The expectations, plans and goals of future pastors are developed and consolidated
during theological studies. These plans and expectations, and the career strategies
based on them can have a decisive influence on how gender-based differences with respect
to opportunities in the churches develop. Since one of the particularities of the
pastoral vocation is that work and private life are closely intertwined and difficult
to separate, the personal choices of prospective pastors are crucial in shaping their
professional careers. The results of our research based on focus group interviews
conducted with female and male Protestant seminarians in Hungary suggest that female
theology students are more reserved and cautious in their articulation of plans than
their male counterparts. On the one hand, they assume that factors outside and above
them may override them and that the conservative church environment may constrain
their options. On the other hand, it was repeatedly expressed that, as women, they
find it difficult to reconcile pastoral work and family life, and take it for granted
that they will compromise more in the professional field. Only a few of the female
participants plan to work as independent congregational leaders (senior pastors),
whereas this ambition is very typical of male students.
