A bishop who was instrumental in drawing up guidelines around women’s ministry in the Church of England has now said the provision helps to “reinforce” the “unequal and iniquitous gendered culture of the current Church of England”.
Rev Dr Rosemarie Mallett, who is the Bishop of Croydon, was speaking at the launch of a campaign by Women and the Church (WATCH). It wants to end the special arrangements which were put in place after the vote to allow women bishops in 2014. The provision, known as the ‘Five Guiding Principles’ includes pastoral and sacramental dispensation for those who, for theological reasons, can't receive the ministry of female bishops or priests.
Bishop Mallett said many female clergy still experience 'gendered micro-aggressions' in the church.
Rev Martine Oborne, Chair of WATCH, agrees. She told Premier: “It's still permissible for churches to say ‘no’ to having a woman as their vicar. It's still permissible for churches to say ‘no they won't have a woman preside over the sacrament’. It's still permissible for church to say that they need a special bishop, someone who's neither a woman, nor a man who has ordained a woman.
“We’re also continuing to teach theology in some churches, which says that God created men to be in authority over women. So all this is still within the spectrum of teaching and practice of the Church of England.”
According to WATCH, one in twelve bishops in the Church of England do not fully accept women as priests or church leaders. Only four out of the last 14 diocesan bishops appointed have been women.
Rev Oborne said WATCH is hoping to bring a motion to the next meeting of the Church’s General Synod in which she hopes a conversation will be had about whether the current arrangements are “fit for perpetuity or whether or not we need to find a good way to bring them to an end."
She added it was a call to bring to an end “the discrimination, sexism, and exploitation of women in our Church”.
Asked whether female clergy are subject to additional challenges within the church, Rev Oborne said: “It’s the experience of every woman in the Church, both lay and ordained. Some of them are micro aggressions and some of them are macro aggressions.
“There are a lot of problems that are being swept under the carpet, and it's time for us to have a frank conversation about this.
“We have effectively a church within a Church. We're not really one Church, because we've got a separate church for those who don't accept the theology of ordaining women. We used to be a Church where all clergy were in communion with each other.
“So I think this affects not just women, but it affects men as well.”
In a message to the 'Not Equal Yet' conference at which the campaign was launched, the Area Bishop of Kingston, Dr Martin Gainsborough, said “It is important that we have this conversation as a Church. The question we need to wrestle with is how do we ensure a future in which women and men can flourish equally in the Church. We have some way to go.”