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The ordination of women in the Anglican Communion has been increasingly common in certain provinces since the 1970s. Several provinces, however, and certain dioceses within otherwise ordaining provinces, continue to ordain only men. Disputes over the
ordination of women The ordination of women to ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain Christian traditions and most denominations in which "ordin ...
have contributed to the establishment and growth of progressive tendencies, such as the
Anglican realignment The Anglican realignment is a movement among some Anglicans to align themselves under new or alternative oversight within or outside the Anglican Communion. This movement is primarily active in parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States ...
and Continuing Anglican movements. Some
provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
within the
Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...
ordain women to the three traditional holy orders of bishop, priest, and deacon. Other provinces ordain women as deacons and priests but not as bishops; others are still as deacons only. Within provinces that permit the ordination of women, approval of enabling legislation is largely a diocesan responsibility. There may, however, be individual dioceses that do not endorse the legislation or do so only in a modified form, as in those dioceses which ordain women only to the diaconate (such as the Diocese of Sydney in the Anglican Church of Australia), regardless of whether or not the ordination of women to all three orders of ministry is canonically possible.


Overview

The current situation regarding women's ordination in the Anglican Communion can be seen in the following table, which lists the 38 member churches and the 6 extra-provincial churches: , , , - ! style="text-align: left" ,
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(extra-provincial) , , , , , , , Note that provinces are categorised above according to the overall provincial policy on the ordination of women. In provinces where individual dioceses have considerable autonomy (e.g. the Anglican Church of Australia), some dioceses may be less permissive than the province overall.


