Editing Hutterites (section)

=== Governance and leadership ===
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Hutterite colonies are mostly [[patriarchy|patriarchal]] with women participating in roles such as cooking, medical decisions, and selection and purchase of fabric for clothing. Each colony has three high-level leaders. The two top-level leaders are the Minister and the Secretary. A third leader is the Assistant Minister. The Minister also holds the position as president in matters related to the incorporation of the legal business entity associated with each colony. The Secretary is widely referred to as the colony "Manager", "Boss" or "Business Boss" and is responsible for the business operations of the colony, such as bookkeeping, cheque-writing and budget organization. The Assistant Minister helps with church leadership (preaching) responsibilities, but will often also be the "German Teacher" for the school-aged children.<ref>{{cite book|last=Esau|first=Alvin|title=The Courts and the Colonies|year=2004|publisher=UBC Press|location=Vancouver, BC|isbn=0-7748-1116-1|page=10}}</ref>

The Secretary's wife sometimes holds the title of ''Schneider'' (from German "tailor") and thus she is in charge of clothes' making and purchasing the colony's fabric requirements for the  making of all clothing. The term "boss" is used widely in colony language. Aside from the Secretary, who functions as the business boss, there are a number of other significant "boss" positions in most colonies. The most significant in the average colony is the "Farm Boss". This person is responsible for all aspects of overseeing grain farming operations. This includes crop management, [[agronomy]], [[crop insurance]] planning and assigning staff to various farming operations.

Beyond these top-level leadership positions there will also be the "Hog Boss", "Dairy Boss", and so on, depending on what agricultural operations exist at the specific colony. In each case these individuals are fully responsible for their own areas of responsibility, and will have other colony residents working in those respective areas.

The Minister, Secretary, and all "boss" positions are elected positions and many decisions are put to a vote before they are implemented.

The voting and decision-making process at most colonies is based upon a two-tiered structure including a council — usually seven senior males — and the voting membership, which includes all the married men of the colony. For each "significant" decision the council will first vote and, if passed, the decision will be carried to the voting membership. Officials not following the selected decisions can be removed by a similar vote of a colony.

There is a wide range of leadership cultures and styles between the three main colony varieties. In some cases very dominant ministers or secretaries may hold greater sway over some colonies than others.

Women and children hold no formal voting power over decision-making in a colony, but they often hold influence on decision-making through the informal processes of a colony's social framework.<ref>{{cite book|last=Janzen|first=Rod|display-authors=etal|title=The Hutterites in North America|year=2004|publisher=Johns Hopkins Press|location=Baltimore, Maryland|isbn=9780801899256|page=132}}</ref>

Overarching all internal governance processes within a single colony is the broader "Bishop" structure of leaders from across a "branch" (Lehrer-, Darius- or Schmiedeleut) such that all colonies within each branch are subject to the broader decision-making of that branch's "Bishop" council. A minister of a colony who does not ensure his colony follows broader "Bishop" council decisions can be removed from his position.