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Heidi,
Perhaps another perspective would be to continue to recover the Biblical (and Reformed) perspective on vocation. The White Horse Inn has had several recent episodes devoted to this idea.
Many Christians suffer the illusion that all of our Christian activity has to be a "ministry" where the Scriptures recognize the role of the ministry of Word and Sacrament to equip Christians that they might excel in their vocation and in the witness of their quiet and reverernt lives.
Because so many Christians believe they are not doing the Lord's work unless they are doing it as part of a sanctioned Christian event, programs are created so people can get involved and fill their weeks with all sorts of Christian "ministries".
Regrettably, then, men don't view their vocations as inherently glorifying to God whereas the 4th Commandment commands 6 days of labor as well as the Day of rest. Many Christians are so shiftless at work and focused on putting up "Christian" screensavers or starting Bible studies that they undermine the excellency of Christ by their shoddy work. Worse yet, Christians are a bunch of whiners insisting on the "right" to conduct Evangelism at work or the like.
Wives have their similar vocations that they glorify God - in the home or where they trade in the marketplace. God is not glorified when either a man or a woman spends all their time away from home and neglects the home itself. Of course, just like the man who doesn't think he's doing "the Lord's work" unless it has a Jesus bumpersticker on it, many women depreciate the incredibly important role they serve in the home.
Those that cannot serve in the home, however, are not necessarily doing "ministry" simply by serving in a vocation. Men and women need to start thinking about just doing a really good job at the things they do. They ought to be honest with their scales and their work and their integrity and craftsmanship will speak volumes. The vocation need not precisely be "baptized" with the moniker of "mission work" to give glory to God and spread His kingdom.
I'm convinced that when Paul was making tents he didn't do shoddy work and I am certain that he didn't depreciate the value of that vocation as something secular and something he could cut corners on. Nowadays, however, somebody would call their tentmaking a "ministry" or even try to raise money from the Church so they could go make tents somewhere.
If the Church could focus on Word and Sacrament and equipping the Saints then it would free men and women up from feeling the obligation that everything they do has to have a Church's name all over it. Yeah, the Church might actually be empty most days and nights of the week but that would mean that Christians are actually out in their communities being good neighbors and in their homes being good parents.
Thus, I see translation and other kinds of activities and vocations and not, precisely, ministries. I see no problem with women doing this.
Finally, on this note, Dorcas is an interesting case in the Scriptures where it is very apparent that she used her talents to make clothes for widows. There's no evidence that this was her "ministry" but she used her talents to do something that her love of fellow men impelled her to do. When she lay dead, it is a beautiful picture when you read of the widows who brought gifts of clothes. Her love of others had shown through. She didn't need a ministry director to tell her what to do in order to express her love. She simply made it part of her daily work.
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