Missionary Legacies of Gender Equality: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

Bastian Becker; Felix Meier zu Selhausen

doi:10.1093/ereh/heaf007

Missionary Legacies of Gender Equality: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

Bastian Becker
, Felix Meier zu Selhausen^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

OGKG - Economic and Social History

Humboldt University of Berlin

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

What is the long-term influence of Christian missions in colonial Africa on gender equality? Combining novel data on the locations and gender composition of European-run missions with contemporary social surveys on c. one million respondents in 28 African countries, we find that missionary presence is associated with greater present-day (i) educational gender equality, and (ii) women's household autonomy, but (iii) no decrease in gender disparities in labor market participation. Contrary to previous studies, these long-term effects are not driven by Protestant-Catholic differences or a greater presence of Western female Protestant missionaries, whose early influence on African girls' education dissipated after the colonial era. We argue that policies promoting universal education, along with the continued feminization of the teaching profession, disrupted the gender-specific legacy of colonial Africa's early centers of female education.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	579-610
Number of pages	32
Journal	European Review of Economic History
Volume	29
Issue number	4
Early online date	25 Jul 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heaf007
Publication status	Published - Nov 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Historical Economics Society.

Funding

We are grateful to Steven Nafziger (editor) and three anonymous reviewers as well as Jutta Bolt, Sarah Carmichael, Michiel de Haas, Ewout Frankema, Catherine Guirkinger, Alexander Moradi, Maanik Nath, Gudrun Østby, and participants at the AEHN Meeting 2024 and workshops participants at the University of Bergen, Namur, and Utrecht for helpful comments on earlier drafts, and excellent research assistance by Josefine Dehn, Christine Hedde-von Westernhagen, Mariam Patsatsia, and Frieder Rodewald. Becker acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program (Grant agreement No. 755129). Meier zu Selhausen gratefully acknowledges financial support from The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (SSH XS grant no. 406.XS.24.02.121). Conflicts of interest We are grateful to Steven Nafziger (editor) and three anonymous reviewers as well as Jutta Bolt, Sarah Carmichael, Michiel de Haas, Ewout Frankema, Catherine Guirkinger, Alexander Moradi, Maanik Nath, Gudrun Østby, and participants at the AEHN Meeting 2024 and workshops participants at the University of Bergen, Namur, and Utrecht for helpful comments on earlier drafts, and excellent research assistance by Josefine Dehn, Christine Hedde-von Westernhagen, Mariam Patsatsia, and Frieder Rodewald. Becker acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program (Grant agreement No. 755129). Meier zu Selhausen gratefully acknowledges financial support from The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (SSH XS grant no. 406.XS.24.02.121).None declared.The historical mission locations in sub-Saharan Africa and the female missionary share data per station used in this article are available through the Harvard Dataverse at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/91WQSS (Protestant missions) and https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/JAVD83 (Catholic missions).

Funders	Funder number
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
European Research Council
Frieder Rodewald
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme	755129
Sociale en Geesteswetenschappen, NWO	406, XS.24.02.121

Keywords

Christian missionaries
Colonial legacy
Conversion
Education
Female empowerment
Girls
Protestantism
Tensions
Uganda
Women

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1093/ereh/heaf007Licence: CC BY-NC

Missionary Legacies of Gender Equality: Evidence from Sub-Saharan AfricaFinal published version, 908 KBLicence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

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Missionary Legacies of Gender Equality: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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