Ordination of priests

The first woman ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Communion was Florence Li Tim-Oi, who was ordained on 25 January 1944 by Ronald Hall,
Bishop of Victoria, Hong Kong The Bishop of Victoria, Hong Kong was (from 1849 to 1951) the Ordinary of a corporation sole including Hong Kong and South China that ministered to 20,000 Anglicans. Bishops *18491865 (ret.): George SmithHandbook to the Diocese of Victoria (Hong ...
, in response to the crisis among Anglican Christians in China caused by the Japanese invasion. To avoid controversy, she resigned her licence (though not her priestly orders) after the end of the war. In 1971, the Synod of Hong Kong and Macao became the first Anglican province to officially permit the ordination of women to the priesthood. Jane Hwang and
Joyce M. Bennett Joyce Mary Bennett (; 22 April 1923 – 11 July 2015) was the first Englishwoman to be ordained a priest in the Anglican Communion in 1971. Biography Bennett was born in London. She was educated at Burlington school, Westminster, which was eva ...
were ordained as priests by Gilbert Baker,
Bishop of Hong Kong and Macao The Diocese of Hong Kong and Macao was an extra-provincial diocese in the Anglican Communion serving Hong Kong and Macau. It existed from 1951 until 1998, when it was reorganized as an autonomous Anglican church, the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui. Hist ...
on 28 November 1971. At the same time, Li Tim-Oi was officially recognised again as a priest. In 1974, in the United States, 11 women (known as the "
Philadelphia Eleven The Philadelphia Eleven are eleven women who were the first women ordained as priests in the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church on July 29, 1974, two years before General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of A ...
") were controversially ordained to the priesthood in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
, Pennsylvania, by three retired Episcopal Church bishops (
Daniel Corrigan Daniel N. Corrigan, born as Daniel Pink (October 25, 1900 – September 21, 1994) was an American prelate of the Episcopal Church, who served as Suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado, from 1958 to 1970. He was known for his progr ...
,
Robert L. DeWitt Robert Lionne DeWitt (March 12, 1916 - November 21, 2003) was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, serving as diocesan from 1964 to 1973. He became known for fighting against the Vietnam War and racism, as well as working for social ju ...
and
Edward R. Welles II Edward Randolph Welles II (April 20, 1907 – April 15, 1991) was the fourth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri, serving from 1950 to 1972. Early life and education Welles was born on April 20, 1907 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of ...
). Four more women (the "
Washington Four The Philadelphia Eleven are eleven women who were the first women ordained as priests in the Episcopal Church on July 29, 1974, two years before General Convention affirmed and explicitly authorized the ordination of women to the priesthood. B ...
") were ordained in 1975 in Washington D.C. by George W. Barrett, retired Bishop of Rochester, New York. All of these ordinations were ruled "irregular" because they had been done without the authorisation of the Episcopal Church's General Convention. The ordinations were regularised in 1976 following the approval by the General Convention of measures to provide for the ordination of women to the priesthood and the episcopate. The first regular ordination occurred on 1 January 1977, when
Jacqueline Means Jacqueline Allene Means is an American Anglican priest. On January 1, 1977, she became the first woman to be regularly ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The Episcopal Church's General Convention had approve ...
was ordained at the Episcopal Church of All Saints, Indianapolis. In 1975, the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) passed enabling legislation for women priests; the first six women priests in the ACC were ordained on 30 November 1976. In 1977, the Anglican Church in New Zealand ordained five female priests. In 1980, the
Anglican Church of Kenya The Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) is a province of the Anglican Communion, and it is composed by 41 dioceses. The current Primate and Archbishop of Kenya is Jackson Ole Sapit. The Anglican Church of Kenya claims 5 million total members. Accordi ...
agreed in principle that women could be ordained and that each diocese was to be autonomous in taking up the issue. In 1983,
Henry Okullu John Henry Okullu (1929, Ramba Village, Asembo Central Location, Siaya District, Nyanza Province – 1999) was a Kenyan Anglican bishop and theologian. Okullu was a bishop in the Anglican Church of Kenya known for his outspoken criticism of the Ke ...
, bishop of the Diocese of Maseno South in the Anglican Church of Kenya, ordained Lucia Okuthe as a priest. In the same year, William Rukirande, Bishop of Kigezi in the
Church of Uganda The Church of Uganda is a member province of the Anglican Communion. Currently there are 37 dioceses which make up the Church of Uganda, each headed by a bishop. Each diocese is divided into archdeaconries, each headed by a senior priest known ...
, ordained three women as priests, Monica Sebidega, Deborah Micungwa Rukara, and Margaret Kizanye Byekwaso. Formal legislation for the ordination of women as priests was ultimately approved in both provinces in 1990. In 1990, Janet Catterall became the first woman ordained an Anglican priest in Ireland. In 1992, the general synod of the Anglican Church of Australia approved legislation allowing dioceses to decide whether to ordain women to the priesthood. In the same year, 90 women were ordained in Australia and two others who had been ordained overseas were recognised. Also in 1992, the
Anglican Church of Southern Africa The Anglican Church of Southern Africa, known until 2006 as the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, is the province of the Anglican Communion in the southern part of Africa. The church has twenty-five dioceses, of which twenty-one are l ...
authorised the ordination of women as priests and, in September that year,
Nancy Charton Nancy Charton Ph.D (1920 – 2015) was the first female ordained priest in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. Charton was a lecturer and later associate professor in the Department of Politics at Rhodes University. She was also a deacon at ...
, Bride Dickson and Sue Groves were ordained in the
Diocese of Grahamstown The Diocese of Grahamstown is a diocese of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It is centred on the historic city of Makhanda in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The diocese extends to East London, in the east and Port Alfred to t ...
. Also in 1992, the General Synod of the Church of England passed a vote to ordain women; however, it proved controversial. The Act of Synod, passed in 1993, along with further legislation, allowed parishes to not accept ordained women. In 1994 England's first thirty-two women were ordained as priests. The experience of the first women priests and their congregations was the premise of the
television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...
me '' The Vicar of Dibley''. The legality of the ordination of women in the Church of England was challenged in civil courts by Paul Williamson and others. By 2004, one in five priests was a woman. In 1994, in the Diocese of Barbados, Sonia Hinds and Beverley Sealy became the first women to be ordained as deacons in the Church in the Province of the West Indies on 25 July, the Feast of St James. On 31 May 1996, on the Feast of the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, both women were ordained as priests. Rufus Brome, the first Barbadian-born bishop, presided at both ordinations at the Cathedral of St Michael and All Angels in Bridgetown, Barbados. In 1997, Rosalina Villaruel Rabaria became the first woman ordained in the Philippines Independent Church, in the Diocese of Aklan and Capiz on 9 February. In 2015, Bolivia became the first diocese in the Anglican Province of South America (formerly known as the Southern Cone) to ordain women as priests. Also in 2015, Susana Lopez Lerena, Cynthia Myers Dickin, and Audrey Taylor Gonzalez became the first women Anglican priests ordained in the Diocese of Uruguay.


