"I think that in the church, just like the secular culture, it's harder for women to get those senior pastor jobs," said the Rev. Annie Epling, pastor of Faith Des Peres Presbyterian Church. "Just like it's hard for a woman to land a CEO position."

But a study released this week by the the Barna Group, a Christian research organization, says female clergy are making "slow but steady" progress in church leadership.

In 1999, according to Barna, just 5 percent of Protestant churches' senior pastors were women. This year, the study surveyed 604 pastors throughout the country and found that women now make up 10 percent of U.S. pastors.

If that number still sounds low, that's partly because a large segment of the Christian world doesn't ordain women. The 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention's summary of its faith, for instance, says that "while both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture."

Many churches that don't ordain women cite a passage in Paul's first letter to Timothy: "I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent."

Most denominations that do ordain women are the more theologically liberal mainline Protestant churches. The Barna study found that 58 percent of clergywomen are members of denominations like the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Methodist Church or the Presbyterian Church (USA). Among male pastors, only 23 percent are affiliated with mainline churches.

The Rev. Sarah Fredriksen McCann, co-pastor of the 475-member Hope United Church of Christ in St. Louis Hills, said she wasn't surprised that the number of women leading churches is on the rise.

"But I am surprised that it's doubled," she said. "That's faster than I would have guessed. But if you look at seminary numbers, the number's only going to go up."

Indeed, students at many mainline Protestant seminaries split evenly between male and female. The Rev. HiRho Park, director of the United Methodist Church's office of Continuing Formation for Ministry, said the female population of the denomination's ministries has now topped 50 percent.

In the United Methodist Church, bishops appoint pastors to churches, so - unlike other denominations in which the congregation itself hires a pastor - it's easier for the denomination to control the gender makeup of church leadership.

In December, women made up 24 percent of the denomination's total clergy. That was up 2 percent from 2006, when the church marked the 50th anniversary of its decision to grant clergywomen the same rights as men.

Park oversaw a 2008 report called the Lead Women Pastors Project that found "lead women pastors have been 'cracking a glass ceiling' within the Church in spite of an apparent lack of support, affirmation and recognition of their unique contributions."

According to Park's report, 90 percent of clergywomen reported they were the first female to lead their church.

In both the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Presbyterian Church (USA), 32 percent of active pastors are women. In the Presbyterian Church, that compares with 7 percent in 1983. The Episcopal Church is led by a woman, presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, the denomination's "chief pastor." According to a 2008 survey, membership of the average Episcopal congregation was 60 percent female. Thirty percent of its pastors are women.

As in many professions, clergywomen make less money than their male counterparts. Barna found that despite a higher level of education (77 percent of female pastors have a seminary degree compared with 63 percent of men) the average compensation package for female pastors was $45,300, up 30 percent since 1999. For men it was $48,600, up 21 percent in the last decade.

"Many churches hire a woman because they don't have to pay us a lot," said the Rev. Mary Anne Lawrence, pastor of the 100-member St. Matthew United Church of Christ in St. Louis.

One reason for that disparity is that women pastors are still not trusted with the largest churches.

"In the bigger churches, it's very hard for a woman to get into that position," Lawrence said. "The prototype of a pastor is still a male."

Park's study found that of the 100 largest United Methodist Church congregations, only one (in San Francisco) is led by a woman. In the Presbyterian Church (USA), 41 percent of female pastors lead congregations with 100 or fewer members. One of every three of the smallest Presbyterian congregations - those with 50 or fewer members - are led by women.

The Barna study found that male pastors lead congregations that average 103 adults in attendance on a typical weekend compared with 81 adults at churches led by female pastors.

Many female pastors define their clerical roles slightly differently than male pastors might.

"It's just genetics in women, and the way we were raised," said Lawrence, 62. "We are nurturers, and that fits well into pastoring."

McCann has co-pastored Hope UCC with a male counterpart and says that setup works well for church members.

"It's great to have one of each gender," she said. "There are sensitive issues in pastoral care, and sometime people are more comfortable speaking with someone of the same gender."

Lawrence agreed, saying male and female clergy working together is best for a congregation.

"Women and men complement each other," said said. "If they can work together in pastoring, you have a dynamic duo."

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