The Church of England’s fifty-year journey from open sexism to concealed sexism

The 1970s were exciting times for women in the UK: working women were allowed to take out mortgages without a male guarantor; the first female judge sat at the Old Bailey; the first female Speaker of the House of Commons was appointed; the London Stock Exchange permitted female members for the first time; the Sex Discrimination Act made it illegal to discriminate against women in work, education and training; the Employment Protection Act introduced statutory maternity pay; the Domestic Violence and Matrimonial Proceedings Act introduced protections for women and children from domestic violence; we had our first female train driver; and, love her or hate her, our first female Prime Minister.

And, in the middle of all this in 1975, the Governing body of the Church of England passed a motion saying that women could (in theory) be priests.

It was a heady zeitgeist where women began to feel that anything was possible, that we might one day have what the Wife of Bath in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales had wanted, way back in medieval times: sovereignty, equal status with men and the right to order our own lives in the same way that men could.

In the past fifty years, much progress has been made for women in so many spheres of life – largely by making it illegal for women to be treated in an inferior way.  Sexism has been called out and confronted.

But not so much in the Church. 

Although it’s true to say that women are now permitted to be priests and even bishops, after many centuries of male-only clergy, discrimination against women on grounds of their sex is still legal (the Church has ‘exceptions’ under the Equality Act) and is accepted.  Churches can still say no to having a female vicar and no to having a female bishop.  The only difference between the old sexism in the Church and the new sexism is that it is now covered up which, to my mind, is both unethical and unsafe.

Back in the day, when I was growing up, everyone knew that women could not be priests.  I remember being mocked once at primary school for saying I wanted to be a vicar when I grew up: everyone (apart from me) knew that the Church would not allow that.  But today, a woman might be confirmed in her faith by a bishop who would not ordain her if she later felt called to be a priest - without him needing to tell her this in advance of her confirmation.  She could attend a church and not know that its church council had passed a resolution saying that it would never have a female vicar or allow a woman to preach – these resolutions are kept quiet.  She might have searched for a church online and been encouraged by a website that says its church supports the vocations and ministries of women and men, and perhaps she took this to mean it must be egalitarian.  And then, possibly many years later, she discovers that it actually means women and men have ‘equally valued’ but different roles – such that only men can be church leaders.  She could send her teenage children to a youth club without being told that they may be taught by the Youth Pastor that women should be under the authority of men.

The Church likes to show pictures of women wearing clerical collars and mitres in its communications – giving the impression that it treats women and men equally.  But this is not true.  Women cannot even train as priests without formally agreeing that they accept that some of their colleagues do not recognise women can be priests and the Church wants this contingent of the church to flourish.  If they say they are not happy about this, let alone if they make a fuss, they will find their cards are marked when it comes to promotion: they are difficult and troublesome.

In some ways it was easier in the old days because women were completely on the outside and so we had to complain.  Now, it’s like we have been allowed through the door on the condition we not only put up with some people not wanting us but also are nice to them – and never bring up the subject that they don’t think we should be there.  The attitude of the powers that be in the Church is, ‘Look, we’ve finally let you, after decades of you beating on the door, isn’t that enough?  Why are you still unhappy?’  Church leaders seem to believe that it is truly possible to seek the flourishing of those who limit women’s roles, without this eroding women’s sense of worth and purpose.  It can sometimes feel as though the Church is greedy for women’s labour, as it always has been, but does not want to give us the dignity and protection of equality.

For fifty years women in the Church have been told we have been a problem, when we have discerned and disclosed callings to roles that were once for men only.  We have been blamed for damaging the Church and getting in the way of the mission of the Church.  We have been allowed concessions to make the problem we created go away and it is now considered in bad taste for women like supporters of the campaign group Women and the Church (WATCH) to point out that women are Not Equal Yet, as our campaign slogan goes.  We are supposed to collude with the concealment, and pretend sexism does not exist in the Church.

Even asking for churches to be transparent about the limits they put on women’s roles is apparently too much to expect – because we are told that putting limits on women’s roles is a secondary matter – something not very important, that people can find out later.  But of course it is really because such disclosure would embarrass such churches. 

Fifty years ago, every single one of our 13,000 churches limited women’s roles and we all knew it.  Now it’s only about 500 of them and we have no idea which ones they are, even though they include some of the biggest inner-city churches: there is no list on the websites of the Church of England or its Dioceses. 

So, for starters, here are a few churches that either do not allow women to be vicars or priests and require a special bishop who concurs with their views on women’s roles in the Church: All Souls Langham Place and All Saints Margaret Street in London; St Andrew the Great in Cambridge; and St Ebbe’s in Oxford.  I challenge you to look at their websites and work this out for yourself!