The ordination of women to ministerial or

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

ly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary

major religious groups The world's principal religions and spiritual traditions may be classified into a small number of major groups, though this is not a uniform practice. This theory began in the 18th century with the goal of recognizing the relative degrees of ...

. It remains a controversial issue in certain religious groups in which

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

was traditionally reserved for men. Where laws prohibit sex discrimination in employment, exceptions are often made for clergy (for example in the United States) on grounds of

separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and Jurisprudence, jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the State (polity), state. Conceptually, the term refers to ...

. In some cases, women have been permitted to be ordained, but not to hold higher positions, such as (until July 2014) that of

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Ancient pagan religions

Sumer and Akkad

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...

ian and Akkadian '' EN'' were top-ranking priestesses distinguished by special ceremonial attire and holding equal status to high priests. They owned property, transacted business, and initiated the '' hieros gamos'' ceremony with priests and kings.Sarah Dening (1996),
The Mythology of Sex
'', Macmillan, . Ch.3.

Enheduanna Enheduanna ( , also transliteration, transliterated as , , or variants; ) was the (high) priestess of the moon god Sin (mythology), Nanna (Sīn) in the Sumerian city-state of Ur in the reign of her father, Sargon of Akkad ( BCE). She was likely ...

(2285–2250 BC), an Akkadian princess, was the first known holder of the title "EN Priestess".''Ishtaritu'' were temple prostitutes who specialized in the arts of dancing, music, and singing and served in the temples of

Ishtar Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...

Puabi Puabi ( Akkadian: 𒅤𒀜 pu3-AD ), also called Shubad or Shudi-Ad due to a misinterpretation by Sir Charles Woolley, was an important queen in the Sumerian city of Ur, during the First Dynasty of Ur. Commonly labeled as a "queen", her stat ...

was a '' NIN'', an Akkadian priestess of Ur in the 26th century BC. ''

Nadītu ''Nadītu'' (; sometimes romanized as ''naditu'', with the long vowel omitted) were a social class in ancient Mesopotamia, attested only in the Old Babylonian period. They were associated with the tutelary gods of specific cities, and are often con ...

'', sometimes described as priestesses in modern literature, are attested from various cities from the Old Babylonian period. They were recruited from various social groups, ranging from craftsmen to royal families, and were supposed to remain childless; they owned property and transacted business. In Sumerian epic texts such as

Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta ''Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta'' is a legendary Sumerian language, Sumerian account, preserved in early post-Sumerian copies, composed in the Neo-Sumerian period (ca. 21st century BC). It is one of a series of accounts describing the conflicts ...

, ''Nu-Gig'' were priestesses in temples dedicated to

Inanna Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...

, or may be a reference to the

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hinduism, Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all re ...

herself.Jeremy Black (1998), ''Reading Sumerian Poetry'',

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, . pp 142
Reading Sumerian poetry (pg. 142)
''Qadishtu'', Hebrew ''Qedesha'' (קדשה) or ''Kedeshah'', derived from the root

Q-D-Š ''Q-D-Š'' is a triconsonantal Semitic root meaning " sacred, holy", derived from a concept central to ancient Semitic religion. From a basic verbal meaning "to consecrate, to purify", it could be used as an adjective meaning "holy", or as a ...

, Blue Letter Bible
Lexicon results for ''qĕdeshah'' (Strong's H2181)
incorporating

Strong's Concordance ''The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible'', generally known as Strong's Concordance, is a Bible concordance, an index of every word in the King James Version (KJV), constructed under the direction of American theologian James Strong. Strong fi ...

(1890) and Gesenius's Lexicon (1857).Also transliterated ''qĕdeshah'', ''q^edeshah'', ''qědēšā'' ,''qedashah'', ''kadeshah'', ''kadesha'', ''qedesha'', ''kdesha''. are mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' sacred prostitutes usually associated with the goddess

Asherah Asherah (; ; ; ; Qatabanian language, Qatabanian: ') was a goddess in ancient Semitic religions. She also appears in Hittites, Hittite writings as ''Ašerdu(š)'' or ''Ašertu(š)'' (), and as Athirat in Ugarit. Some scholars hold that Ashera ...

Ancient Egypt

Sarg der Priesterin Iset-en-heb Liebieghaus 1653

Ancient Egyptian religion Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of Polytheism, polytheistic beliefs and rituals that formed an integral part of ancient Egyptian culture. It centered on the Egyptians' interactions with Ancient Egyptian deities, many deities belie ...

, God's Wife of Amun was the highest ranking

ess; this title was held by a daughter of the High Priest of Amun, during the reign of

Hatshepsut Hatshepsut ( ; BC) was the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, Egypt, ruling first as regent, then as queen regnant from until (Low Chronology) and the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Thutmose II. She was Egypt's second c ...

, while the capital of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

was in Thebes during the second millennium BC (circa 2160 BC). Later, Divine Adoratrice of Amun was a title created for the chief priestess of

Amun Amun was a major ancient Egyptian deity who appears as a member of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad. Amun was attested from the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amunet. His oracle in Siwa Oasis, located in Western Egypt near the Libyan Desert, r ...

. During the first millennium BC, when the holder of this office exercised her largest measure of influence, her position was an important appointment facilitating the transfer of power from one

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...

to the next, when his daughter was ''adopted'' to fill it by the incumbent office holder. The Divine Adoratrice ruled over the extensive temple duties and domains, controlling a significant part of the ancient Egyptian economy. Ancient Egyptian priestesses: * Gautseshen * Henutmehyt * Henuttawy * Hui * Iset * Karomama Meritmut * Maatkare Mutemhat * Meritamen * Neferhetepes is the earliest attested

priestess of Hathor Priestess of Hathor or Prophetess of Hathor was the title of the Ordination of women#Ancient Egypt, Priestess of the goddess Hathor in the Temple of Dendera in Ancient Egypt. Title The title is known to be given during the Old Kingdom of Egypt, an ...

. * Neferure * Tabekenamun a priestess of Hathor as well as a priestess of Neith.

Ancient Greece

ancient Greek religion Religious practices in ancient Greece encompassed a collection of beliefs, rituals, and Greek mythology, mythology, in the form of both popular public religion and Cult (religious practice), cult practices. The application of the modern concept ...

, some important observances, such as the

Thesmophoria The Thesmophoria () was an ancient Greek religious festival, held in honor of the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone. It was held annually, mostly around the time that seeds were sown in late autumn – though in some places it was assoc ...

, were made by women. Priestesses,

Hiereiai ''Hiereia'' (, Grammatical number, pl. , ''hiéreiai'') was the title of the female priesthood or priestesses in ancient Greek religion, being the equivalent of the male title ''hiereus'' (). Ancient Greece had a number of different offices in ...

, served in many different cults of many divinities, with their duties varying depending on the cult and the divinity in which they served. Priestesses played a major role in the

Eleusinian Mysteries The Eleusinian Mysteries () were initiations held every year for the Cult (religious practice), cult of Demeter and Persephone based at the Panhellenic Sanctuary of Eleusis in ancient Greece. They are considered the "most famous of the secret rel ...

, in which they served on many levels, from the

High Priestess of Demeter The Priestess of Demeter and Kore, sometimes referred to as the High Priestess of Demeter, was the High Priestess of the Goddesses Demeter and Persephone (Kore) in the Telesterion in Eleusis in Ancient Athens. It was one of the highest religious ...

and Dadouchousa Prietess to the Panageis and Hierophantides. The

Gerarai ''Gerarai'' (), also known by the latinized form ''Gerarae'', were priestesses ( Hiereiai) of Dionysus in ancient Greek religion. They presided over sacrifices and participated in the festivals of Theoinia and Iobaccheia that took place during ...

were priestesses of

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...

who presided over festivals and rituals associated with the god. A body of priestesses might also maintain the cult at a particular holy site, such as the Peleiades at the oracle of

Dodona Dodona (; , Ionic Greek, Ionic and , ) in Epirus in northwestern Greece was the oldest Ancient Greece, Hellenic oracle, possibly dating to the 2nd millennium BCE according to Herodotus. The earliest accounts in Homer describe Dodona as an oracle ...

. The '' Arrephoroi'' were young girls ages seven to twelve who worked as

servants A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly d ...

of Athena Polias on the Athenian Acropolis and were charged with conducting unique rituals under the surveillance of the High Priestess of Athena Polias. The Priestess of Hera at Argos served at the

Heraion of Argos The Heraion of Argos () is an ancient sanctuary in the Argolid, Greece, dedicated to Hera, whose epithet "Argive Hera" (Ἥρη Ἀργείη ''Here Argeie'') appears in Homer's works. Hera herself claims to be the protector of Ancient Argos, A ...

and enjoyed great prestige in all Greece. At several sites women priestesses served as

oracle An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...

s, the most famous of which is the

Oracle of Delphi An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophecy, prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by Deity, deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divina ...

. The priestess of the Temple of Apollo at

Delphi Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient Classical antiquity, classical world. The A ...

was the

Pythia Pythia (; ) was the title of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Her title was also historically glossed in English as th ...

