February 26th, 2019

In 2019 it will be:

• 50 years since women were first licensed as Lay Readers
• 25 years since women in the Church of England were first ordained priests
• 5 years since legislation was passed to enable women to be appointed bishops

In 2018

• The Rt Rev Sarah Mullaly was translated from the See of Crediton to become Bishop of London (May 12) and the Very Rev Viv Faull was consecrated on July 3rd, and installed as Bishop of Bristol on Oct 20th. Now 4 diocesan bishops (out of a total of 44) are women. In December 2018 it was announced that Rt Rev Libby Lane has been appointed the (diocesan) Bishop of Derby.
• Women were appointed to four more suffragan sees during 2018, so at the end of 2018 12 suffragan sees were filled by women (from a total of 69 sees).
• The appointment of two more women to suffragan sees in 2019 has been announced.

Ordained ministry is not the only way that anyone, male or female, serves the church. Most of those who offer ministries of many kinds are not counted in any way. However, WATCH considers that it is valuable to get an overview of those who have particular responsibilities in diocese and the national church, and this year we would like to draw attention to The Church Commissioners.

This group is rarely noticed publicly, but the skills and decisions of its members are vital to the funding of nearly all that the Church of England is able to do. Some are elected by General Synod, some are appointed by the Archbishop or the Crown.

Currently, the three most senior Church Commissioners are women:

• Ms Loretta Minghella is the First Estates Commissioner since the end of 2017
• The Rt Hon Caroline Spelman is the Second Estates Commissioner (from the end of 2017),
  being a link between the C of E and the House of Commons
• Dr Eve Poole is the Third Estates Commissioner.

Ordinands

Statistics provided by the Church of England show an increase in the number of ordinands this year, including an increase in female ordinands. However, the significant imbalance between young male and female ordinands continues. In 2017, of those under 40 who began training, 160 were male and 90 were female.

Table 2

In this table we try to give an overview of the extent to which women are visible and involved in a diocese.

• Column 1 Gives the proportion of stipendiary incumbents/incumbent status clergy who are women.
• Column 2 Proportion for SSM clergy. It does not distinguish between those SSM clergy who are running parishes (as House for Duty, covering vacancies etc, and those who are SSM but have a paid secular, or church, job).
• Column 3 Gives the proportion of area deans in the diocese who are women – it is worth looking at your diocese to see if this number reflects the number of women clergy.
• The data for columns 1 and 2 is taken from Church House statistics based on 2017 data. Area Deans data has been updated and based on publicly available data in Dec 2018.

NB Proportions of clergy is not the same as actual numbers of clergy.

Table 3

This table compares numbers of senior women clergy in diocese. It splits the data into those who normally relate to parishes and the whole diocese (archdeacons and bishops) and those whose ministry is cathedral based (Deans and residential canons). These senior clergy will be involved in strategic planning and decisions in a diocese, and it is known that the more varied a group is, the more likely it is to make better decisions. Visibility and role models are also significant issues. For example, do visitors see a ministry that includes men and women if they visit a cathedral?

Laywomen and others

This annual report tries to give an overview of the ministry of women in the church. This year we also recognise that WATCH is Women in the church not “ordained women in the church” and try to include a few of the ways lay women also are playing a significant role in the C of E .

Authorised Readers (LLMs)

The age and gender pattern among licensed Readers is very similar to the pattern seen among clergy, particularly SSM clergy. In the youngest age group (under 40), which is also the group with the smallest numbers, men outnumber women. In all other age groups, women outnumber men. The pattern of local parish ministry is that of volunteers maintaining local ministry, and a majority being women over 40.

Diocesan Secretaries

They are a key role in any diocese. At the end of 2018, 13 Diocesan Secretaries were women and 24 were men (some dioceses have vacancies).

Chairs of Diocesan Synods

The gender balance of Chairs of the Houses of Clergy is evenly split: 21 are men and 21 are women. The Houses of Laity have elected 13 women and 28 men to this role.

Acknowledgements and sources of data

We would like to acknowledge the work done by the research and statistics department of Church House. 

Figures of ordained clergy and LLMs, and information on ages and gender of ordinands, are taken from data published by the Church of England in August 2018 (referring to data from 2017).

Church of England Research and Statistics, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3AZ.

Information on senior clergy taken from Ministry Statistics for 2017 but updated where possible from diocesan websites Dec 2018.

Area Deans taken from Crockfords online and Diocesan websites.