This weekend has been something of a milestone for the Church of England when the number of votes for women Bishops passed a crucial threshold in local settings around the country. This does not mean that we will see a women Bishop being announced in the next few days (despite the vacancies that do exist in several places such as Sussex) but it removes one more obstacle for an announcement to be made in the next two to three years. For many observers, the idea of separating out the role played by men and women in some of our churches is utterly incomprehensible. Indeed many within these churches are equally perplexed and often frustrated. The New Testament book of Galatians includes a section in which St Paul explains “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” St Paul who is often cited as a source of Biblical misogyny involved a meaningful proportion of women in his leadership teams at the highest levels (comparable with the number of female MPs in the House of Commons).  

The involvement of women in leadership in the church in the first century did not extend far into the structures of the early church (often described today as the Orthodox Church) and when a major schism took place in the 11th Century creating the church which we now call the Roman Catholic Church once again the tradition of a male only leadership was enshrined in the processes. In the 16th Century the Reformation created a new church which today we call the Church of England. It is this church which is now making the changes to allow gender equality to invade these senior appointments having made gender equality at the parish level possible since 1994.  

This is far from a full picture as some churches have been at the cutting edge of gender equality for many years. The Quakers or Society of Friends (established c 1650) and Salvation Army (established in 1865) have always opened all leadership roles equally to men and women. The Methodist Church has had gender equality since the 1880’s and the Baptist Church since the 1920s. The wide range of modern Independent churches are something of a mixed bag with some being completely emancipated and others being a great deal less so. This means that many of these churches have been far more open than society as a whole in ensuring men and women were seen equally. However just as our Parliament and most boardrooms struggle to reflect society in their gender make-up, most of these churches still have a greater incidence of men at all levels of leadership than women.

At present there is no indication that either the Roman Catholic Church or Orthodox Church are likely to change their structures to accommodate female leadership. However unlike some of the other groupings, any change could take place without much debate (although there is little evidence that members of the Orthodox church are pressing for change, unlike many within the Roman Catholic church). It is important to understand that whilst change for Roman Catholics cannot be presumed, that there is support at all levels in the UK  for the involvement of women priests. Any change would impact these International churches across the Globe and so change for the British parts of the Roman Catholic Church will depend on support for it in nations where the role of women is very different to the role they play in our society. 

I understand why these processes take time to work through and why some people are resistant to change (even where I hold a different point of view). We live in a society which did not have a single female MP until 1918 and it took a further 10 years to achieve full equality at the ballot box. In the context of 2000 years of church, we have seen significant change in the last 35 years and the change will continue for some time. My greatest regret has been occasions when people involved in the discussions have allowed their passion for change or for the status quo to lead to language and behaviour that is at odds with our core beliefs of compassion and respect.

For those outside of the church who are perplexed by the position we find ourselves in and even more for those who would press for greater change to take place, it would be helpful if some understanding of the time it takes for change to impact a large and complex set of interconnected institutions could be found. Amazingly dramatic change is taking place under the surface and the speed with which (for example) female Priests in the Church of England have become numerically significant when compared to the 90 years that Parliament has taken to achieve less than 30% female MPs shows that not all of the lessons that need to be learnt are for those of us in the church.