Ordination of bishops


Episcopal Church in the United States

The first woman to become a bishop in the Anglican Communion was Barbara Harris, who was ordained
suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...
bishop of
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
in the United States in February 1989. As of August 2017, 24 women have since been elected to the episcopate across the church. The election in December 2009 and consecration on 15 May 2010 of Mary Glasspool, who is openly gay and lives with her partner of 20 years, as a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles attracted attention owing to the continued controversy over gay bishops in Anglicanism. The Episcopal Church in the United States also elected the first woman to become a
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(or senior bishop of a
national church A national church is a Christian church associated with a specific ethnic group or nation state. The idea was notably discussed during the 19th century, during the emergence of modern nationalism. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in a draft discussing ...
),
Katharine Jefferts Schori Katharine Jefferts Schori (born March 26, 1954) is the former Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church of the United States. Previously elected as the 9th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada, she was the first woman elected ...
, who was elected as 26th Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church at the 2006 General Convention for a nine-year term (2006-2015).


Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia

The
Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia ( mi, Te Hāhi Mihinare ki Aotearoa ki Niu Tīreni, ki Ngā Moutere o te Moana Nui a Kiwa; formerly the Church of the Province of New Zealand) is a province of the Anglican Communion ser ...
first ordained women as priests in 1977 and was the first Anglican province to elect a woman as a diocesan bishop when, in 1989, Penny Jamieson was elected Bishop of Dunedin. She retired in 2004. In 2008 the Diocese of Christchurch elected Victoria Matthews, former Bishop of Edmonton in the
Anglican Church of Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2017, the Anglican Church counted 359,030 members on parish rolls in 2,2 ...
, as 8th Bishop of Christchurch. In 2013,
Helen-Ann Hartley Helen-Ann Macleod Hartley (born 28 May 1973) is a British Anglican bishop and academic who has served as the Bishop of Newcastle since 2023. She previously served as Bishop of Waikato in New Zealand from 2014 to 2017 and area Bishop of Ripon i ...
became the first woman ordained in the Church of England to become a bishop when she was elected as Bishop of Waikato and joint diocesan bishop in the Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki. Since 2017, the Rt Rev Dr Eleanor Sanderson has served as Assistant Bishop of Wellington.
Wai Quayle Waitohiariki Quayle (born 1950, Gladstone, New-Zealand) is a Māori Anglican bishop. She was ordained as Bishop of Upoko o Te Ika in the Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa at Rathkeale College on Thursday, September 12, 2019, where she also received a ...
became the first indigenous woman to be elected a bishop in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia in 2019.


Anglican Church of Canada

Following the first ordinations of women as priests in 1976, the first woman to become a bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada was Victoria Matthews. She was elected suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Toronto on 19 November 1993 and was ordained to the episcopate on 12 February 1994. She later was the first woman to become a diocesan bishop in Canada when she was elected as Bishop of Edmonton in 1997, an office she held until 2007 when she resigned. She was subsequently elected Bishop of Christchurch in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia in 2008. Since Matthews' election, twelve more women have been elected to the episcopate in Canada. They are
Ann Tottenham Ann Elizabeth Tottenham (born July 21, 1940) is a retired bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada. She is the oldest child of Charles Tottenham, 8th Marquess of Ely who emigrated to Ontario, Canada. Although entitled to the style ''Lady Ann To ...
(suffragan, Toronto, 1997; retired 2005); Sue Moxley (suffragan, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, 2004; diocesan, 2007; retired 2014); Jane Alexander (diocesan, Edmonton, 2008); Linda Nicholls (suffragan, Toronto, 2008; diocesan, Huron, 2016; Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, 2019 ); Barbara Andrews (Bishop Suffragan to the Metropolitan with responsibilities for the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior, 2009);
Lydia Mamakwa Lydia Mamakwa is the first bishop of the Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh, a diocese of the Anglican Church of Canada established on 1 June 2014. Mamakwa is from the Kingfisher First Nation Kingfisher First Nation (Oji-Cree lan ...
(Area Bishop for Northern Ontario within the Diocese of Keewatin, with special responsibility for the predominantly Aboriginal parishes of the area, 2010; subsequently Bishop of Mishamikoweesh, the church's Indigenous Spiritual Ministry with the status of a diocese, established in 2014);
Melissa Skelton Melissa Maxine Skelton (born 1951) is the bishop provisional of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia. She was previously the 9th Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster, a diocese in the Anglican Church of Canada, and was the 12th Metropolit ...
(diocesan,
New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capi ...
, 2013), Mary Irwin-Gibson (diocesan Bishop of Montreal, 2015), Riscylla Shaw (suffragan, Toronto, 2017), Jenny Andison, (suffragan, Toronto, 2017), Anne Germond (diocesan, Algoma, 2017),. Susan Bell (diocesan, Niagara, 5 May 2018), and Lynne McNaughton (diocesan, Kootenay, January 2019). On 12 May 2018 Melissa Skelton was elected Metropolitan (which includes the title 'Archbishop') of the Ecclesiastical Province of British Columbia and Yukon.


