Second Great Awakening - Women

Women

Women made up the majority of the converts during the Awakening, and therefore played a crucial role in its development and focus. It is not clear why women converted in larger numbers than men. A number of scholarly theories attribute it in part to an assumption of greater religiosity in women, a way to shape identities and form community in a time of economic and personal insecurity, a reaction to the perceived sinfulness of youthful frivolity, or a way to assert oneself even in the face of male disapproval. Some women, especially in the South, encountered opposition to their conversion from their husbands, and had to choose between submission to God or the head of the household. While there is no single reason for women joining the revival movement, the revival provided many women with shared experiences. Church membership and religious activity gave women peer support and place for meaningful activity outside the home.

While they constituted the majority of converts and participants, women were not formally indoctrinated and didn’t hold leading ministerial positions. They did occasionally take on public roles during revivals. They preached or prayed aloud on rare occasions but were more likely to give testimonials to their conversion experience or work through the conversion process directly with sinners (who could be male or female). Women’s prayer was seen by leader like Charles Finney as a crucial aspect in preparing a community for revival, and improving their efficacy.

Despite a lack of formal leadership roles, informally through family structure and through their maternal roles, women became very important in conversion and religious upbringing of their children. Religion during the period of the revivals was often passed to children through the teaching and influence of mothers who were seen as the moral and spiritual foundation of the family at this time.

Despite the influential part they played in the Second Great Awakening, these women were still largely acting within their status-quo roles as mothers and wives. The change in women’s roles came largely from their participation in increasingly formalized missionary and reform societies. Women’s prayer groups were an early and socially acceptable form of women’s organization. Through their positions in these organizations, women played a part outside of the domestic sphere.

The rising number of women congregants influenced the doctrine ministers preached as well. In an effort to give sermons that would resonate with the congregation, Christ was gradually “feminized” in this period to stress his humility and forgiveness.