership and behavior styles that are available to me.”

For Comeaux, that freedom ultimately comes down to following God’s direction and leading with both confidence and compassion.

“[As] a woman in leadership, my requirement is … to walk in how God is guiding me and be confident in whatever the Lord has called me to say and do in this moment, that it is protected by him, and it is going to have its purpose in the room. Because one thing I know for sure is that accountability and compassion are not opposites; the two exist together. And man or woman, we are free to walk in the room with that. So, no requirements here.”