Anglican Church of Australia

The
Anglican Church of Australia The Anglican Church of Australia, formerly known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the Anglican Communion. It is the second largest church in Australia after the ...
began to ordain women as priests in 1992 and in the late 1990s embarked on a protracted debate over the ordination of women as bishops, a debate that was ultimately decided through the church's appellate tribunal, which ruled on 28 September 2007 that there is nothing in the church's constitution that would prevent the consecration of a woman priest as a bishop in a diocese which by ordinance has adopted the law of the Church of England Clarification Canon 1992, which paved the way for the ordination of women as priests. Following the agreement at the April 2008 bishops' conference of the "Women in the Episcopate" protocol for the provision of pastoral care to those who reject the ministry of bishops who are women, the first women ordained as bishops were
Kay Goldsworthy Kay Maree Goldsworthy (born 1956) is an Australian bishop of the Anglican Church of Australia. She is the current archbishop of Perth in the Province of Western Australia.ABC Online Upon her installation as archbishop, on 10 February 2018, she ...
(assistant bishop, Diocese of Perth) on 22 May 2008 (subsequently elected 12th bishop of the
Diocese of Gippsland The Diocese of Gippsland is a diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia, founded in 1902. It is situated in the Gippsland region of the state of Victoria, Australia and covers most of the eastern part of the state. The diocesan cathedral ...
in the south-eastern Australian state of Victoria and installed on 21 March 2015; and
Barbara Darling Barbara Brinsley Darling (17 October 1947 – 15 February 2015) was an Australian Anglican bishop. She was among the first women to be an ordained deacon in the Anglican Church of Australia. Darling was born in Burwood, Sydney, one of three chi ...
(assistant bishop,
Anglican Diocese of Melbourne The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne is the metropolitan diocese of the Province of Victoria in the Anglican Church of Australia. The diocese was founded from the Diocese of Australia by letters patent of 25 June 1847Genieve Blackwell, Regional Bishop in Wagga Wagga and subsequently an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Melbourne (31 March 2012); Alison Taylor, Bishop of the Southern Region, Diocese of Brisbane (6 April 2013); Sarah Macneil,
Bishop of Grafton The Anglican Diocese of Grafton is one of the 23 dioceses of the Anglican Church of Australia. The diocese is located in north-east New South Wales and covers the area from the Queensland border to Port Macquarie in the south and west to the ...
, who was the first woman to be a diocesan bishop in the church (1 March 2014); and Kate Wilmot, an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Perth (6 August 2015). On 29 August 2017
Kay Goldsworthy Kay Maree Goldsworthy (born 1956) is an Australian bishop of the Anglican Church of Australia. She is the current archbishop of Perth in the Province of Western Australia.ABC Online Upon her installation as archbishop, on 10 February 2018, she ...
was elected Archbishop of
Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
in the Province of Western Australia. On taking up her appointment on 10 February 2018, she became the first woman in the Anglican Communion appointed or elected to the office of
archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...
.


Anglican Church of Southern Africa

The first woman to become a bishop in the Anglican Church of South Africa was Ellinah Ntombi Wamukoya, who was elected bishop of the
Diocese of Swaziland The Diocese of Eswatini is a diocese in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It was founded in 1968. It comprises the country of Eswatini. It is divided in three archdeaconries, Eastern, Southern and Western. History The diocese was create ...
on 18 July 2012 and ordained and installed on 10 November 2012. Her appointment was closely followed by the election, on 12 October 2012, of
Margaret Vertue Margaret Brenda Vertue (born 6 April 1953) is a South African Anglican bishop. She is the second woman to be elected as a bishop of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa and of the whole African continent, as the diocesan bishop of the Angli ...
as bishop of the Diocese of False Bay. She was consecrated and installed on 19 January 2013.


