#NotEqualYet: is this really a conversation we still need to be having?
“Do we really need to still be talking about this stuff here? We’ve got a female bishop, two female archdeacons, two female canons at the cathedral. Is this still a conversation we need to be having?”
This was the reaction of a local colleague, who is fully supportive of women’s ministry, when I told him about the WATCH Not Equal Yet Roadshow event taking place on 25th October at Newcastle Cathedral (booking link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/not-equal-yet-roadshow-newcastle-tickets-1752974677449?aff=oddtdtcreator)
And he isn’t the only one. I’ve heard it from plenty of well-meaning people in the Church of England. All orders of ministry are open to women. We have women in senior roles. We even have the first female Archbishop of Canterbury! So why are we still talking about the ‘issue’ of women’s ministry in the Church of England? Hasn’t the stained glass ceiling been well and truly shattered: job done, time to move on? Do we really still need WATCH events like the one happening in Newcastle this month?
Yes, we do! And the clue as to why we still need to be talking about gender justice in the church is in the name of the event: women are not equal yet in the Church of England. There are still churches in which women – including the Archbishop of Canterbury designate - cannot preside (hundreds of them – check out the list compiled by WATCH to see which churches near you are affected: https://www.womenandthechurch.org/transparency). Women are still underrepresented in stipendiary ministry, and especially in senior roles. Women still face barriers in ministry – some of which are more visible than others – which our male counterparts simply do not have to deal with.
Even in a diocese like Newcastle which is, as my colleague noted, generally a ‘good’ place to be an ordained woman, these issues are live and local. A church in my own deanery has recently passed a resolution to request extended episcopal oversight from the Bishop of Ebbsfleet. Having previously (at least on paper) placed no restrictions on the ministry of women, that parish will now not accept ordained ministry from women. When this was announced at our Deanery Synod, I was the only ordained woman in the room – because I am the only female stipendiary priest in the deanery – and the realisation of how close to home this still is hit me hard.
So yes, so long as women are still not equal yet in the Church of England, we still need to be having conversations about gender justice. This is not solely – I’d say not even primarily – about the experience of ordained women, individually or collectively. It is about how the church reflects the image of Christ whose body we are called to be, and how we bear faithful witness to the God revealed to us in scripture, and present and active among us by power of the Holy Spirit.
A church which accepts women’s inequality as either desirable, inevitable, or a price worth paying is always going to reflect a distorted image of the God who loves all people equally and absolutely, and calls all people to all varieties of ministry, irrespective of gender or any other characteristic. A church which places limits on women which it does not place on men is never going to fully embody the Christ in whom there is no male and female.
And the gender inequality enshrined in the structures of the Church of England makes it harder for us to speak clearly and faithfully about other issues of gender justice too. How can we really tackle the sexist microagressions within the church, about which Archbishop-designate Sarah spoke to eloquently at General Synod earlier this year, if some types of sexism and inequality are still enshrined and accepted within the church? And how can we as a church speak prophetically against some of the great issues of gender injustice and misogyny affecting the world around us – FGM, domestic abuse, violent pornography, rape and sexual assault, the gender pay gap and more – if we continue to accept women’s inequality at the heart of our own structures?
So yes, this is a conversation we need to keep having. It starts by saying that yes, women are not equal yet in the Church of England, and no, that isn’t ok. But it can’t end there. If you want to be involved in that conversation, and in taking action towards a more just and inclusive church, then come along to the WATCH Not Equal Yet Roadshow in Newcastle on 25th October, look out for Roadshow events near you, or get a small group of local people together, invite a WATCH Trustee to join you, and host a Roadshow event of your own.
The WATCH Not Equal Yet Roadshow is taking place at Newcastle Cathedral 10am-1pm Saturday 25th October. Book your free tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/not-equal-yet-roadshow-newcastle-tickets-1752974677449?aff=oddtdtcreator