"Här finns mycket att göra även för kvinnor" : om de av Svenska Missionsförbundet anställda kvinnornas roll i Kongo 1888-1911

Sammanfattning: In the late 19th century, many Swedes were committed to a new wave of religious revivalism. Trough these new Christian congregations, several vast efforts were made to bring the gospel of salvation to people in parts of the world that many Swedes at this time had not even heard of. Of those who responded to their inner calling, left everything they knew and became missionaries, a notable share were women. This essay seeks to examine the images of true womanhood that surrounded these women and the role that was given to or taken by those who engaged in Swedish missionary movements. Starting from a theory saying that if you wish to understand the emancipation of women in a religious context, such as the Swedish society in the 19th century, you need to look at the relationship between religion and gender norms, in the first part of this essay the patterns of this relationship is being are being examined. The specific context investigated in the following analysis is the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden and their mission in southern parts of the Congo. By analyzing letters and diaries from some of the women who went to Congo as missionaries both liberating and limiting aspects of women's roles in the missionary project could be argued.