, credited throughout the

Greco-Roman world The Greco-Roman world , also Greco-Roman civilization, Greco-Roman culture or Greco-Latin culture (spelled Græco-Roman or Graeco-Roman in British English), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and co ...

for her prophecies, which gave her a prominence unusual for a woman in male-dominated

ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

. The Phrygian Sibyl presided over an oracle of Apollo in

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; , ''Phrygía'') was a kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Ph ...

. The inspired speech of divining women, however, was interpreted by male priests; a woman might be a mantic ''(mantis)'' who became the mouthpiece of a deity through possession, but the "prophecy of interpretation" required specialized knowledge and was considered a rational process suited only to a male '"prophet" (''prophētēs'').

Ancient Rome

The Latin word '' sacerdos'', "priest", is the same for both the

grammatical gender In linguistics, a grammatical gender system is a specific form of a noun class system, where nouns are assigned to gender categories that are often not related to the real-world qualities of the entities denoted by those nouns. In languages wit ...

s. In Roman state religion, the Vestal Virgins were responsible for the continuance and security of Rome as embodied by the sacred fire that they were required to tend on pain of extreme punishment. The Vestals were a

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

of six ''sacerdotes'' (plural) devoted to Vesta,

of the hearth, both the focus of a private home ''(

domus In ancient Rome, the ''domus'' (: ''domūs'', genitive: ''domūs'' or ''domī'') was the type of town house occupied by the upper classes and some wealthy freedmen during the Republican and Imperial eras. It was found in almost all the ma ...

)'' and the state hearth that was the center of communal religion. Freed of the usual social obligations to marry and rear children, the Vestals took a vow of

chastity Chastity, also known as purity, is a virtue related to temperance. Someone who is ''chaste'' refrains from sexual activity that is considered immoral or from any sexual activity, according to their state of life. In some contexts, for exampl ...

in order to devote themselves to the study and correct observance of state rituals that were off-limits to the male colleges of priests. They retained their religious authority until the Christian emperor

Gratian Gratian (; ; 18 April 359 – 25 August 383) was emperor of the Western Roman Empire from 367 to 383. The eldest son of Valentinian I, Gratian was raised to the rank of ''Augustus'' as a child and inherited the West after his father's death in ...

confiscated their revenues and his successor

Theodosius I Theodosius I ( ; 11 January 347 – 17 January 395), also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman emperor from 379 to 395. He won two civil wars and was instrumental in establishing the Nicene Creed as the orthodox doctrine for Nicene C ...

closed the

Temple of Vesta The Temple of Vesta, or the aedes (Latin ''Glossary of ancient Roman religion#aedes, Aedes Vestae''; Italian language, Italian: ''Tempio di Vesta''), was an ancient edifice in Rome, Italy. It is located in the Roman Forum near the Regia and the H ...

permanently. The Romans also had at least two priesthoods that were each held jointly by a married couple, the '' rex'' and '' regina sacrorum'', and the ''

flamen A (plural ''flamines'') was a priest of the ancient Roman religion who was assigned to one of fifteen deities with official cults during the Roman Republic. The most important of these were the three (or "major priests"), who served the importa ...

'' and '' flaminica Dialis''. The ''regina sacrorum'' ("queen of the sacred rites") and the ''flaminica Dialis'' (high priestess of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

) each had her own distinct duties and presided over public sacrifices, the ''regina'' on the first day of every month, and the ''flaminica'' every nundinal cycle (the Roman equivalent of a week). The highly public nature of these sacrifices, like the role of the Vestals, indicates that women's religious activities in ancient Rome were not restricted to the private or domestic sphere. So essential was the gender complement to these priesthoods that if the wife died, the husband had to give up his office. This is true of the flaminate, and probably true of the ''rex'' and ''regina''. The title ''sacerdos'' was often specified in relation to a deity or temple, such as a '' sacerdos Cereris'' or ''Cerealis'', "priestess of Ceres", an office never held by men. Female ''sacerdotes'' played a leading role in the sanctuaries of Ceres and

Proserpina Proserpina ( ; ) or Proserpine ( ) is an ancient Roman goddess whose iconography, functions and myths are virtually identical to those of Greek Persephone. Proserpina replaced or was combined with the ancient Roman fertility goddess Libera, whos ...

in Rome and throughout Italy that observed so-called "Greek rite" ('' ritus graecus''). This form of worship had spread from Sicily under Greek influence, and the Aventine cult of Ceres in Rome was headed by male priests. Spaeth, Barbette, ''The Roman Goddess Ceres'', pp. 4–5, 9, 20 (historical overview and Aventine priesthoods), 84–89 (functions of plebeian aediles), 104–106 (women as priestesses): citing among others

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

, ''In Verres'', 2.4.108;

Valerius Maximus Valerius Maximus () was a 1st-century Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes: ' ("Nine books of memorable deeds and sayings", also known as ''De factis dictisque memorabilibus'' or ''Facta et dicta memorabilia''). He worke ...

, 1.1.1;

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

, ''De Mulierum Virtutibus'', 26. Only women celebrated the rites of the

Bona Dea Bona Dea (; 'Good Goddess') was a List of Roman deities, goddess in Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion. She was associated with chastity and fertility among married Women in ancient Rome, Roman women, healing, and the protection of t ...

("Good Goddess"), for whom ''sacerdotes'' are recorded. The Temple of Ceres in Rome was surved by the Priestess of Ceres, Sacerdos Cereris, and the Temple of Bona Dea by the Priestess of Bona Dea, Sacerdos Bonae Deae. Other Priestesses were the Sacerdos Liberi, Sacerdos Fortunae Muliebris and the Sacerdos Matris Deum Magnae Idaeae; sacerdos also served as priestesses of the Imperial cult. From the Mid Republic onward, religious diversity became increasingly characteristic of the city of Rome. Many religions that were not part of Rome's earliest state religion offered leadership roles as priests for women, among them the imported

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

and of the '' Magna Mater'' ("Great Mother", or

Cybele Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya, Kubeleya'' "Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian: ''Kuvava''; ''Kybélē'', ''Kybēbē'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forerunner in the earliest ...

). An

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

preserves the title ''sacerdos maxima'' for a woman who held the highest priesthood of the Magna Mater's temple near the current site of St. Peter's Basilica. Inscriptions for the Imperial era record priestesses of Juno Populona and of deified women of the Imperial household. Under some circumstances, when cults such as mystery religions were introduced to Romans, it was preferred that they be maintained by women. Although it was Roman practice to incorporate other religions instead of trying to eradicate them, the secrecy of some mystery cults was regarded with suspicion. In 189 BCE, the

senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

attempted to suppress the Bacchanals, claiming the secret rites corrupted morality and were a hotbed of political conspiracy. One provision of the senatorial decree was that only women should serve as priests of the Dionysian religion, perhaps to guard against the politicizing of the cult, Jean MacIntosh Turfa, "Etruscan Religion at the Watershed: Before and After the Fourth Century BCE", in ''Religion in Republican Italy'' (Cambridge University Press, 2006), p. 48. since even Roman women who were citizens lacked the right to vote or hold political office. Priestesses of

Liber In Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion and Roman mythology, mythology, Liber ( , ; "the free one"), also known as Liber Pater ("the free Father"), was a god of viticulture and wine, male fertility and freedom. He was a patron de ...

, the

Roman god Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the Latin literature, literature and Roman art, visual arts of the Romans, and is a form of Roman folklore. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these ...

identified with

, are mentioned by the 1st-century BC scholar

Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero). He is sometimes call ...

, as well as indicated by epigraphic evidence. Other religious titles for Roman women include ''magistra'', a high priestess, female expert or teacher; and ''ministra'', a female assistant, particularly one in service to a deity. A ''magistra'' or ''ministra'' would have been responsible for the regular maintenance of a cult. Epitaphs provide the main evidence for these priesthoods, and the woman is often not identified in terms of her marital status.

Buddhism

The tradition of the ordained monastic community in Buddhism (the

sangha Sangha or saṃgha () is a term meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community". In a political context, it was historically used to denote a governing assembly in a republic or a kingdom, and for a long time, it has been used b ...

) began with the Buddha, who established an order of monks.Macmillan ''Encyclopedia of Buddhism'' (Volume One), page 352 According to the scriptures,''Book of the Discipline'',

Pali Text Society The Pāli Text Society is a text publication society founded in 1881 by Thomas William Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pāli texts." Pāli is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism are preserved. The ...

