The Present Position of Women in the Church of England

Women in Ministry:
A Study

Published by Church Information Office
Church House, Westminster, SW1. 1968, pp. 18-20

There would seem to be three phases in the entrance of women into any sphere of public life. In the first place, none but a few pioneers think that women have any place in the field, be it as a committee member or in a professional capacity. This is followed by the recognition that women have a place, as women, and certain areas of work, or special places on committees are reserved for them. Finally, they are chosen for professional posts or in representative capacities simply on their own merits. An institution does not necessarily move completely from one stage to the other at any given moment: a multiplicity of attitudes may co-exist. All three stages co-exist today in the Church of England. Ordination to the priesthood is still not allowed; but in election to her governmental structures, the Church has moved almost wholly into the third phase. The Church Assembly and its councils have always been open to women: what is noteworthy is that there are increasingly large areas where women are chosen for service on such committees purely on their personal merits and not because ‘we must have a woman’, though most committees probably pass through this phase. It is true to say that, in the sphere of government within the Church of England, women are treated as full members of the laity and are given as much opportunity as any other lay person. In this respect, the Church of England probably leads the Anglican Communion and compares not unfavourably with other Churches. How far can it be said that the same is true in the field of full-time paid service? If we turn to the service of women in diocesan and central posts, we see a changing pattern. There was a time when certain diocesan posts were traditionally occupied by women: the Secretary of the Board of Women’s Work (often a Head Deaconess), the Moral Welfare Organising Secretary, the Adviser in Children’s Work, as well, perhaps, as full-time Diocesan Secretaries for the Mothers’ Union and GFS. Over the years, the number of these diocesan posts has declined, perhaps because of rising costs, but in some cases, e.g. in children’s work, clergy are now sometimes appointed, on a full or part-time basis, to posts formerly held by women. Sometimes, but not always, this is an attempt to meet rising costs by combining the work with the incumbency of a small parish. This reduction in the number of posts of responsibility open to women must have a discouraging effect on recruitment, but on the other hand, women have held administrative posts traditionally occupied by men, e.g. General Secretary to the Church of England Board of Education, Secretary to the Diocesan Board of Finance, Assistant Diocesan Missioner, on an Industrial Mission team, etc.

At the same time, the range of work open to women within the pastoral sphere has increased. Not only has there been a significant growth of specialist posts in the Forces, in hospitals, in universities, but there has also been development within the parish, perhaps the most traditional sphere of women’s work.

At first, a woman’s work was almost wholly restricted to women and children. If she took services at all, they were always special services for women or children only, and frequently she was not allowed to speak or lead in prayer in consecrated buildings. Gradually, however, it was accepted that women shared in a ministry to the whole parish, to men as well as to women and children, and might speak and lead in prayer in the non-statutory services. Then in 1950 the Convocation of York, followed in 1964 by the Convocation of Canterbury, allowed licensed lay workers to take part in the statutory services other than Holy Communion and to speak at them, a permission which had long been given to deaconesses and to Readers. It is hoped that the same permission will now be given to deaconesses and lay workers to speak at Holy Communion as is to be granted to Readers.

Looked at retrospectively, this growth in opportunity for service appears to have been both inevitable and steady. But this was not so: official permission to do something, or general acceptance that this or that form of activity was sensible and natural, nearly always followed the work of pioneers, and reports of Convocation and Church Assembly debates are full of passionate defence of positions now abandoned. Yet there are still dioceses and parishes where, by regulation or custom, women are prevented from doing what is elsewhere permitted even though the need may be urgent, and the women concerned have the ability to respond. Nevertheless, there seems strong evidence in the Church as elsewhere of a gradual and inevitable widening of opportunity which has by no means run its full course.

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