Church in Wales

On 2 April 2008, the Governing Body of the
Church in Wales The Church in Wales ( cy, Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is an Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The pos ...
considered but did not pass, a bill to enable women to be ordained as bishops. Though the bill was passed by the House of Laity (52 to 19) and the House of Bishops (unanimously), it failed by three votes (27 to 18) to secure the required minimum two-thirds majority in the House of Clerics. However, the Church in Wales decisively ended the role of provincial bishop, whose responsibility was to minister to opponents. On 12 September 2013, the Governing Body passed a bill to enable women to be ordained as bishops subject to the finalisation of a Code of Practice, ultimately published in September 2014. On 2 November 2016,
Joanna Penberthy Joanna Susan Penberthy (born 1960) is a Welsh Anglican bishop. Since November 2016, she has served as the Bishop of St Davids in the Church in Wales. She was the first woman to become a bishop in the Church in Wales, when she was consecrated a ...
was elected as
Bishop of St David's The Bishop of St Davids is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of St Davids. The succession of bishops stretches back to Saint David who in the 6th century established his seat in what is today the city of St Davids in Pembrokeshire, ...
in the
Church in Wales The Church in Wales ( cy, Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is an Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The pos ...
. She was consecrated in January 2017 and enthroned in St Davids Cathedral in February 2017. On 25 February 2017
June Osborne June Osborne (born 10 June 1953) is a British retired Anglican bishop. From 2017 to 2022, she served as the Bishop of Llandaff in the Church in Wales. Between 2004 and 2017, she served as the Dean of Salisbury, and was the first woman to head o ...
was elected 72nd Bishop of Llandaff. She was consecrated on 15 July 2017 and installed at
Llandaff Cathedral Llandaff Cathedral ( cy, Eglwys Gadeiriol Llandaf) is an Anglican cathedral and parish church in Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales. It is the seat of the Bishop of Llandaff, head of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. It is dedicated to Saint Peter ...
on 22 July 2017. In 2022, Mary Stallard's consecration as Assistant Bishop of Bangor made the Welsh Bench of Bishops majority-female, a situation presumed to be a first in any Anglican church.


