Closing the Gender Gap for Clergy Pay
Churches in general, and the Episcopal Church in specific, are no better, and often worse, than society at large in paying women less than men. This fact is supported by good data from across the Episcopal Church collected by the Church Pension Group and reported in their 2014 Church Compensation Report and echoed in a recent editorial in the Christian Century: The Pay Gap at Church. We do not need more data. We need to address the problem.
In the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, we have addressed this problem directly in the past six years and have achieved equal pay for equal positions, but still have work remaining. We followed a common sense approach which will close the gap in any diocese. I want to briefly outline the actions we took and challenge other dioceses to take up this important work.
1. Name the problem and decide to address it
While not every diocese has a starting point this far off the mark, we found that the relatively few women priests in the Diocese in 2010 were paid much less than men whether an assistant or in charge of a congregation. Some men were also outliers whose compensation also needed to be addressed to begin to approach equity. I think the most important step came when Bishop Benhase named this inequity as a problem and Diocesan Council, the bishop, and bishop’s staff agreed this needed to be addressed.
2. Set appropriate minimum compensation
The first step was to update the minimum compensation for all full-time priests from the then minimum of $39,000 for salary/housing/SECA which had not changed since 2003. I proposed a new system, approved by the Bishop and Council, which replaced the one-size minimum with a chart that increased the minimum by size of congregation and tenure as a priest. That chart is shown at left.
Assisting priests compensation is set as a minimum equal to the under 75 in Average Sunday Attendance column on the chart. Two years later, we added a chart making clear how this minimum applied to part time clergy with an example of quarter-time, half-time, and three-quarters time compensation. While still low compared to other parts of the country, this chart put us closer to our neighboring dioceses of Alabama and Upper South Carolina whose minimum compensation had not lagged as ours had.
Also important is that starting in 2010, the Bishop and staff moved to the High Deductible Plan for insurance with the employer also contributing the Health Savings Account. We encouraged priests to move to this plan and later set it as our standard. In the process, we lowered insurance costs initially by 11% and have kept increases lower. This assisted our congregations with lowered benefit costs as we sought to increase priests’ pay.
3. Publish an annual compensation survey
Beginning in 2011, we started publishing an annual survey of the compensation for full-time priests. This survey went into our weekly email newsletter for the diocese and is published on the diocesan website. In 2015, we added a separate full chart for assisting priests. All of these surveys remain posted at the Resource Library of the diocesan website. One will note that the priest’s name is not listed. This was for clarity rather than anonymity. Listing a priest’s name is less important for understanding the data than knowing the budget of the congregation, its average Sunday attendance, and the number of years the person has served as a priest. The chart then gives this data for easy comparison. Anyone curious can work out who is who with little effort. This survey has also been very helpful in working with search committees to set the compensation for new calls in the diocese. (click the infographic at right to see a full sized version.)
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4. Directly address outliers with vestries on behalf of the priest
This step proved vital. In 2010, we looked at the data and knew we had a problem. In consultation with the bishop, I determined the half dozen priests, both men and women, who were paid much less than their peers in a church of comparable budget and attendance. I then called the priest to let her or him know I would be addressing this. Then I called the Senior Warden, gave them the data and said we either needed a plan to work the priest toward appropriate pay or we would need to assist the priest in getting a call to a congregation where proper compensation could be offered. We would then need to assist the church in calling a priest at proper compensation. This was always done with reference to their budget and with an eye toward moving in steps.
Outcomes in Georgia
Within four years, the median priests’ compensation for men raised 8% while the median pay for women raised 20%. These percentages are based on pay adjusted for inflation to reflect constant dollars so the increase is beyond inflation. Women in comparable positions receive comparable pay. But we all know the inconvenient fact hidden in that statement. Female priests are in charge only of congregations in our diocese with an attendance of 140 on Sunday or less. To address this last problem, I have worked with the bishop to make sure all searches have good, qualified female candidates to consider. We ask that even if they are unsure about calling a female priest, congregations include qualified female priests in their face to face interviews. In 2015, three female priests became rectors of congregations previously served only by male rectors. We believe that as our larger congregations interview the top notch female priests interested in a call to their church that we will make progress with this more persistent issue.
Remaining Problems
Do not hear anything written above as stating that we have solved the problem of pay inequities. We have acknowledged this and taken steps to address it, but serious problems remain and I don’t have an answer to all of them. For example, we have good priests doing great work in places where the town has been stagnant or in decline in population. The budget of the church is not going up and the benefit costs are rising. We simply cannot advocate for higher pay, even though it would be right for the priest, as the church cannot pay it. The only way to get proper pay is to move and priests can decide not to leave for another call for a variety of good reasons. So we still have many priests, irrespective of gender identity and expression, making less than is fitting for their length of service to the church and faithfulness in serving. Similarly, we have some priests making well more than others and we will not advocate for less pay. Short of a national standard adjusted for cost of living, these inequities will remain.
A Challenge to the Church
We can use the excuses of not enough data, or try to explain away the problem. But we know enough to state clearly that women are paid less than their male counterparts to serve as priest of a congregation. This is not just. We can not give away what we do not have, so we have no place to stand in a advocating for justice while our house is in such disarray. I am open to other paths to closing the gap, but feel sure that the four steps named above will result in greater equity for all priests. Given the demanding work to which we are called, the church should expect nothing less.
Frank
The Rev. Can Frank Logue
Canon to the Ordinary, Diocese of Georgia
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