EDS celebrates the completion of its inaugural fellows program, culminating a year’s work on networking, mentoring, research, and scholarship. Launched in June 2025, the program—an initiative of EDS Distinguished Scholar, Dr. Kwok Pui Lan—was designed to nurture the leadership of Anglican women leaders from the Global South.
The EDS Fellows and their mentors represent over a dozen countries in the Global South across Africa, Asia, West Asia and North Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Oceania.
The fellows program addressed the need for an increase in the visibility, recognition, and leadership of emerging women in the Global South, a region where the majority of Anglicans currently reside. . This program is situated within a larger movement inside the Anglican Communion to develop polycentric leadership and practices that reflect the global diversity and local distinctiveness of Anglican identity.
During monthly Zoom meetings, the cohort met virtually to foster a supportive environment for collaborative research, scholarship, and ministry. Members received mentoring on leadership, writing, and research from three distinguished theologians:
- Dr. Kwok Pui Lan, a renowned scholar in Asian and Asian American feminist theology and postcolonial criticism
- Dr. Esther Mombo from Kenya, a leading voice in African women's theology
- Dr. Jenny Te Paa Daniel (Te Rarawa) from Aotearoa New Zealand, globally recognized for her critiques of systemic injustices within the church and her advocacy for women's leadership
The inaugural cohort was composed of ten women leaders from ten different countries, representing a diverse range of ministries and experiences, including lay and ordained leaders, theological educators, and activists. All have been active in the work of the Anglican Church, bringing valuable practical and scholarly perspectives.
Opportunities for in-person gatherings were provided to hear each other present their research and receive feedback. Several members of the cohort met in Atlanta, Georgia, in November for EDS’s “Living Postcolonial Anglicanism: Prospects for a Polycentric Anglican Communion” symposium. The group also met in person in Nairobi, Kenya, to further collaborate on their research.
As a next step, the fellows and mentors have submitted a book proposal for a volume tentatively entitled Anglican Women’s Voices from the Global South, edited by Dr. Kwok Pui Lan.
The demographics of the Anglican church have shifted to the Global South, with more than half of Anglicans now living in Africa. Anglican women play important roles in the life of the congregation, mission, and social transformation. This book will be one of the first to document the theological visions and leadership of Anglican women in the Global South, their struggles for gender equity in the church and society, and their efforts to bring about a more just and sustainable society.
The resulting book features 14 authors and is divided into four parts:
Part 1: Theological Perspectives and Visions
- Black Theology and Gender Justice in South Africa: Lessons for the Anglican Church and Beyond – Thandi Gamedze (South Africa) Explores the emergence of South African black feminist theology from the 1970s to 1994, bringing its critique of patriarchy and analysis of Black women’s lived realities under apartheid into conversation with Anglican structures, liturgies, and practices
- A Body Not Belonging: Indigenous Theology and Layered Identities in The Episcopal Church in the Philippines – Sunshine Dulnuan (the Philippines) Employs autoethnography to navigate the layered identities formed at the intersections of Indigeneity, Christianity, and Anglicanism, centering women's embodied labor and framing Indigenous theology as a dynamic negotiation born from faithful struggle
- Decolonial Missiology and Combating Human Trafficking in India – Sanjana Das (India) Proposes a decolonial missiology that recognizes Indigenous Indian Christian women resisting human trafficking not as passive aid recipients, but as primary theological innovators
Part 2: Anglican Women’s Identities and Social Engagements
- Anglicanism after Empire: Reimagining Identity, Mission, and Female Leadership in Taiwan – Claire Chia-lin Wang (Taiwan) Investigates postcolonial Taiwanese Anglicanism through the experiences of women clergy, analyzing power dynamics shaped by language, culture, and transnational networks to offer a vision for reimagining mission and identity beyond colonial inheritances
- A Call for a Palestinian Anglican Women’s Missionary Initiative – Nuha El Far Shaheen (Palestine) Issues an urgent call for a Palestinian Anglican women’s missionary initiative to counter Zionist thought and challenge colonial legacies by positioning Palestinian Christian women as key transmitters of doctrine and active agents of mission
- Anglican Women and the Fishing Industry in Kenya – Nancy Auma Omino (Kenya) Evaluates the Anglican Church of Kenya’s consciousness-raising efforts and sustainable fishing initiatives designed to empower Lake Victoria fisherwomen to overcome patriarchy and the exploitative Jaboya system of transactional sex
Part 3: Women’s Ordination in the Church
- The Experiences of Women in Ordained Ministry in the Diocese of Jamaica & the Cayman Islands – Natalie Blake (Jamaica) Documents the post-ordination experiences and wisdom of women clergy following the diocese's contentious 1994 decision to ordain women, highlighting the specific institutional structures that would support ordained women to fulfill their ministries in this context
- How Can “Herstory” Shape Our Future? Stories from Clergywomen in the Anglican Diocese of Accra – Akua Buabema Ofori-Boateng (Ghana) Analyzes the lived experiences of the first clergywomen ordained in the Diocese of Accra and recommends diocesan policy reforms covering formal mentorship, anti-harassment measures, clerical attire guidelines, and gender-inclusive titles
- Barriers to Women’s Ordination in Brazil – Paula de Mello Alves (Brazil) Examines the history of women’s ordination in Brazil since the 1980s to show how obstacles beyond Canon Law create vocational disparities and offers recommendations for the church to proactively support and sustain women’s vocations
Part 4: Nurturing Women’s Leadership
- Anglican Indigenous Women’s Prophetic Leadership in the Pacific – Alaimaluloa Toetu’u-Tamihere (Tonga/Aotearoa New Zealand) Records stories of successful Indigenous Anglican women leaders using the Five Marks of Mission of the Anglican Church to build a repository of wisdom that fills research gaps and inspires the next generation of female leaders
EDS congratulates the fellows and mentors for this successful inaugural program and looks forward to continuing to support and nurture their leadership across the Anglican Communion.