Church of England

Since the ordination of women as priests began in 1994, dioceses generally have on the Bishop's senior staff a Dean of Women's Ministry (or Bishop's Adviser in Women's Ministry or similar), whose role it is to advocate for clergy who are women and to ensure the Bishop is appraised of issues peculiar to their ministry. These Advisers meet together in a National Association (NADAWM). In 2005, 2006, and 2008 the General Synod of the Church of England voted in favour of removing the legal obstacles preventing women from becoming bishops. The process did not progress quickly due to problems in providing appropriate mechanisms for the protection of those who cannot accept this development. On 7 July 2008 the synod held a more-than-seven-hour debate on the subject and narrowly voted in favour of a national statutory code of practice to make provision for opponents, though more radical provisions (such as separate structures or overseeing bishops) proposed by opponents of the measure failed to win the majority required across each of the three houses (bishops, clergy, and laity). The task of taking this proposal further fell largely to a revision committee established by the synod to consider the draft legislation on enabling women to become bishops in the Church of England. When, in October 2009, the revision committee released a statement indicating its proposals would include a plan to vest some functions by law in male bishops who would provide oversight for those unable to receive the ministry of women as bishops or priests, there was widespread concern both within and outside the Church of England about the appropriateness of such legislation. In the light of the negative reaction to the proposal, the revision committee subsequently announced the abandonment of this recommendation. The synod, meeting in York from 9 to 12 July 2010, considered a measure that again endorsed the ordination of women as bishops. The measure included provisions for individual bishops to allow alternative oversight for traditionalists who object to serving under them, but opponents of the measure argued for stronger provisions. A compromise plan put forward by the archbishops of Canterbury and York (involving the creation of a mechanism providing for "co-ordinate jurisdiction" in parishes refusing the ministry of a bishop who is a woman whereby another bishop would fulfil episcopal function) was endorsed by the House of Bishops and the House of Laity but narrowly failed (90 votes against to 85 in favour) in the House of Clergy. The draft measure, with only minor amendments, passed in all three houses on 12 July 2010, to be considered by individual dioceses. The measure was approved by 42 of the 44 dioceses, but an amendment by the House of Bishops, offering further concessions to opponents, meant that many proponents of the measure would have reluctantly voted it down, and the synod at York in July 2012 adjourned the decision to a later synod. On 20 November 2012, the General Synod failed to pass the proposed legislation for the ordination of women as bishops. The measure was lost after narrowly failing to achieve the two-thirds majority required in the House of Laity after being passed by the House of Bishops and the House of Clergy. At its meeting on 7 February 2013, the House of Bishops decided that eight senior women clergy, elected regionally, would participate in all meetings of the house until such time as there were six women who were bishops sitting as of right. In May 2013 the House of Bishops expressed its commitment "to publishing new ways forward to enable women to become bishops". In July 2013, the synod decided to reintroduce legislation to be addressed in November. In November 2013 the General Synod approved a package of measures as the next steps to enable women to become bishops, generally welcoming a package of proposals outlined for Draft Legislation of Women in the Episcopate (GS 1924). The steering committee's package of proposals followed the mandate set by the July synod and included the first draft of a House of Bishops declaration and a dispute resolution procedure. The debate invited the synod to welcome the proposals and five guiding principles already agreed by the House of Bishops. The General Synod again considered the matter in February 2014 and sent further draft legislation to all the dioceses of the Church of England. All dioceses that were able to meet within the necessary time frame (43 of 44) approved the draft legislation in time for it to be debated at the General Synod in York in July 2014. That legislation passed all three houses of General Synod on 14 July 2014, achieving the two-thirds majority required in all three. It gained the necessary parliamentary approvals and royal assent in the subsequent months and was finally approved by the General Synod on 17 November 2014. The first woman to be ordained as a bishop in the Church of England was
Libby Lane Elizabeth Jane Holden Lane (born 8 December 1966) is a British Anglican bishop and Lord Spiritual. Since February 2019, she has served as Bishop of Derby in the Church of England, the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Derby. From January 201 ...
, whose appointment as
Bishop of Stockport The Bishop of Stockport is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Chester, in the Province of York, England. The title takes its name after the town of Stockport in Greater Manchester Greater Manc ...
(a suffragan see in the Diocese of Chester) was announced on 17 December 2014. She was consecrated at
York Minster The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Arch ...
on 26 January 2015 (the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul). Alison White was appointed
Bishop of Hull The Bishop of Hull is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of York, England. The suffragan bishop, along with the Bishop of Selby and the Bishop of Whitby, assists the Archbishop of York in overseeing t ...
(suffragan,
Diocese of York The Diocese of York is an administrative division of the Church of England, part of the Province of York. It covers the city of York, the eastern part of North Yorkshire, and most of the East Riding of Yorkshire. The diocese is headed by the ...
) on 25 March 2015 and consecrated at York Minister on 3 July 2015 (the Feast of St Thomas). The third woman to be appointed bishop, and the first to be a diocesan bishop, was Rachel Treweek, whose appointment as 43rd Bishop of Gloucester was announced on 26 March 2015. She became Bishop of Gloucester on 15 June 2015 following the confirmation of her election. On 22 July 2015 (the Feast of St
Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurre ...
) she and
Sarah Mullally Dame Sarah Elisabeth Mullally, ('' née'' Bowser; born 26 March 1962) is a British Anglican bishop, Lord Spiritual and former nurse. She has been Bishop of London since 8 March 2018.
( Bishop of Crediton, a suffragan see in the Diocese of Exeter) were the first women to be ordained as bishops at
Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...
."First female diocesan bishop in C of E consecrated"
Anglicannews.org, Retrieved on 23 July 2015.
Pursuant to the
Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 The Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom. It stipulates that whenever a vacancy arises among the Lords Spiritual during the next ten years after the Act comes into force, the position has to be filled by ...
, which makes time-limited provision for vacancies among the
Lords Spiritual The Lords Spiritual are the bishops of the Church of England who serve in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom. 26 out of the 42 diocesan bishops and archbishops of the Church of England serve as Lords Spiritual (not counting retired archbi ...
(the bishops who are members of the
House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
) to be filled by diocesan bishops who are women, Treweek also become the first to sit in the House of Lords, where she was introduced on 26 October 2015. On 30 June 2015, it was announced that
Ruth Worsley Ruth Elizabeth Worsley, (born 1962) is a Church of England bishop. Since September 2015, she has been the Bishop of Taunton, a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Bath and Wells. From 2013 to 2015, she was Archdeacon of Wiltshire. Early life W ...
would be
Bishop of Taunton The Bishop of Taunton is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title was first created under the Suffragan Bishops Act 1534 and takes its na ...
(suffragan,
Diocese of Bath and Wells The Diocese of Bath and Wells is a diocese in the Church of England Province of Canterbury in England. The diocese covers the county of Somerset and a small area of Dorset. The Episcopal seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells is located in the ...
). On 2 July 2015 the appointment of
Anne Hollinghurst Anne Elizabeth Hollinghurst (born 4 March 1964) is a Church of England bishop and former youth worker. Since September 2015, she has been the Bishop of Aston, the suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Birmingham. From 2010 to 2015, she was Vicar of ...
as the
Bishop of Aston The Bishop of Aston is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Birmingham, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after Aston, an area of the City of Birmingham; the See was er ...
(suffragan, Diocese of Birmingham) was announced. Both were consecrated at
St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London ...
, London, on 29 September (the Feast of St Michael and All Angels). On 2 September 2015, it was announced that
Christine Hardman Christine Elizabeth Hardman ( Atkins; born 27 August 1951) is a retired British Anglican bishop and former Lord Spiritual. She served as Archdeacon of Lewisham, 2001–2008; Archdeacon of Lewisham & Greenwich, 2008–2012; and Bishop of N ...
would be 12th Bishop of Newcastle and, therefore, the second woman to be a diocesan bishop in the Church of England and the first in the Province of York. Hardman became Bishop of Newcastle upon the confirmation of her election on 22 September 2015; she was consecrated on 30 November 2015 at York Minster.Diocese of Newcastle — Confirmation of Election Service for the 12th Bishop of Newcastle
(Accessed 23 September 2015)
Hardman also sits in the House of Lords. On 26 November 2015, the appointment of
Karen Gorham Karen Marisa Gorham, (born 24 June 1964) is a British Church of England bishop. Since February 2016, she has been the Bishop of Sherborne, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Salisbury; and she was Acting Bishop of Salisbury from 2021 to ...
as Bishop of Sherborne (suffragan,
Diocese of Salisbury The Diocese of Salisbury is a Church of England diocese in the south of England, within the ecclesiastical Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of Dorset (excepting the deaneries of Bournemouth and Christchurch, which fall within the ...
) was announced. She was the first woman to be consecrated in
Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
, at a service that took place on 24 February 2016. Between 2014 and 2018 almost half of new bishop appointments in the Church of England were women.