, volume V, Chapter X later, after an initial reluctance, he also established an order of nuns. Fully ordained Buddhist nuns are called bhikkhunis. Mahapajapati Gotami, the aunt and foster mother of Buddha, was the first bhikkhuni; she was ordained in the sixth century BCE. Prajñādhara is the twenty-seventh Indian Patriarch of

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and is believed to have been a woman. In the

Mahayana Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...

tradition during the 13th century, the Japanese Mugai Nyodai became the first female Zen master in Japan. However, the bhikkhuni ordination once existing in the countries where

Theravada ''Theravāda'' (; 'School of the Elders'; ) is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed ''Theravādins'' (anglicized from Pali ''theravādī''), have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or ''Dharma (Buddhi ...

is more widespread died out around the 10th century, and novice ordination has also disappeared in those countries. Therefore, women who wish to live as nuns in those countries must do so by taking eight or ten precepts. Neither laywomen nor formally ordained, these women do not receive the recognition, education, financial support or status enjoyed by Buddhist men in their countries. These "precept-holders" live in Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, and Thailand. In particular, the governing council of Burmese Buddhism has ruled that there can be no valid ordination of women in modern times, though some Burmese monks disagree. However, in 2003, Saccavadi and Gunasari were ordained as bhikkhunis in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, thus becoming the first female Burmese novices in modern times to receive higher ordination in Sri Lanka. Japan is a special case as, although it has neither the bhikkhuni nor novice ordinations, the precept-holding nuns who live there do enjoy a higher status and better training than their precept-holder sisters elsewhere, and can even become Zen priests. In Tibet there is currently no bhikkhuni ordination, but the

Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣识一切瓦齐尔达喇达赖喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...

has authorized followers of the Tibetan tradition to be ordained as nuns in traditions that have such ordination. The bhikkhuni ordination of Buddhist nuns has always been practiced in East Asia. In 1996, through the efforts of Sakyadhita, an International Buddhist Women Association, ten Sri Lankan women were ordained as bhikkhunis in Sarnath, India. Also, bhikkhuni ordination of Buddhist nuns began again in Sri Lanka in 1998 after a lapse of 900 years. In 2003 Ayya Sudhamma became the first American-born woman to receive bhikkhuni ordination in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, on February 28, 2003, Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, formerly known as Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, became the first Thai woman to receive bhikkhuni ordination as a

nun (Theravada is a school of Buddhism). Dhammananda Bhikkhuni was ordained in Sri Lanka. Dhammananda Bhikkhuni's mother Venerable Voramai, also called Ta Tao Fa Tzu, had become the first fully ordained Thai woman in the Mahayana lineage in Taiwan in 1971. A 55-year-old Thai Buddhist 8-precept white-robed maechee nun, Varanggana Vanavichayen, became the first woman ordained as a monk in Thailand, in 2002. Since then, the Thai Senate has reviewed and revoked the secular law passed in 1928 banning women's full ordination in Buddhism as unconstitutional for being counter to laws protecting freedom of religion. However Thailand's two main Theravada Buddhist orders, the Mahanikaya and Dhammayutika Nikaya, have yet to officially accept fully ordained women into their ranks. In 2009, four women in Australia received bhikkhuni ordination as Theravada nuns, the first time such ordination had occurred in Australia. It was performed in Perth, Australia, on 22 October 2009 at Bodhinyana Monastery. Abbess Vayama together with Venerables Nirodha, Seri, and Hasapanna were ordained as Bhikkhunis by a dual Sangha act of Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis in full accordance with the Pali Vinaya. In 1997 Dhamma Cetiya Vihara in Boston was founded by Ven. Gotami of Thailand, then a 10 precept nun; when she received full ordination in 2000, her dwelling became America's first Theravada Buddhist bhikkhuni vihara. In 1998 Sherry Chayat, born in Brooklyn, became the first American woman to receive transmission in the Rinzai school of Buddhism.Encyclopedia of women and religion in North America, Volume 2
By Rosemary Skinner Keller, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Marie Cantlon (pg. 642) In 2006 Merle Kodo Boyd, born in Texas, became the first African-American woman ever to receive Dharma transmission in Zen Buddhism. Also in 2006, for the first time in American history, a Buddhist ordination was held where an American woman (Sister Khanti-Khema) took the

Samaneri A (Pali; ), is a novice male monk in a Buddhist context. A female novice nun is in , and in or . In Tibetan Buddhism, a female novice nun is known by the Tibetan language term , and a male novice monk is a .Bhante Vimalaramsi) presiding. This was done for the Buddhist American Forest Tradition at the Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center in Missouri. In 2010 the first Tibetan Buddhist nunnery in America (Vajra Dakini Nunnery in Vermont) was officially consecrated. It offers novice ordination and follows the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Buddhism. The abbot of the Vajra Dakini nunnery is Khenmo Drolma, an American woman, who is the first bhikkhuni in the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Buddhism, having been ordained in Taiwan in 2002. She is also the first westerner, male or female, to be installed as an abbot in the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Buddhism, having been installed as the abbot of the Vajra Dakini Nunnery in 2004. The Vajra Dakini Nunnery does not follow The Eight Garudhammas. Also in 2010, in Northern California, four novice nuns were given the full bhikkhuni ordination in the Thai Theravada tradition, which included the double ordination ceremony. Bhante Gunaratana and other monks and nuns were in attendance. It was the first such ordination ever in the Western hemisphere. The following month, more bhikkhuni ordinations were completed in Southern California, led by Walpola Piyananda and other monks and nuns. The bhikkhunis ordained in Southern California were Lakshapathiye Samadhi (born in Sri Lanka), Cariyapanna, Susila, Sammasati (all three born in Vietnam), and Uttamanyana (born in Myanmar). The first bhikkhuni ordination in Germany, the Theravada bhikkhuni ordination of German nun Samaneri Dhira, occurred on June 21, 2015, at Anenja Vihara.Bhikkhuni Happenings – Alliance for Bhikkhunis
. Bhikkhuni.net. Retrieved on 2015-06-28. The first Theravada ordination of bhikkhunis in Indonesia after more than a thousand years occurred in 2015 at Wisma Kusalayani in Lembang, Bandung. Those ordained included Vajiradevi Sadhika Bhikkhuni from Indonesia, Medha Bhikkhuni from Sri Lanka, Anula Bhikkhuni from Japan, Santasukha Santamana Bhikkhuni from Vietnam, Sukhi Bhikkhuni and Sumangala Bhikkhuni from Malaysia, and Jenti Bhikkhuni from Australia. The official lineage of

Tibetan Buddhist Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Prades ...

bhikkhunis recommenced on 23 June 2022 in

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

when 144 nuns, most of them Butanese, were fully ordained.

Christianity

In the liturgical traditions of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

, including the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, Eastern and

Oriental Orthodoxy The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 50 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches adhere to the Nicene Christian tradition. Oriental Orthodoxy is ...

Lutheranism Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

and

Anglicanism Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

, the term ordination refers more narrowly to the means by which a person is included in one of the orders of

s or

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

s. Among these historic branches of Christianity, the episcopacy and priesthood have been reserved for men, although some argue that women have served as deacons in their own right and as apostles, though this is disputed by the Roman Catholic and other historic Christian churches. This is distinguished from the process of consecration to

religious order A religious order is a subgroup within a larger confessional community with a distinctive high-religiosity lifestyle and clear membership. Religious orders often trace their lineage from revered teachers, venerate their Organizational founder, ...

s, namely

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

s and

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

s, which are typically open to women and men. Some Protestant denominations understand ordination more generally as the acceptance of a person for pastoral work. Historians Gary Macy, Kevin Madigan and Carolyn Osiek report having identified documented instances of ordained women in the

early Church Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and bey ...

. In 2021, excavations at the site of a 1600-year-old

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

revealed mosaics that provided evidence of women serving primarily as diaconal ministers in early

Christendom The terms Christendom or Christian world commonly refer to the global Christian community, Christian states, Christian-majority countries or countries in which Christianity is dominant or prevails.SeMerriam-Webster.com : dictionary, "Christen ...

, although there has been speculation of other females in ministry as leaders of

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

s. Additionally, Paul's letter to the Romans, written in the first century AD, mentions a woman deacon: In the late second century AD, the Montanist movement ordained women priests and bishops. In 494 AD, in response to reports that women were serving at the altar in the south of Italy,

Pope Gelasius I Pope Gelasius I was the bishop of Rome from 1 March 492 to his death on 21 November 496. Gelasius was a prolific author whose style placed him on the cusp between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.The title of his biography by Walter Ullma ...

wrote a letter condemning female participation in the celebration of the

Eucharist The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...

. However, according to O'Brien, he never specified the scriptural or theological foundation for restricting priesthood to men only. Several textual ambiguities and silences have resulted in a variety of contrasting interpretations. Roger Gryson asserts that it is "difficult to form an idea of the situation which Pope Gelasius opposed" and observes that "it is regrettable that more details" about the situation are not available. Women continued to be ordained as deaconesses in the Byzantine Church through the 9th century AD, after which the practice fell into disuse. The

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

introduced the dogma that the authority of the Bible exceeds that of Roman Catholic popes and other church figures. Once the Roman Catholic hierarchy was no longer accepted as the sole authority, some denominations allowed women to preach. For example,

George Fox George Fox (July 1624 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. – 13 January 1691 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was an English Dissenters, English Dissenter, who was a founder of the Quakers, Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as t ...

founded the

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

movement after stating he felt the " inner light" of Christ living in the believer was discovered in 1646. He believed that the inner light worked in women as well as in men, and said: The ordination of women has once again been a controversial issue in more recent years with societal focus on

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

movements. Still, some Christians believe in an interpretation of the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

which would promote a division between roles of men and women in the Christian Church. Evangelical Christians who place emphasis on the infallibility of the Bible base their opposition to women's ordination as deacons and pastors partly upon the writings of the

Apostle Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...

