"Clergywomen face the same conflicts as (other) professional women, those of balancing work and family, social isolation and having to win acceptance from peers and superiors," said Jesse Schultz, a UF sociology graduate student who did the study for her thesis. "But they also must interpret Scriptures that are biased against women and struggle with a traditional male model in their denominations."

The newly released study by Schultz, UF sociology professor Constance Shehan and Marsha Wiggins Frame, a professor in the department of counseling psychology and counselor education at the University of Colorado in Denver, is based on a 1995 survey of 190 ordained United Methodist clergywomen representing all geographic regions of the United States. It will be published in the August issue of Sociological Focus.

The study found that clergywomen extend the traditional female roles of mothering or caregiving to their work with congregations as a way of overcoming resistance to their occupying a traditionally male role, Schultz said. Clergywomen filled their sermons with references to raising children — including their own — and to "family" as a unifying image, she said.

"Because the Scriptures are used as a firm argument that women have no place as church leaders, clergywomen must take extra steps to be taken seriously and earn trust," said Schultz, adding that the findings likely hold true for women in other denominations.

Unfortunately, this extra caring work, along with a stressful life that includes moving an average of once every four years, results in high levels of depression, the study found.

Sixty percent of the women said their sleep was restless, 56 percent said they felt tearful, and more than one-third (35 percent) said they "could not shake off the blues even with help from family or friends."

When asked to describe the greatest challenge of her job, one woman answered, "Staying sane amidst the pettiness, the patriarchy and the pressures of the ministry."

The ordained ministry remains one of the most male-dominated of all professions, with women making up no more than 14 percent of the clergy in any major religious denomination in the United States, Shehan said.

By far, the most commonly mentioned challenge clergywomen identified was balancing work and family responsibilities, Shehan said. These women spent an average of 53 hours per week on the job, yet two-thirds said they didn’t have enough time to get the job done, she said.

One 38-year-old woman said the one thing she wanted most to change about her occupation is the "expectations that the pastor is on call 24 hours a day and is owned by the church."

Another female minister admitted that while it seemed odd, having to work Sundays often interfered with family life.

Traditionally, many church-related duties are performed by minister’s wives, Shehan said. But when a woman is the minister, she typically has no backup person at home and may be compelled to perform all of the "wifely" duties herself, she said.

Clergywomen who were not married or involved with someone lamented the lack of time or privacy to establish personal relationships.

"Very few men are interested in dating a minister, except clergymen, who are too busy to give me the time I need," said one 50-year-old divorcee.

Despite the enormous stress the clergywomen reported, many expressed high levels of satisfaction with their job. Nearly all reported that their work is interesting (89 percent) and important to them (93 percent).

But the many demands on clergywomen may discourage others from becoming pastors, Shehan believes.

"Until or unless the church-related duties traditionally performed by clergy wives are assigned to paid church workers and clergy families are freed from the trauma of repeated relocation, women will find it difficult to heed the call to the ministry," she said.