The Status of Female Missionaries Mental Health in Late 19th and Early-Mid 20th Century Mission China: Role Searching, Grieving, and Lacking Support, an Everyday Woman’s Life in Mission China

Abstract

This article begins the process of looking into female missionaries' mental health and how it was affected during their time in China. Beginning in the nineteenth and twentieth century, a wave of female missionaries, both unmarried and married, made their way to the slowly opening ports of China bringing with them the word of God. The article highlights some of the ways women’s mental health was affected as they lived and preached in China including their juggling of domestic and public roles, homesickness, and losing a child for any myriad of reasons. Regardless of the struggles and experiences these women faced while living in China, the mission societies and Churches these women and their respective communities were attached to did nothing to provide care and assistance for these women leaving them to grieve, suffer silently, and question God’s plan by themselves.

Keywords: China; Female Missionaries; mental health; wives; mothers