, such as Ephesians 5:23, 1 Timothy 2:11–15, and 1 Timothy 3:1–7, which they interpret as demanding male leadership in the Church. Some Evangelicals also look to the levitical priesthood and historic rabbinate, being male only. Other

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

denominations officially authorize the full ordination of women in churches. Catholics may allude to

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

's choice of disciples as evidence of his intention for an exclusively male

apostolic succession Apostolic succession is the method whereby the Christian ministry, ministry of the Christian Church is considered by some Christian denominations to be derived from the Twelve Apostles, apostles by a continuous succession, which has usually been ...

, as laid down by early Christian writers such as

Tertullian Tertullian (; ; 155 – 220 AD) was a prolific Early Christianity, early Christian author from Roman Carthage, Carthage in the Africa (Roman province), Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive co ...

and reiterated in the 1976 '' Vatican Declaration on the Question of the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood''. Supporters of women's ordination interpret the above-mentioned New Testament texts as being specific to certain social and church contexts and locations and addressing problems of church order in the early Church period. They regard

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

as setting the example of treating women with respect, commending their faith and tasking them to tell others about him and

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

as treating women as his equals and co-workers. They point to notable female figures in the Bible such as Phoebe, Junia (considered an

apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary. The word is derived from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", itself derived from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to se ...

by Paul) and others in Romans 16:1, the female disciples of Jesus, and the women at the crucifixion who were the first witnesses to the

Resurrection of Christ The resurrection of Jesus () is Christian belief that God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion, starting—or restoring—his exalted life as Christ and Lord. According to the New Testament writing, Jesus w ...

, as supporting evidence of the importance of women as pastoral or episcopal leaders in the early Church.

Roman Catholic

The teaching of the

, as emphasized by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

in the apostolic letter , is "that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgement is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful". This teaching is embodied in the current

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

(1024), as well as the ''

Catechism of the Catholic Church The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' (; commonly called the ''Catechism'' or the ''CCC'') is a reference work that summarizes the Catholic Church's doctrine. It was Promulgation (Catholic canon law), promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1992 ...

'' (1992), by the canonical statement: "Only a baptized man () validly receives sacred ordination."''Codex Iruis Canonici'' canon 1024, cf. ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' 1577 Insofar as priestly and episcopal ordination are concerned, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that this requirement is a matter of divine law; it belongs to the deposit of faith and is unchangeable."The Catholic Church has never felt that priestly or episcopal ordination can be validly conferred on women", ''Inter Insigniores'', October 15, 1976, section 1Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "Response to a Dubium concerning the teaching contained in the Apostolic Letter 'Ordinatio Sacerdotalis'": AAS 87 (1995), 1114
In English
an
In Latin
In 2007, the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

issued a

decree A decree is a law, legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state, judge, monarch, royal figure, or other relevant Authority, authorities, according to certain procedures. These procedures are usually defined by the constitution, Legislativ ...

stating that attempted ordination of a woman would result in automatic

excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in Koinonia, communion with other members o ...

for the women and bishops attempting to ordain them, and in 2010 that attempted ordination of women is a "grave delict". An official Papal Commission ordered by

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

in 2016 was charged with determining whether the ancient practice of having female deacons (

deaconess The ministry of a deaconess is a ministry for women in some Protestant, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Orthodox churches to provide pastoral care, especially for other women, and which may carry a liturgical role. The word comes from the Greek ...

es) is possible, provided they are non-ordained and that certain reserved functions of ordained male permanent or transitional deacons—proclaiming the Gospel at Mass, giving a homily, and performing non-emergency baptisms—would not be permitted for the discussed female diaconate. In October 2019, the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region called for "married priests, pope to reopen women deacons commission." Pope Francis later omitted discussion of the issue from the ensuing documents.

Dissenters

Various Catholics have written in favor of ordaining women. Dissenting groups advocating women's ordination in opposition to Catholic teaching include Women's Ordination Worldwide, Catholic Women's Ordination, Roman Catholic Womenpriests, and Women's Ordination Conference. Some cite the alleged ordination of Ludmila Javorová in

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

in 1970 by Bishop Felix Davídek (1921–1988), himself clandestinely consecrated due to the shortage of priests caused by state persecution, as a precedent, although this ordination process was considered illicit and invalid by the Vatican The Catholic Church treats attempted ordinations of women as invalid and automatically excommunicates all participants.

=Mariavites

= Inspired by a mystically inclined nun, Feliksa Kozłowska, the Mariavite movement originally began as a response to the perceived corruption of the Roman Catholic Church in the

Russian Partition The Russian Partition (), sometimes called Russian Poland, constituted the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that were annexed by the Russian Empire in the course of late-18th-century Partitions of Poland. The Russian ac ...

of 19th century Poland. The Mariavites, so named for their devotion to the Virgin Mary, attracted numerous parishes across

Mazovia Mazovia or Masovia ( ) is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It spans the North European Plain, roughly between Łódź and Białystok, with Warsaw being the largest city and Płock being the capital of the region . Throughout the ...

and the region around

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

and at their height numbered some 300,000 people. Fearing a

schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

, the established church authorities asked for intervention from the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

. The Mariavites were eventually excommunicated by

Papal Bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

in 1905 and 1906. Their clergy, cut loose from the Catholic Church, found sanctuary with the

Old Catholic Church The terms Old Catholic Church, Old Catholics, Old-Catholic churches, or Old Catholic movement, designate "any of the groups of Western Christians who believe themselves to maintain in complete loyalty the doctrine and traditions of the undiv ...

and in 1909 the first Mariavite bishop, Michael Kowalski, was consecrated in Utrecht. Twenty years later, the now constituted

Mariavite Church The Old Catholic Mariavite Church refers to one of two independent Christianity, Christian Church body, churches, both of which can be dated from 1906 but which became distinct after 1935 as a result of doctrinal differences, and are collective ...

was riven by policy differences and a leadership struggle. Nevertheless, Archbishop Kowalski ordained the first 12 nuns as priests in 1929. He also introduced priestly marriage. The split in the church took effect, in part, over the place of the feminine in theology and the role of women in the life of the church. By 1935, Kowalski had introduced a "universal priesthood" that extended the priestly office to selected members of the laity. The two Mariavite churches survive to this day. The successors of Kowalski, who are known as the Catholic Mariavite Church and are based in the town of Felicjanów in the

Płock Płock (pronounced ), officially the Ducal Capital City of Płock, is a city in central Poland, on the Vistula river, in the Masovian Voivodeship. According to the data provided by Central Statistical Office (Poland), GUS on 31 December 2021, the ...

region of Poland, are headed by a bishop who is a woman, although their numbers are dwarfed by the adherents of the more conventionally patriarchal Mariavites of Płock.

Eastern Orthodox

The

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

follows a line of reasoning similar to that of the Roman Catholic Church with respect to the ordination of bishops and priests, and does not allow women's ordination to those orders. Thomas Hopko and Evangelos Theodorou have contended that female deacons were fully ordained in antiquity. K. K. Fitzgerald has followed and amplified Theodorou's research. Metropolitan

Kallistos Ware Metropolitan Kallistos (born Timothy Richard Ware, 11 September 1934 – 24 August 2022) was an English bishop and theologian of the Eastern Orthodox Church. From 1982, he held the titular bishopric of Diokleia in Phrygia (), later made a titu ...

wrote: as quoted in On 8 October 2004, the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Greece voted to permit the appointment of monastic deaconesses—women to minister and assist at the liturgy within their own monasteries. The document however does not use the term , although the rites that are to be used are rites of ordination of clergy. In 2024, the

Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa (), also known as the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria, is an autocephaly, autocephalous patriarchate that is part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Its seat is in Alexandria, and it ...

ordained the first woman as deaconess in recent history.

Protestant

A justification given by many Protestants for female ministry is the fact that

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 crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

was chosen by Jesus to announce his resurrection to the apostles. A key

theological Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of an ...

doctrine for Reformed and most other

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

is the

priesthood of all believers The priesthood of all believers is the common Priest, priesthood of all Christians (a concept broadly accepted by all churches), while the term can also refer to a specific Protestantism, Protestant understanding that this universal priesthood pre ...

—a doctrine considered by them so important that it has been dubbed by some as "a clarion truth of Scripture":Hagopian, David
"Trading Places: The Priesthood of All Believers"
The Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics (CRTA), 1990. Accessed 21 Jan 2013 Most Protestant denominations require pastors, ministers, deacons, and elders to be formally ordained. The early Protestant reformer

Martin Bucer Martin Bucer (; Early German: ; 11 November 1491– 28 February 1551) was a German Protestant reformer based in Strasbourg who influenced Lutheran, Anglican doctrines and practices as well as Reformed Theology. Bucer was originally a memb ...

, for instance, cited Ephesians 4 and other Pauline letters in support of this. While the process of ordination varies among the denominations and the specific church office to be held, it may require preparatory training such as

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

Bible college A Bible college, sometimes referred to as a Bible institute or theological institute or theological seminary, is an evangelical Christian or Restoration Movement Christianity, Christian institution of higher education which prepares students for C ...

