Say More: At Last She Writes It

No. 8 | January 2024

Egalitarianism

by Tracy Carwin Barrionuevo

Years ago, my young daughter made a simple observation

that has stayed with me ever since. We were discussing what she wanted to be when she grew up. The feminist in me was thrilled to seize the moment and tell her that she could be or do anything she wanted in this world! Her simple reply was, “but not at church.” 

“But not at church.”

I recently returned to teaching in a public school district in Colorado after staying home with my young children for what felt like a very long 15 years—another story for another day. At my current school my principal is a man, and my assistant principal is a woman. They usually sit side by side at the front of our staff meetings. I plan and co-teach my civics class with two men. At my former school, my principal was a woman and my assistant principals were a woman and a man. I worked on a team of teachers where my team lead was a man, and in a department where my chair was a woman. My district superintendent is a woman who recently replaced a retiring man. You get the idea: My working world in secondary education is as close to egalitarian as I’m likely to ever see. Can you imagine the limitations on talent, knowledge, perspective, experience, representation, skills, and more if all of these educational leadership positions were only open to one gender? Only men OR only women—it would seem ridiculous.

We don’t have to imagine the absurdity of what that would look like, however, because we live this incongruity every day in our church organization.