3.2 3.3 the administration of fannie b. davis, 1880-95  (Page 4/6)

Indicative that the women took masculine discouragement and charges of non-biblical insubordination seriously, they adopted a unique posture toward the SBC, made explicit in their name, "Woman's Missionary Union, Auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention," and in the preamble to their constitution:

We, the women of the churches connected with the Southern Baptist Convention, desirous of stimulating the missionary spirit and the grace of giving among the women and children of the churches, and aiding in collecting funds for missionary purposes, to be disbursed by the Boards of the Southern Baptist Convention, and disclaiming all intention of independent action, organize and adopt the following . . ." (italics mine).

This compromise—the establishment of an exclusively female society that assumed a voluntarily dependent relationship to the larger institution led by males—was unique among American women's missionary societies, but one that was consistent with biblically conservative southern culture. The women wanted their own organization, one in which they were not as restricted as they were in a mixed arrangement (which was invariably patriarchal); but at the same time, they were confident that their primary interests—evangelism and the promotion of missions—were identical with those of the men in the denomination and that they could effectively use traditional, informal means of influencing the decisions made by those males. The same compromise between changing culture and prevailing orthodoxy had been spelled out in Texas when the BWMW and BGCT formed in 1886. The (male) committee on women's work reported to the convention that

[ i]t would afford us great pleasure to have our sisters work side by side with us in all our associations and conventions just as they do in our churches, but if they elect to do otherwise, then we cordially accord them our confidence in organizations of their own. We would recommend,

First, That their general organizations be made strictly auxiliary to our State and General Conventions, i.e., in all Foreign Mission work to let their contributions pass through the treasury of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, and those to Home, State and Sunday-school Missions, Ministerial Education, etc., through the treasuries of our state general organizations. Proceedings of the BGCT, 1886, p. 30.

The deferential quality of this cooperative arrangement was praised by men and women alike. For some female leaders it operated more satisfactorily once they had established a network of local and state treasurers who funneled women's collections directly to the boards. BS, May 17, 1894, p. 8. (As long as that money was included in local church treasury reports or enumerated in the variety of ways that prevailed before other uniform methods were established, reports on women's gifts were obviously lower and less accurate.) In 1895 a Baptist Standard editorial (probably written by J. B. Cranfill) lamented the fact that true cooperation had not been possible, but that two separate conventions for men and women had been necessary in order to give women a place to enlarge their sphere of religious activity. The writer felt that the SBC was clearly to blame for having excluded women as messengers, and that, given their options, the women were more than justified in forming their own body. BS, November 21, 1895, p. 5. As compromises go, the arrangement functioned well for the conservative group involved. Women undoubtedly gained skills, confidence, and recognition they would not have acquired by blending with the male-dominated denominational structure. Men gradually accepted the arrangement as expedient on biblical grounds and greatly beneficial in financial terms. And of no little significance in its success was the fact that during that period of enthusiasm and progress for Southern Baptists, it was possible for the mission cause to take precedence over the question of power. For most women, the most important issue was that both sexes were "working in a common cause, with a common faith, for a common Master." BS, March 1, 1894, p. 7.