ABSTRACT
This chapter forms part of the author research into the restoration and development of women’s religious organizations, in which author compare a Protestant women’s organization in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan, with Muslim women’s organizations in the same area. The Protestant women’s organization in Zhengzhou is attached to Renmin Road Church, the most important one of the four churches in that city. From the early 1980s onwards, Chinese Churches began to ordain women pastors; attention was given to gender discussions; theological schools started classes on feminist theology; journals like the Jinling Journal of Theology developed special columns for feminist theology; and Churches became actively involved in the mainstream women’s movement and its facilitation of gender equality and gender awareness. The Women’s Assembly belongs to the Two Christian Associations of Zhengzhou; it has no relations with other organizations such as the All China Women’s Federation or the government’s Bureau of Religious Affairs.
