Women’s Participation in the World Council of Churches (WCC)

Abstract

Numerous studies on the World Council of Churches (WCC) have been conducted since its formation; however, most lack consideration of the issue of women’s participation. This paper focuses on the contributions of remarkable female leaders who are often overlooked in the history of the 20^th-century ecumenical movement. The first chapter introduces Henriette Visser’t Hooft’s 1934 correspondence with Karl Barth and the WCC’s first assembly in Amsterdam in 1948 where the Commission on the Role of Women in the Church was created. The second chapter describes the study on The Community of Women and Men in the Church (1978-1982) that was launched after the ecumenical consultation on “sexism in the 1970s” in West Berlin. The third chapter explores several attempts made to empower women and free churches from violence again women, including team visits called “Living Letter,” during the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women campaign (1988-1998).