Church of Ireland

The
Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the sec ...
approved the ordination of women as priests and bishops in 1990 and the first women were ordained as priests on 24 June that year. The first woman in the episcopate was Pat Storey, who was consecrated Bishop of Meath and Kildare on 1 December 2013. On 19 September 2013, Storey was chosen by the House of Bishops to succeed Richard Clarke as Bishop of Meath and Kildare. She was consecrated to the episcopate at
Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Christ Church Cathedral, more formally The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, is the cathedral of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the ecclesiastical province of the United Provinces of Dublin and Cashel in the ( ...
, on 30 November 2013. She is the first woman to be elected as a bishop in the Church of Ireland and the first woman to be an
Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...
bishop in
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...
and
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...
.


Church of South India

The
Church of South India The Church of South India (CSI) is a united Protestant Church in India. It is the result of union of a number of mainline Protestant denominations in South India after independence. The Church of South India is the successor of a number of P ...
has admitted women to holy orders since its foundation in 1947.
Eggoni Pushpa Lalitha Eggoni Pushpa Lalitha (born 1956) is the Bishop of the Nandyal Diocese of the Church of South India. She is the first woman to become a bishop in Church of South India. The Church of South India, part of the Anglican Communion, created histor ...
was the first woman elected as a bishop on 25 September 2013. She was ordained and installed as bishop of the Diocese of Nandyal on 29 September 2013.


Episcopal Church of South Sudan

The
Episcopal Church of South Sudan The Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, formerly known as Episcopal Church of Sudan, is a province of the Anglican Communion located in South Sudan. The province consists of eight Internal Provinces (each led by an archbishop) and 61 ...
(formerly the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan until the creation, on 31 July 2017, of separate provinces for Sudan and South Sudan) provided for the ordination of women to all three orders of ministry in 2000. The first woman ordained as a bishop in the church was the Rt Rev Elizabeth Awut Ngor, who was consecrated as an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Rumbek on 31 December 2016. Hers was the first appointment of a woman as a bishop in any of the so-called Global Anglican Future Conference, GAFCON-aligned provinces of the
Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...
, which broadly resist the ordination of women as priests and bishops.


Scottish Episcopal Church

The Scottish Episcopal Church ordained its first women as priests in 1994 and in 2003 provided for the ordination of women as bishops. The nomination of Alison Peden as one of three nominees for election as Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway in January 2010 attracted wide attention. The first woman to be appointed was the Rev Canon Anne Dyer, who was elected Bishop of the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney by the Episcopal Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church on 9 November 2017. She was consecrated on 1 March 2018.


Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil

The first woman appointed as a bishop in the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil is the Right Rev. Marinez Santos Bassotto, who was elected as Bishop of the Diocese of Amazon on 20 January 2018 and was ordained on 21 April 2018. She was elected as Presiding Bishop on 13 November 2022.


