MEN still outnumber women as incumbents by greater than two to 1 within the Church of England, statistics published for the General Synod show.
Across the dioceses, 30.4 per cent of incumbents are women. In no dioceses do women outnumber men, although in five (Ely, Gloucester, Peterborough, Worcester) they make up 40 per cent or more of the overall. The lowest percentages are present in Chichester (17 per cent), London (19 per cent), and Exeter (20 per cent). In 15 dioceses, fewer than 30 per cent of incumbents are women.
There is larger parity in part-time incumbency posts — which might include clergy couples — where women make up 48 per cent
The figures include a breakdown by age. Of the 138 under-35s in incumbencies, 32 per cent are women.
The figures, collected in 2022, were published in response to questions asked on the General Synod by Dr Felicity Cooke, a lay canon of Ely Cathedral and former vice-chair of Women and the Church (WATCH).
The statistics include a breakdown by gender of all full-time clergy across the dioceses. Of 6715 full-time clergy, women make up 32 per cent. Of the 2808 self-supporting clergy, women constitute 52.5 per cent. In eight dioceses, the share is 60 or above. Of 7103 self-supporting non-parochial clergy with PTO, 29 per cent are women. There is parity amongst self-supporting chaplains.
In total, women make up one third (33.5 per cent) of the stipendiary clergy. This has increased from 28 per cent in 2016 (News, 13 April).
Statistics were also published for assistant curates andassociate ministers. Nationally, women make up 44 per cent of the overall. In six dioceses (Birmingham, Derby, Liverpool, St Albans, Salisbury, Southwell & Nottingham), they outnumber men. In part-time posts of that sort, women make up almost two-thirds (63 per cent) of the overall. Just a little a couple of third (35 per cent) of under-35s who’re assistant curate or associate ministers are women.
Among senior diocesan staff, there are 258 men in full-time posts and 102 women. The exceptions, where women outnumber men, are Birmingham and Portsmouth. In other dioceses, the gender gap is marked: men outnumber women by eight to 1 in Chichester, 15 to 2 in Leeds, 13 to 2 in Southwark, six to 1 in Blackburn and Chester, and nine to 2 in Canterbury. There aren’t any women in senior-staff posts in Carlisle. There are also no women under 40 in these posts in any diocese (there are nine men). There are 43 men aged 65 to 69, and 4 women.
When it involves vocations, more women are in training for ordination than men (News, 19 June 2020). Of people who began their training in September 2023, 206 were women, and 149 were men. Women made up 44.5 per cent of the under-40s.
There are seven women diocesan bishops, soon to be eight, and 23 women suffragans.
On Tuesday, the chair of WATCH, the Revd Martine Oborne, welcomed the publication of the information. “We hope that the concerns that the information raises will likely be addressed,” she said. “Why do women proceed to be so poorly represented in some dioceses, like London? Why are younger ladies not coming forward for ministry? And can we actually expect equality of opportunity for girls in ministry while institutional discrimination, that limits women’s roles in some churches, persists?”
WATCH has raised concerns concerning the monitoring and publication of information by the national church institutions. The last Ministry Statistics were published in 2020. During Questions, Dr Cooke asked whether, in future, the information could possibly be published routinely.
The Revd Rosalind Rutherford, vice-chair of WATCH, said this week: “If an establishment is serious about encouraging diversity, and ensuring that there is no such thing as a unnoticed or indirect discrimination, then regular, consistent monitoring is crucial. Regular publication of ministry statistics is crucial.”
She cited the recent audit of maternity policies (News, 8 May) as one other example of labor “done by women, along with their other work, and with no contribution or help from the central Church of England”.
On Wednesday, the Bishop of Chester, the Rt Revd Mark Tanner, who chairs the Ministry Council, said that staffing issues lay behind the dearth of publication of statistics fairly than any desire to hide the statistics: “My desire is to be transparent about every part.” It was “encouraging” that the share of stipendiary female clergy had increased yr on yr, he said, but parity had yet to be achieved, and he was keen to work with others.
Asked about Transformations, a bunch established in 2011 to explore women’s experiences of ministry, a Church House spokeswoman said: “Work is under option to bring recent energy and direction to this essential work under the leadership of the Rt Revd Ruth Worsley, Acting Bishop of Coventry with support from each Archbishops.”
On Tuesday, the Revd Lucy Davis, who chairs the National Association of Diocesan Advisers in Women’s Ministry, said that on the thirtieth anniversary of girls’s ordination to the priesthood there was “lots to have a good time”, including the share of girls in stipendiary posts “creeping upward”. The increase within the variety of younger ladies being ordained could possibly be attributed to the range of coaching pathways available, and maternity-leave policy, she suggested. “This generation of girls who’re 35 and under can’t remember a time within the Church without women priests,” she said. “It is normalised for them.”
The variety of dioceses during which women make up a couple of third of incumbents had doubled since 2020, she noted. But many had still not reached this point, the edge at which a minority “stopped being exceptionalised”. There remained a “glass ceiling” for diocesan-bishop posts, she said, and progress felt “slow”.
She expressed concern about “low-level misogyny” and online “vitriol” concerning women’s ordination, and evidence from union casework that ladies were disproportionately experiencing bullying and harassment. An absence of transparency in churches concerning their position on women’s ordination could also have an effect on vocations, she said (News, 26 June 2020).
On Wednesday, the Revd Arwen Folkes, Vicar-designate of St Mary’s, Eastbourne, within the diocese of Chichester, spoke of “a noticeable grimace each time you say that you simply’re from this diocese; yet the work that has gone on here to alter the culture is admirable, and a commitment to mutual flourishing is obvious.”
On arriving within the diocese in 2019, she had found that senior clergy “went above and beyond to encourage and welcome me here. . . The theological and ecclesiological diversity here is sort of pronounced, and that could be an extra consider the low numbers; but I personally find that it makes for a big degree of honesty about our differences — one which is usually hidden or absent when everyone seems to be attempting to navigate a ‘nice’ common middle ground. I find it interesting and stimulating to be with people I disagree with, and the dialogue between us is usually wealthy and real. It is surprising how often the grace of God is found when hospitality is given to difference.”
The “historic fame” of the diocese might deter women from applying, she suggested, “which is an actual shame, given how much our College of Bishops is keen to encourage more female clergy to affix the diocese and see just how much the culture has modified. There is a real desire to enhance the ratio, and I think It is recognised and revered within the diocese of Chichester that the ‘household of religion’ is stronger with the total spectrum of the Church of England present.”