, election by the congregation or appointment by a higher authority, and expectations of a lifestyle that requires a higher standard. For example, the ''Good News Translation'' of James 3:1 says, "My friends, not many of you should become teachers. As you know, we teachers will be judged with greater strictness than others." AssemblyOfQuakers

Usually, these roles were male preserves. However, Quakers, who have no ordained clergy, have had women preachers and leaders from their founding in the mid-17th century. Women's ministry has been part of Methodist tradition in the UK for over 200 years. In the late 18th century in England, John Wesley allowed for female office-bearers and preachers."The question of the ordination of women in the community of churches"
. '' Anglican Theological Review'', Viser, Jan. Summer 2002. Accessed September 18, 2007 The

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

has allowed the ordination of women since its beginning in 1865, although it was a hotly disputed topic between William and Catherine Booth.William Collier, ''The General Next to God'' (Fount, 1975) The fourth, thirteenth, and nineteenth Generals of the Salvation Army were women. Similarly, the Church of the Nazarene has ordained women since its foundation in 1908, at which time a full 25% of its ordained ministers were women. Many Protestant denominations are committed to congregational governance and reserve the power to ordain ministers to local congregations. Because of this, if there is no denomination-wide prohibition on ordaining women, congregations may do so while other congregations of the same denomination might not consider doing likewise. Since the 20th century, an increasing number of Protestant Christian denominations have begun ordaining women. The

appointed female lay readers during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The

United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (UCC; ) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholic Church in Canada. The United Chu ...

ordained ( Lydia Emelie Gruchy) in 1936 and the American

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

began to ordain women in 1956. The first female Moderator of the United Church of Canada—a position open to both ministers and laypeople—was the Rev. Lois Miriam Wilson, who served 1980–1982. In 1918, Alma Bridwell White, head of the Pillar of Fire Church, became the first woman to be ordained bishop in the United States. Today, over half of all American Protestant denominations ordain women, Sociology"> Sociology
by Beth B. Hess, Elizabeth Warren Markson, Peter J. Stein but some restrict the official positions a woman can hold. For instance, some ordain women for the military or hospital chaplaincy but prohibit them from serving in congregational roles. Over one-third of all seminary students (and in some seminaries nearly half) are female.David William Kling.
The Bible in history: how the texts have shaped the times
'' (p. 272)

Lutheranism

The

Church of Denmark The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark or National Church ( , or unofficially ; ), sometimes called the Church of Denmark, is the established, state-supported church in Denmark. The supreme secular authority of the church is composed of ...

became the first Lutheran body to ordain women in 1948. The largest Lutheran churches in the United States and Canada, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), have been ordaining women since 1970. The

Lutheran Church Missouri Synod Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, sa ...

, which also encompasses the Lutheran Church-Canada, does not ordain women; neither do the Lutheran Church - International,

Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), also referred to simply as the Wisconsin Synod, is an American Confessional Lutheran denomination of Christianity. Characterized as Christian theology, theologically conservative, it was founded ...

or the Evangelical Lutheran Synod. The first local woman cleric ordained in the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

was Sally Azar of the Lutheran church in 2023.

Anglican

In 1917 the Church of England licensed women as lay readers called bishop's messengers, many of whom ran churches, but did not go as far as to ordain them. From 1930 to 1978, the

Anglican Group for the Ordination of Women to the Historic Ministry The Anglican Group for the Ordination of Women to the Historic Ministry of the Church existed from 1930 to 1978. By research, education, publicity, and memorials to the church, it pushed the Church of England and the whole Anglican Communion to adm ...

promoted the ordination of women in the Church of England. Within Anglicanism the majority of provinces now ordain women as deacons and priests. The first three women ordained as priests in the Anglican Communion were in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

: Li Tim-Oi in 1944 and Jane Hwang and Joyce M. Bennett in 1971. On 29 July 1974, Bishops Daniel Corrigan, Robert L. DeWitt, and Edward R. Welles II of the U.S. Episcopal Church, with Bishop Antonio Ramos of Costa Rica, ordained eleven women as priests in a ceremony that was widely considered "irregular" because the women lacked "recommendation from the standing committee", a canonical prerequisite for ordination. The " Philadelphia Eleven", as they became known, were Merrill Bittner, Alison Cheek, Alla Bozarth (Campell), Emily C. Hewitt, Carter Heyward, Suzanne R. Hiatt (d. 2002), Marie Moorefield, Jeannette Piccard (d. 1981), Betty Bone Schiess, Katrina Welles Swanson ( 2006), and Nancy Hatch Wittig. Initially opposed by the House of Bishops, the ordinations received approval from the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in September 1976. This General Convention approved the ordination of women to both the priesthood and the episcopate. Reacting to the action of the General Convention, clergy and laypersons opposed to the ordination of women to the priesthood met in convention at the Congress of St. Louis and attempted to form a rival Anglican church in the US and Canada. Despite the plans for a united North American church, the result was division into several Continuing Anglican churches, which now make up part of the

Continuing Anglican movement The Continuing Anglican movement, also known as the Anglican Continuum, encompasses a number of Christian churches, principally based in North America, that have an Anglican identity and tradition but are not part of the Anglican Communion. The ...

. The first woman to become a bishop in the Anglican Communion was Barbara Harris, who was elected a suffragan bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts in 1988 and ordained on February 11, 1989. The majority of Anglican provinces now permit the ordination of women as bishops,Women bishops in the Church of England?
By Church of England. House of Bishops (pg. 279) and as of 2014, women have served or are serving as bishops in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, and in the extra provincial

Episcopal Church of Cuba The Episcopal Church of Cuba () is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States ( ECUSA or TEC). The diocese consists of the entire country of Cuba. From 1966 to 2020, it was an extra-provincial diocese under the archbishop of Canterbur ...

. In the

, the first ordination was in 1994. This included woman such as Rev Canon Katrina Barnes and Revd Canon Rachael Knapp Libby Lane became the first woman consecrated a bishop in 2015. It had ordained 32 women as its first female priests in March 1994. In 2015 Rachel Treweek was consecrated as the first female diocesan bishop in the Church of England (Diocese of Gloucester)."First female diocesan bishop in C of E consecrated"
. Anglicannews.org. Retrieved on 2015-07-23. She and

Sarah Mullally Dame Sarah Elisabeth Mullally (; born 26 March 1962) is a British Anglican prelate and former nurse. Bishop of London since 2018,

, Bishop of Crediton, were the first women to be consecrated and ordained bishop in

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral is the cathedral of the archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Located in Canterbury, Kent, it is one of the oldest Christianity, Ch ...

. Also that year Treweek became the first woman to sit in the House of Lords as a Lord Spiritual, thus making her at the time the most senior ordained woman in the Church of England. On 18 June 2006, the Episcopal Church became the first Anglican province to elect a woman, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, as a primate (leader of an Anglican province), called the "Presiding Bishop" in the United States.

Methodism

Methodist views on the ordination of women in the

rite Rite may refer to: Religion * Ritual, an established ceremonious act * Rite (Christianity), sacred rituals in the Christian religion * Ritual family, Christian liturgical traditions; often also called ''liturgical rites'' * Catholic particular ch ...

holy orders In certain Christian denominations, holy orders are the ordination, ordained ministries of bishop, priest (presbyter), and deacon, and the sacrament or rite by which candidates are ordained to those orders. Churches recognizing these orders inclu ...

are diverse. Today some

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

denominations practice the ordination of women, such as in the

(UMC), in which the ordination of women has occurred since its creation in 1968, as well as in the

Free Methodist Church The Free Methodist Church (FMC) is a Methodist Christian denomination within the holiness movement, based in the United States. It is Evangelicalism, evangelical in nature and is Wesleyan theology, Wesleyan–Arminian in theology. The Free Met ...

(FMC), which ordained its first woman elder in 1911, in the

Methodist Church of Great Britain The Methodist Church of Great Britain is a Protestantism, Protestant List of Christian denominations, Christian denomination in Britain, and the mother church to Methodism, Methodists worldwide. It participates in the World Methodist Council. M ...

, which ordained its first female

in 1890 and ordained its first female elders (that is,

presbyter Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek ''presbyteros'', which means elder or senior, although many in Christian antiquity understood ''presbyteros'' to refer to the bishop functioning as overseer ...

s) in 1974, and in the

Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection The Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection (AWMC) is a Methodist denomination within the conservative holiness movement. It is primarily based in the United States, with missions in Peru, Ghana, and Haiti. The Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Conne ...

, which ordained its first female elder in 1853, as well as the

Bible Methodist Connection of Churches The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

, which has always ordained women to the presbyterate and diaconate. Other Methodist denominations do not ordain women, such as the Southern Methodist Church (SMC),

Evangelical Methodist Church of America The Evangelical Methodist Church of America (or Evangelical Methodist Conference) Christian denomination based in the United States. Ardently Fundamental, the denomination has its roots in a movement of churches that broke away from Mainline M ...

, Fundamental Methodist Conference, Evangelical Wesleyan Church (EWC), and

Primitive Methodist Church The Primitive Methodist Church is a Christian denomination within the holiness movement. Originating in early 19th-century England as a Christian revival, revivalist movement within Methodism, it was heavily influenced by American evangelist Loren ...

