churchwoman

Churchwoman is a term used to describe a woman who is a member of a Christian church or who participates in church life. It can refer to a layperson active in worship, education, administration, or charitable programs, as well as to a woman who holds a formal ecclesiastical office in denominations that ordain women.

Across denominations, churchwomen contribute as parishioners or volunteers in roles such as Sunday school teachers, choir members, youth leaders, and administrators of congregations. In some traditions—particularly many Protestant or Anglican churches—women may also serve as clergy, including pastors or priests and bishops, though in other traditions leadership remains restricted to men. The term has historically overlapped with titles such as deaconess in some churches, a role that developed in late antiquity and early medieval periods and declined in many places before some denominations revived it in modern times.

Historically, women's involvement in church governance and liturgical life expanded from the 19th to the 21st centuries, paralleling broader social changes and debates over gender equality. In Catholicism, women participate as consecrated religious (nuns and sisters) or lay ministers, but ordination of women as priests remains prohibited by doctrine.

Today, “churchwoman” is occasionally used in sociological or historical writing to discuss women's roles in churches, including leadership, ministry, and lay participation. The term is not widely used as a formal designation, and preferences for terms such as parishioner, laywoman, or the specific office (deaconess, pastor, nun) are common.