Bishop Harris: Women Should Seek Roots of Oppression
Episcopal News Service. May 14, 1991 [91120H]
Bishop Barbara Harris, the first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion, warned women against the danger of attaining decision-making positions in the church for the sake of power rather than service. Harris, suffragan bishop of Massachusetts, urged women's groups to search for the root causes of poverty, racism, and sexism within prevailing power structures. "If all you do is buy into a corrupt structure and oppress people the same way the institution has always oppressed people, I don't call that leadership," Harris told a Brown University audience on April 17. She called for a strategy that empowers the needy rather than one that merely addresses the symptoms of their need.