(PMC), the latter two of which do not ordain women as elders nor do they license them as pastors or local preachers; the EWC and PMC do, however, consecrate women as

deaconesses The ministry of a deaconess is a ministry for women in some Protestant, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Orthodox churches to provide pastoral care, especially for other women, and which may carry a liturgical role. The word comes from the Greek ...

. Independent Methodist parishes that are registered with the Association of Independent Methodists do not permit the ordination of women to holy orders.

=Church of the Nazarene

= The Church of the Nazarene has ordained women since its foundation as a denomination in 1908, at which time fully 25% of its ordained ministers were women. According to the Church of the Nazarene Manual, "The Church of the Nazarene supports the right of women to use their God-given spiritual gifts within the church, affirms the historic right of women to be elected and appointed to places of leadership within the Church of the Nazarene, including the offices of both elder and deacon."

Religious Society of Friends

From their founding in the mid-17th century, Quakers have allowed women to preach. They believed that both genders are equally capable of inspiration by the Holy Spirit and thus there is a tradition of women preachers in Quaker Meetings from their earliest days. In order to be a preacher, a Friend had to obtain recognition by a Quaking Meeting. In the 18th century, ministers typically sat at the front of the meeting house, with women on one side and men on the other, all on the same raised platform. Women ministers were active from the earliest days. In 1657, Mary Howgill, one of the Valiant Sixty (an early group of Quaker preachers), rebuked Oliver Cromwell for persecuting Quakers, saying, "When thou givest account of all those actions, which have been acted by thee,... as my soul lives, these things will be laid to thy charge." Later, in 1704, Esther Palmer of Flushing, Long Island, and Susanna Freeborn of Newport, Rhode Island, set out on a 3,230 mile journey across eight colonies of North America, including visits to preach in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. Other well-known Quaker women preachers were Mary Lawson of Philadelphia, Mary Bannister of London, England, Mary Ellerton of York, England, Rachel Wilson of Virginia, Catharine Payton of Pennsylvania, Ann Moore of New York, Susanna Hatton of Delaware, and Mary Dyer of Boston.

Baptist

American Clarissa Danforth, a member of the

Free Will Baptist Free Will Baptists or Free Baptists are a group originating from General Baptists that emphasizes the teaching of free salvation and free will. The movement can be traced back to the General Baptists in 17th century England. In 1702, Paul Palm ...

tradition, was ordained a pastor in 1815, being the first woman Baptist pastor. Other ordinations of women pastors took place thereafter. In 1882 in the

American Baptist Churches USA The American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) is a mainline Protestant and Baptist Christian denomination. It is a reorganization from 1907 of the Triennial Convention. The Triennial Convention was renamed as the Northern Baptist Convention in ...

, in 1922 in the Baptist Union of Great Britain,Erich Geldbach, ''Baptists Worldwide: Origins, Expansions, Emerging Realities'', Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2022, p. 111 in 1965 in the National Baptist Convention, USA, in 1969 in the

Progressive National Baptist Convention The Progressive National Baptist Convention (PNBC), incorporated as the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., is a Baptist denomination emphasizing civil rights and social justice. The headquarters of the Progressive National Baptist Co ...

, in 1978 in the Australian Baptist Ministries,Erich Geldbach, ''Baptists Worldwide: Origins, Expansions, Emerging Realities'', Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2022, p. 112 and in 1980 in the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches.

Pentecostal

The

Assemblies of God The World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF), commonly known as the Assemblies of God (AG), is a global cooperative body or communion of over 170 Pentecostal denominations that was established on August 15, 1989. The WAGF was created to provi ...

of the

accepted women's ordination in 1927. In 1975, the ordination of women began in the

International Church of the Foursquare Gospel The Foursquare Church is an international Pentecostal Christian denomination founded in 1923 by evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. It lies within the evangelical tradition. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles, California, United States. H ...

, founded by female evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. As Pentecostal churches are often independent, there is a variety of differing positions on the issue, with some of them appointing women as pastors and in other missional roles, and others not.

Seventh-day Adventist

According to its Working Policy, the

Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sa ...

restricts certain positions of service and responsibility to those who have been ordained to the gospel ministry. The General Conference (GC) in session, the highest decision-making body of the church, has never approved the ordination of women as ministers, despite the significant foundational role and ongoing influence of a woman, Ellen G. White. Adventists have found no clear mandate or precedent for or against the practice of ordaining women in Scripture or in White's writings. In recent years the ordination of women has been the subject of heated debate, especially in North America and Europe. In the Adventist church, candidates for ordination are recommended by local conferences (which usually administer 50–150 local congregations) and approved by union conferences (which administer 6–12 local conferences). The church's Fundamental Beliefs and its worldwide practice as set forth in its Church Manual, including the worldwide qualifications for ordination currently restricted to men, can be revised only at a GC session. In 1990, the GC session voted against a motion to establish a worldwide policy permitting the ordination of women. In 1995, GC delegates voted not to authorize any of the 13 world divisions to establish policies for ordaining women within its territory. After a delegate at the 2010 GC session recommended it, the GC administration on September 20, 2011 established the Theology of Ordination Study Committee, which included representatives from each of its 13 world division biblical research committees, to study the issue and prepare a recommendation for 2015 GC session. In October 2011 at its Annual Council meeting, the GC Executive Committee voted 167–117 against a request from the North American Division (NAD)—supported by the Trans-European Division—to permit persons (including women) with commissioned minister credentials to serve as local conference presidents. Later that month, the NAD ignored the GC action and voted to permit women with commissioned minister credentials to serve as conference presidents. In the wake of the Annual Council vote, a small group of Adventists in the Southeastern California Conference (SECC) organized the Ordination Political Action Committee (OPAC) with the goal of bringing political pressure on the SECC leadership to unilaterally adopt the policy of pastoral ordination without regard to gender. The group launched the OPAC on January 1, 2012 with the stated intention of achieving its objective by March 31, 2012. After creating a comprehensive web site, a widely distributed petition, and a presence on various social media platforms and after holding multiple meetings with various groups, including SECC officials, the OPAC reached its goal on March 22, 2012, when the SECC Executive voted 19–2 to immediately implement the policy of ordaining pastors without regard to gender. Meanwhile, early in 2012, the GC issued an analysis of church history and policy, demonstrating that worldwide divisions of the GC do not have the authority to establish policy different from that of the GC. However, in their analysis, the GC confirmed that the "final responsibility and authority" for approving candidates for ordination resides at the union conference level. Several union conferences subsequently voted to approve ordinations without regard to gender. After achieving its initial objective in the SECC, the OPAC shifted its focus to the Pacific Union Conference (PUCon), which, by policy, must review and act on all ordination recommendations from its local conferences. For many years the PUCon had supported the concept of ordaining women pastors. It took up the matter again on March 15, 2012 but tabled any action until May 9, 2012, when it voted 42–2 to begin processing ministerial ordinations without regard to gender as soon as it could amend its bylaws. The vote also included the call for a constituency meeting on August 19, 2012, when it would consider such a bylaws change. The PUCon constituents voted 79% (334–87) to support this recommendation and amend the bylaws accordingly. Some local conferences within the PUCon began to implement the new policy immediately. By mid-2013, about 25 women had been ordained to the ministry in the Pacific Union Conference. Stimulated at least in part by the international reach of the OPAC and even before it achieved its ultimate objective with the PUCon, other church administrative entities took similar actions. On April 23, 2012, the North German Union voted to ordain women as ministers but by late 2013 had not yet ordained a woman. On July 29, 2012, the Columbia Union Conference voted to "authorize ordination without respect to gender". On May 12, 2013, the Danish Union voted to treat men and women ministers the same and to suspend all ordinations until after the topic would be considered at the next GC session in 2015. On May 30, 2013, the Netherlands Union voted to ordain female pastors, recognizing them as equal to their male colleagues and ordained its first female pastor on September 1, 2013. When Sandra Roberts was elected president of the SECC on October 27, 2013, she became the first SDA woman to serve as president of a local conference, However, the GC never recognized her in that role. Eight years later, Roberts was elected executive secretary of the Pacific Union Conference on August 16, 2021. On September 12, 2021, the Mid-America Union Conference Constituency voted 82% to authorize the ordination of women in ministry, becoming the third union conference in the NAD to do so. At the 60th GC session in San Antonio on July 8, 2015,"Delegates Vote 'No' on Issue of Women's Ordination"
. ''Adventist Review Online'' (July 8, 2015). Retrieved on July 23, 2015. Seventh-day Adventists voted not to permit regional church bodies to ordain women pastors. The

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the GC, Ted N. C. Wilson, opened the morning session on the day of the vote with an appeal for all church members to abide by the vote's outcome and underscored before and after the vote that decisions made by the GC in session carry the highest authority in the Adventist Church. Prior to the GC vote, dozens of delegates spoke for and against the question: "After your prayerful study on ordination from the Bible, the writings of Ellen G. White, and the reports of the study commissions; and after your careful consideration of what is best for the church and the fulfillment of its mission, is it acceptable for division executive committees, as they may deem it appropriate in their territories, to make provision for the ordination of women to the gospel ministry?" By secret ballot, the delegates passed the motion 1,381 to 977, with 5 abstentions, thus ending a five-year study process characterized by open, vigorous, and, sometimes, acrimonious debate."Delegates Vote 'No' on Issue of Women's Ordination"
. ''Adventist News Network'' (July 8, 2015). Retrieved on July 23, 2015.

