Women Missionaries

Women missionaries have an important role in the great commission that was given to Jesus’ followers. While these women often face real challenges in their environments, they also have distinct advantages, especially in parts of Asia:
  • Ability to work with women without gender barriers     – Many Asian cultures maintain social rules that restrict women from ministering to men. Often, a woman cannot interact with a man who is not her husband. That is one reason why women missionaries have an effective mission field in areas where their male counterparts aren’t able to serve. The women can pour out God’s love to other women who need someone to care for and love them.
  • Women also instinctively know the cultural taboos of their culture. This is one strategy that makes this missionary charity successful.
  • Ability to understand her peers – Women missionaries can identify with many of the struggles of their peers and neighbors. Many women grow up thinking they have little value, especially in cultures where women often marry when they are very young, are often uneducated and struggle with severe poverty.
In Asia, the suicide rate among women is very high because they are burdened by hard work, poverty, lack of education and other cultural expectations.[1] GFA missionaries share the hope of Jesus with the women in their communities. They are very familiar with the culture of their communities and those nearby—they live in the region, know the language, wear the same clothes and often share the same cultural interests.
  • Ability to have compassion and patience with the illiterate     – Women who live in impoverished communities are often illiterate, so missionaries are challenged with teaching literacy classes to women who have no ability to read or write. When a woman gains the ability to read and write, it is life changing. She can now understand traffic signs, news, weather reports, shopping lists, read books and warning labels, understand prices at the market and read important documents. Literacy protects her from getting taken advantage of in the marketplace.
There are over 250 million women in Asia today who are illiterate.[2] GFA’s strategies of teaching literacy have proven successful over and over again. These classes are often taught by female missionaries who patiently teach women to read, write and do basic math.


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