Anglican Church of Kenya

The first woman appointed as a bishop in the
Anglican Church of Kenya The Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) is a province of the Anglican Communion, and it is composed by 41 dioceses. The current Primate and Archbishop of Kenya is Jackson Ole Sapit. The Anglican Church of Kenya claims 5 million total members. Accordi ...
is Emily Onyango who was elected Assistant Bishop of Anglican dioceses of Maseno#Diocese of Bondo, Bondo Diocese in January 2021. Rose Okeno, age 54, became the second female bishop and the first full bishop in the history of the
Anglican Church of Kenya The Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) is a province of the Anglican Communion, and it is composed by 41 dioceses. The current Primate and Archbishop of Kenya is Jackson Ole Sapit. The Anglican Church of Kenya claims 5 million total members. Accordi ...
(ACK) on September 12, 2021. She is the Anglican Bishop of Butere Diocese.


Anglican Church of Mexico

The first woman elected as a bishop in the Anglican Church of Mexico is Alba Sally Sue Hernández who was consecrated the bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Mexico, Diocese of Mexico in January 2022.


Extraprovincial churches

In addition to the 41 provinces of the Anglican Communion, there are six Extra-provincial Anglican churches which function semi-autonomously under limited metropolitical oversight and are largely self-determining when it comes to the ordained ministry. Several have provided for the ordination of women as priests for some years. The Episcopal Church of Cuba is the only extra-provincial church to ordain women as bishops, the first of whom was Nerva Cot Aguilera who was appointed as a bishop suffragan in 2007. Aguilera was appointed by the Metropolitan Council, the ecclesiastical authority for the Episcopal Church of Cuba which in January 2010 appointed Griselda Delgato Del Carpio (who, along with Aguilera, was one of the first two women priests ordained in Cuba in 1986) as bishop coadjutor (assistant bishop with the right of succession). She was ordained to the episcopate on 7 February 2010 and installed as diocesan on 28 November 2010 following the retirement of Miguel Tamayo-Zaldívar.


Controversies and breakaway groups

The ordination of women has been a controversial issue throughout the Anglican Communion. While the majority of the 41 provinces of the Anglican Communion ordain women as priests, and many have removed all barriers to women becoming bishops, some have taken formal or informal steps to provide pastoral care and support for those who cannot in conscience accept the ministry of women as priests and bishops. The Church of England, for example, has created the office of provincial episcopal visitor (colloquially known as "flying bishops") to minister to clergy, laity, and parishes who do not in conscience accept the ministry of women priests. These are suffragan bishops, appointed by the metropolitan bishop, metropolitans, whose main purpose is to be available for this ministry. There have been a number of protest groups established by conservative Anglicans who see the ordination of women as representative of a trend away from traditional or orthodox doctrine. A network for opponents of women's ordination called the Evangelical and Catholic Mission was established in 1976, and following the consecration of Barbara Harris, the first woman to become an Anglican bishop, in 1989, a group of 22 active and retired bishops established the Episcopal Synod of America, subsequently Forward in Faith North America. A sister organisation, Forward in Faith UK, was established in 1992. There have also been a number of breakaway groups. Following the Congress of St. Louis in 1977, the Continuing Anglican Movement developed which sought to provide a formal ecclesiastical structure for those who felt unable to remain within mainstream Anglicanism. The larger groupings within the Continuing movement have been increasingly active since the publication by Pope Benedict XVI of the Apostolic Constitution personal ordinariate, ''Anglicanorum Coetibus'' in November 2009. ''Anglicanorum Coetibus'' provides a canonical structure for groups of former Anglicans to enter into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, with formal structures in the form of personal ordinariates now in place in Great Britain, the United States, and Australia & Japan The long-term impact of ''Anglicanorum Coetibus'' on the Continuing movement is unknown, though there is a clear realisation that the loss of significant groups and their associated resources, especially to the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter in the United States, necessitates the need for discussion and discernment between the ongoing affiliates of the movement.


See also

* Anglican Group for the Ordination of Women to the Historic Ministry * List of the first 32 women ordained as Church of England priests * List of female Anglican bishops * Women and the Church * Ordination of women in Protestant denominations#Women as Anglican and Protestant bishops, Ordination of women in Protestant denominations *Nan Arrington Peete


Notes


References


Citations


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ordination Of Women In The Anglican Communion Ordination of women in the Anglican Communion,