Why is there a gender imbalance?

Walk into a Japanese church and, on average, you will find roughly two women for every man. This was confirmed through a survey of 64 people who responded to a JEMA email survey (representing 1,550 people who had attended their churches on the previous Sunday).¹

This has significant implications. If the number of people going to churches reflects the number of Christians, then only about three Japanese men in 1,000 are Protestant (roughly 0.5% of Japanese people are Protestant), making them the unreached of the unreached. It also can make it hard for female believers to find Christian men to marry, and many end up marrying nonbelievers, with all the difficulties that that entails.

Possibly even more concerning is that the gender imbalance may indicate an unbalanced presentation of the gospel. The gospel invitation to join God’s kingdom is for everyone, and so whenever the makeup of churches differs from that of the general population, it raises questions about whether the gospel is being presented in all its fullness and power.

Let’s consider some possible causes for the imbalance.

Putting things into perspective

The first thing to note is that gender imbalance in churches is not unique to Japan—it exists in Western countries too, albeit to a lesser extent. For example, the ratio of men to women in Australian churches is 40:60.² So it’s helpful to consider the reasons for the imbalance in Western countries.

The feminization of Christianity can be traced back to the second half of the 19th century, Matthew Sterenberg, associate professor at Waseda University, explained in a personal interview. This shift manifested itself in various ways, including greater participation by women in churches and religious orders and the feminization of piety. “The way Christians worshiped and talked about worship was expressed in sentimental and emotional language associated with feminine qualities,” Sterenberg said. “And so there’s this theological emphasis on motherly qualities—things like that God is caring and loving, but not wrathful.”

This historical perspective is important, because when you read the New Testament, it is hard to detect anything that suggests that Christianity had a stronger appeal to women than to men. For example, when Paul greets the members at churches in Rome, he mentions 19 men and 10 women (he also adds the names of eight men who are with him). These numbers may not reflect the actual makeup of the Roman church, but they don’t provide much support for a female majority being the norm.

Japan-specific reasons

Thus, one of the biggest reasons why there are few men in Japanese churches could be that the Christianity introduced to Japan from the West has a greater appeal to women than to men. But there are presumably other factors specific to Japan at work too, since the gender imbalance is higher in Japan than in Western countries.

To try to shed light on these Japanese-specific reasons, we conducted a survey of 26 JEMA members. We asked recipients for their thoughts on the biggest factors responsible for there being so few men in Japanese churches.

Work pressure and culture

Not surprisingly, the top cited cause was Japan’s infamous work culture. Of the 26 responses, 19 (73%) mentioned work and associated busyness as reasons why men find it hard to participate in churches. Typical comments included:

Men are still almost mercilessly expected to work until they drop dead—sometimes literally—and for many, Sunday is the only day to pay back the sleep debt.

Men are overworked at their jobs. They have high responsibility, and therefore on Sunday, usually their only day off, they want no responsibility.

Despite this overwhelming perception that work is one of the main causes for men not coming to church, two pieces of evidence suggest it might be overrated. We asked respondents to provide figures for the number of men at their churches who were full-time workers, part-time workers, and retired or unemployed. It was a small sample size, but the proportion of full-time workers (43%) didn’t differ much from that for the general population (48%).³ If work pressures are such a critical factor for keeping men away from churches, you might expect full-time workers to be under-represented in men who are at church.

Another piece of evidence that work may not be such a critical factor is that male students seem to be underrepresented in campus ministries. For example, 72 males (35%) and 133 females (65%) participated in a national student training seminar held online by KGK in February 2021. This ratio is very close to the one we obtained in our initial survey of 64 people from the JEMA email list. Presumably, male and female students have fairly equal demands on their time, so this figure suggests that some other factor is at play besides lack of time. Disturbingly, KGK has seen a widening gap between male and female participation in recent years, but it’s not apparent what is causing it.⁴

Perception of Christianity being weak and feminine

If work isn’t the biggest cause for the lack of men at church, what else might be? Several survey respondents noted that many Japanese men perceive Christianity as being feminine and for weak people. Typical comments included:

Religion is seen as something the women do. It is seen as a sign of weakness.

Men . . . see church as a female gathering.

This has strong resonances with the feminization of Christianity in the West mentioned above. But maybe the perception that Christianity is for women is stronger in Japan. Of course, this sets up a vicious cycle where men who go to church see mostly women there, confirming their suspicions that Christianity is for females.

Complex situation

Husbands are more likely to bring their wives with them to church events, than wives are to bring their husbands. So the evangelism of men may be more strategic, reaching both in a couple, rather than just one.

There are many women-only Christian universities. Many were started in the Meiji era by missionaries because higher education had previously mainly been restricted to men in Japan. Because of this, more Japanese women than men are likely to encounter Christianity at university.

Finally, many evangelistic activities appeal more to women than men. For example, classes for cooking, flower arranging, and gospel music. Furthermore, they are often held during the daytime, when most men cannot attend.

Hope

One ray of light from the main survey of JEMA members was that there were 11 churches of more than 10 people who have male-to-female ratios between 40% and 50%. This shows it is possible to attract and retain men. One promising way forward would be to find out how these churches are achieving this.

The example of Paul evangelizing in Philippi is also a great inspiration (Acts 16:11–40). He first goes to a riverside prayer meeting for Jewish women and shares the gospel with them, and Lydia is quietly converted. After that, he casts out a demon from a slave girl, and he and Silas are arrested, beaten with rods, and thrown into prison. During the night, they stop the jailer from committing suicide and share the gospel with him and his family. In the first church in Philippi, you would have a wealthy female merchant of purple sharing meals with a burly jailer and his family. Only the gospel can achieve that kind of diversity, and only the gospel can maintain it despite the tensions that must have existed.

1. The actual male-to-female ratio was 31:69 based on figures for 1,550 people in 58 churches that people attend.
2. R. Powell, M. Pepper, and K. J. Kerr, “Gender mix in Australian churches,” NCLS Research, 2018. http://www.ncls.org.au/news/gender (accessed June 11, 2021).
3. Share of employees working in non-regular employment in Japan from 2002 to 2020, by gender,” Statista, 2021. Online: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1126055/japan-shareemployees-non-regular-employment-by-gender (accessed July 22, 2021). “Male employment rate in Japan from 2010 to 2020,” Statista, 2021 https://www.statista.com/statistics/643300/japan-male-employment-rate (accessed August 30, 2021).
4. Of the 242 students at two KGK camps that Simon’s wife participated in 20 years ago, 45% were male students.