Philippine Independent Church

The

Philippine Independent Church The Philippine Independent Church (; ), officially referred to by its Philippine Spanish name (IFI) and colloquially called the Aglipayan Church, is an independent catholic Christian denomination, in the form of a nationalist church, in the ...

is an independent Catholic church in the Philippines founded in 1902. It has approved women's ordination since 1996. In 1997, it ordained its first female priest in the person of Rev. Rosalina Rabaria. , it has 30 women priests and 9 women deacons. On May 5, 2019, the church consecrated its first female bishop in the person of The Right Reverend Emelyn G. Dacuycuy and installed her as an ordinary of Batac Diocese,

Ilocos Norte Ilocos Norte (), officially the Province of Ilocos Norte (; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region. It is located in the northwest corner of Luzon island, bordering Cagayan and Apayao to t ...

. According to Obispo Maximo XIII Rhee Timbang, the ordination of women has enabled the church to become more relevant to its time and to society.

Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...

consider qualified public baptism to represent the baptizand's

, following which he or she is immediately considered an ordained minister. In 1941, the Supreme Court of Vermont recognized the validity of this ordination for a female Jehovah's Witness minister."Women—May They Be "Ministers"?", ''The Watchtower'', 15 March 1981, page 19, "Several courts in the United States have recognized female Jehovah's Witnesses, in carrying on the door-to-door evangelistic work, as ministers. For example, the Supreme Court of Vermont, in Vermont v. Greaves (1941), stated that Elva Greaves 'is an ordained minister of a sect or class known and designated as "Jehovah's Witnesses." The majority of Witnesses actively preaching from door to door are female. Women are commonly appointed as full-time ministers, either to evangelize as " pioneers" or missionaries, or to serve at their branch offices."Happy Full-Time Servants", ''Our Kingdom Ministry'', May 1980, page 6 Nevertheless, Witness

deacons A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Catholi ...

("Organizational structure of Jehovah's Witnesses#Ministerial servants, ministerial servants") and Organizational structure of Jehovah's Witnesses#Elders, elders must be male, and only a baptized adult male may perform a Jehovah's Witness baptism, funeral, or wedding."Applying the General Priesthood Principle", ''The Watchtower'', 1 February 1964, page 86, "Among the witnesses of Jehovah any adult, dedicated and baptized male Christian who is qualified may serve in such ministerial capacities as giving public Bible discourses and funeral talks, performing marriages and presiding at the Lord's evening meal or supper. There is no clergy class." Within the congregation, a female Witness minister may only lead prayer and teaching when there is a special need, and must do so wearing a Christian headcovering#Jehovah's Witnesses, head covering."Head Coverings—When and Why?", ''Keep Yourselves in God's Love'', 2008, page 210–211. "Occasionally, though, circumstances may require that a Christian woman be called on to handle a duty normally performed by a qualified baptized male. For instance, she may need to conduct a meeting for field service because a qualified baptized male is not available or present.... she would wear a head covering to acknowledge that she is handling the duty normally assigned to a male. On the other hand, many aspects of worship do not call for a sister to wear a head covering. For example, she does not need to do so when commenting at Christian meetings, engaging in the door-to-door ministry with her husband or another baptized male, or studying or praying with her unbaptized children.""Questions From Readers", ''The Watchtower'', 15 July 15, page 27, "There may be other occasions when no baptized males are present at a congregation meeting. If a sister has to handle duties usually performed by a brother at a congregationally arranged meeting or meeting for field service, she should wear a head covering.""Woman's Regard for Headship—How Demonstrated?", ''The Watchtower'', 15 July 1972, page 447, "At times no baptized male Witnesses may be present at a congregational meeting (usually in small congregations or groups). This would make it necessary for a baptized female Witness to pray or preside at the meeting. Recognizing that she is doing something that would usually be handled by a man, she would wear a head covering."

Mormonism

Community of Christ

The Community of Christ adopted the practice of women's ordination in 1984, which was one of the reasons for the schism between the Community of Christ and the newly formed Restoration Branches movement, which was largely composed of members of the Community of Christ church (then known as the RLDS church) who refused to accept this development and other doctrinal changes taking place during this same period. For example, the Community of Christ also changed the name of one of its priesthood offices from evangelist-patriarch to evangelist, and its associated sacrament, the patriarchal blessing, to the evangelist's blessing. In 1998, Gail E. Mengel and Linda L. Booth became the first two women apostles in the Community of Christ."RLDS Church calls 2 women to serve among 12 apostles"
, ''Deseret News'', 1998-03-21. At the 2007 World Conference of the church, Becky L. Savage was ordained as the first woman to serve in the First Presidency (Community of Christ), First Presidency.Stephen M. Veazey
"Letter of Counsel Regarding the Presiding Quorums"
2012-05-07. In 2013, Booth became the first woman elected to serve as president of the Council of Twelve.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) does not ordain women. Some (most notably former LDS Church members D. Michael Quinn and September Six#Paul Toscano, Margaret Toscano) have argued that the church ordained women in the past and that therefore the church currently has the power to ordain women and should do so; however, there are no known records of any women having been ordained to the priesthood. Women do hold a prominent place in the church, including their work in the Relief Society, which is one of the largest and longest-lasting women's organizations in the world. Women thus serve, as do men, in unpaid positions involving teaching, administration, missionary service, humanitarian efforts, and other capacities. Women often offer prayers and deliver sermons during Sunday services. Ordain Women, an activist group of mostly LDS Church women founded by feminist Kate Kelly (feminist), Kate Kelly in March 2013, supports extending priesthood ordinations to women.

Liberal Catholic

Of all the churches in the Liberal Catholic movement, only the original church, the Liberal Catholic Church under Bishop Graham Wale, does not ordain women. The position held by the Liberal Catholic Church is that the Church, even if it wanted to ordain women, does not have the authority to do so and that it would not be possible for a woman to become a priest even if she went through the ordination ceremony. The reasoning behind this belief is that the female body does not effectively channel the masculine energies of Christ, the true minister of all the sacraments. The priest has to be able to channel Christ's energies to validly confect the sacrament; therefore the sex of the priest is a central part of the ceremony hence all priests must be male. When discussing the sacrament of Holy Orders in his book ''Science of the Sacraments'', Second Presiding Bishop Leadbeater also opined that women could not be ordained; he noted that Christ left no indication that women can become priests and that only Christ can change this arrangement.

Old Catholic

On 19 February 2000, Denise Wyss became the first woman to be ordained as a priest in the

in Switzerland. In 2023, Old Catholic Church of Austria ordained Maria Kubin as bishop in Austria.

Hinduism

Female ascetics are referred as Sannyasinis, Yoginis, Brahmacharinis, Parivajikas, Pravrajitas, Sadhvis, Pravrajikas. Bhairavi Brahmani is a guru of Sri Ramakrishna. She initiated Ramakrishna into Tantra. Under her guidance, Ramakrishna went through sixty four major tantric sadhanas which were completed in 1863.Neevel, pp. 74–77 Ramakrishna Sarada Mission is the modern 21st century monastic order for women. The order was conducted under the guidance of the Ramakrishna monks until 1959, at which time it became entirely independent. It currently has centers in various parts of India, and also in Sydney, Australia. Furthermore, both men and women are Hindu gurus. Shakti Durga, formerly known as Kim Fraser, was Australia's first female guru.

Islam

Although Islam, Muslims do not formally ordain religious leaders, the imam serves as a spiritual leader and religious authority. There is a current controversy among Muslims on the circumstances in which women may act as imams—that is, lead a congregation in salat (prayer). Three of the four Sunni schools, as well as many Shia, agree that a woman may lead a congregation consisting of women alone in prayer, although the Maliki school does not allow this. According to all currently existing traditional schools of Islam, a woman cannot lead a mixed gender congregation in salat (prayer). Some schools make exceptions for Tarawih (optional Ramadan prayers) or for a congregation consisting only of close relatives. Certain medieval scholars—including Al-Tabari (838–932), Abu Thawr (764–854), Al-Muzani (791–878), and Ibn Arabi (1165–1240)—considered the practice permissible at least for optional (nafila) prayers; however, their views are not accepted by any major surviving group. Islamic feminists have begun to protest this. Women's mosques, called nusi, and female imams have existed since the 19th century in China and continue today. In 1994, Amina Wadud (an Islamic studies professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, born in the United States), became the first woman in South Africa to deliver the jum'ah khutbah (Friday sermon), which she did at the Claremont Main Road Mosque in Cape Town, South Africa. In 2004 20-year-old Maryam Mirza delivered the second half of the ''Eid al-Fitr'' khutbah at the Etobicoke mosque in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, run by the United Muslim Association. Also in 2004, Yasmin Shadeer led in Canada the night 'Isha prayer for a mixed-gender (men as well as women praying and hearing the sermon) congregation. This is the first recorded occasion in modern times where a woman led a congregation in prayer in a mosque. On 18 March 2005, Amina Wadud gave a sermon and led Friday prayers for a Muslim congregation consisting of men as well as women, with no curtain dividing the men and women. Another woman, Suheyla El-Attar, sounded the call to prayer while not wearing a headscarf at that same event. This was done in the Synod House of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York after mosques refused to host the event. This was the first known time that a woman had led a mixed-gender Muslim congregation in prayer in American history. In April 2005, Raheel Raza, born in Pakistan, led Toronto's first woman-led mixed-gender Friday prayer service, delivering the sermon and leading the prayers of the mixed-gender congregation organized by the Muslim Canadian Congress to celebrate Earth Day in the backyard of the downtown Toronto home of activist Tarek Fatah. On 1 July 2005, Pamela Taylor, co-chair of the New York-based Progressive Muslim Union and a Muslim convert since 1986, became the first woman to lead Friday prayers in a Canadian mosque, and did so for a congregation of both men and women. In addition to leading the prayers, Taylor also gave a sermon on the importance of equality among people regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation and disability. In October 2005, Amina Wadud led a mixed gender Muslim congregational prayer in Barcelona. In 2008, Pamela Taylor gave the Friday ''khutbah'' and led the mixed-gender prayers in Toronto at the UMA mosque at the invitation of the Muslim Canadian Congress on Canada Day. On 17 October 2008, Amina Wadud became the first woman to lead a mixed-gender Muslim congregation in prayer in the United Kingdom when she performed the Friday prayers at Oxford's Wolfson College. In 2010, Raheel Raza became the first Muslim-born woman to lead a mixed-gender British congregation through Friday prayers. In 2014, Afra Jalabi, a Syrian Canadian journalist and peace advocate delivered ''Eid ul-Adha'' khutbah at Noor cultural centre in Toronto, Canada.

Judaism

In Judaism there are priests who have to offer sacrifices in the Temple in Jerusalem, temple, they can only be men, the successors of Aaron. However, due to the fact that the temple is destroyed, the priests now do not perform their ministry. In Rabbinic Judaism, modern Judaism, the spiritual leaders are Rabbis, these are people who have sufficient knowledge of the Torah and Talmud and lead the prayer in the synagogue. However, rabbis are never considered priests. While several women engaged in the Torah and Talmudic study associated with rabbinic study in the middle ages, women were not ordained until the twentieth century. A possible exception is Asenath Barzani of Iraq, who is considered by some scholars as the first woman rabbi of Jewish history. The title referred to Barzani by the Jews of Afghanistan was ''Tannit'', the feminine equivalent of Tannaim, Tanna, the title for a Jewish sage of the early Talmudic rabbis. According to some researchers, the origin of the Barzani story is the travelogue of Rabbi Petachiah of Regensburg. Another exception is the female Hasidic rebbe, Hannah Rachel Verbermacher, also known as the Maiden of Ludmir, active in the 19th century. In 1935, Regina Jonas was ordained privately by a German rabbi and became the world's first female rabbi. In the mid-20th century, American Jewish movements began ordaining women. Sally Priesand became the first female rabbi in Reform Judaism in 1972; Sandy Eisenberg Sasso became the first female rabbi in Reconstructionist Judaism in 1974; Lynn Gottlieb became the first female rabbi in Jewish Renewal in 1981; Amy Eilberg became the first female rabbi in Conservative Judaism in 1985; and Tamara Kolton became the very first rabbi of either sex (and therefore, since she was female, the first female rabbi) in Humanistic Judaism in 1999. Women in Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Renewal, and Humanistic Judaism are routinely granted semicha (ordination) on an equal basis with men. In June 2009, Avi Weiss ordained Sara Hurwitz with the title "maharat" (an acronym of ''manhiga hilkhatit rukhanit Toranit'') rather than "Rabbi". In February 2010, Weiss announced that he was changing Maharat to a more familiar-sounding title "Rabba". The goal of this shift was to clarify Hurwitz's position as a full member of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale rabbinic staff. The change was criticised by both Agudath Yisrael and the Rabbinical Council of America, who called the move "beyond the pale of Orthodox Judaism". Weiss announced amidst criticism that the term "Rabba" would not be used anymore for his future students. Also in 2009, Weiss founded Yeshivat Maharat, a school which "is dedicated to giving Orthodox women proficiency in learning and teaching Talmud, understanding Jewish law and its application to everyday life as well as the other tools necessary to be Jewish communal leaders". Maharat alumnae take a variety of titles upon ordination, including Maharat, Rabba, and Rabbanit. In 2015, Lila Kagedan was ordained as Rabbi by that same organization, making her their first graduate to take the title Rabbi. Hurwitz continues to use the title Rabba and is considered by some to be the first female Orthodox rabbi. In the fall of 2015 Rabbinical Council of America passed a resolution which states, "RCA members with positions in Orthodox institutions may not ordain women into the Orthodox rabbinate, regardless of the title used; or hire or ratify the hiring of a woman into a rabbinic position at an Orthodox institution; or allow a title implying rabbinic ordination to be used by a teacher of Limudei Kodesh in an Orthodox institution." Similarly in the fall of 2015 Agudath Israel of America denounced moves to ordain women, and went even further, declaring Yeshivat Maharat, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, Open Orthodoxy, and other affiliated entities to be similar to other dissident movements throughout Jewish history in having rejected basic tenets of Judaism. Only men can become Hazzan, cantors (also called hazzans) in most of Orthodox Judaism, but all other types of Judaism allow and have female cantors. In 1955 Betty Robbins, born in Greece, became the world's first female cantor when she was appointed cantor of the Reform congregation of Temple Avodah in Oceanside, New York, in July. Barbara Ostfeld-Horowitz became the first female cantor to be ordained in Reform Judaism in 1975. Erica Lippitz and Marla Rosenfeld Barugel became the first female cantors in Conservative Judaism in 1987. However, the Cantors Assembly, a professional organization of cantors associated with Conservative Judaism, did not allow women to join until 1990. In 2001 #Judaism, Deborah Davis became the first cantor of either sex (and therefore, since she was female, the first female cantor) in Humanistic Judaism, although Humanistic Judaism has since stopped graduating cantors. Sharon Hordes became the first cantor of either sex (and therefore, since she was female, the first female cantor) in Reconstructionist Judaism in 2002. Avitall Gerstetter, who lives in Germany, became the first female cantor in Jewish Renewal (and the first female cantor in Germany) in 2002. Susan Wehle became the first American female cantor in Jewish Renewal in 2006; however, she died in 2009. The first American women to be ordained as cantors in Jewish Renewal after Wehle's ordination were Michal Rubin and Abbe Lyons, both ordained on January 10, 2010. In 2019, Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance created an initiative to support the hiring of female Jewish spiritual leaders and has released a statement supporting the ordination and hiring of women with the title Rabbi at Orthodox synagogues. Open Orthodox Jewish women can become cantors and rabbis.

Ryukyuan religion

The Ryukyuan religion, indigenous religion of the Ryukyuan Islands in Japan is led by female priests; this makes it the only known official mainstream religion of a society led by women.

Shinto

In Shintoism, ''Saiin (priestess), Saiin'' (斎院, saiin?) were unmarried female relatives of the Japanese emperor who served as high priestesses at Ise Grand Shrine from the late 7th century until the 14th century. Ise Grand Shrine is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the goddess Amaterasu-ōmikami. ''Saiin'' priestesses were usually elected from royalty (内親王, ''naishinnō'') such as princesses (女王, ''joō''). In principle, ''Saiin'' remained unmarried, but there were exceptions. Some ''Saiin'' became consorts of the Emperor, called Nyōgo in Japanese. According to the Man'yōshū (The Anthology of Ten Thousand Leaves), the first ''Saiō'' to serve at Ise Grand Shrine was Princess Ōku, daughter of Emperor Tenmu, during the Asuka period of Japanese history. Female Shinto priests were largely pushed out of their positions in 1868.Nelson, John K. (1996). ''A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine.'' pg. 123. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press. . The ordination of women as Shinto priests arose again during World War II. See also Miko.

Sikhism

Sikhism does not have priests, which were abolished by Guru Gobind Singh, as the guru had seen that institution become corrupt in society during his time. Instead, he appointed the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book, as his successor as Guru instead of a possibly fallible human. Due to the faith's belief in complete equality, women can participate in any religious function, perform any Sikh ceremony or lead the congregation in prayer. A Sikh woman has the right to become a ''Granthi'', ''Ragi (Sikhism), Ragi'', and one of the ''Panj Piare'' (five beloved) and both men and women are considered capable of reaching the highest levels of spirituality.

Taoism

Taoists ordain both men and women as priests. In 2009 Wu Chengzhen became the first female ''fangzhang'' (principal abbot) in Taoism's 1,800-year history after being enthroned at Changchun Temple in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, in China. ''Fangzhang'' is the highest position in a Taoist temple.

Wicca

In Wicca, as many women are ordained as men. Many traditions elevate the importance of women over that of men and women are frequently leaders of covens. Members are typically considered Priests and Priestesses when they are given the rite of Initiation within the coven, though some may choose to undergo additional training to become High Priestess who often has the final say in matters and who may choose who can be her High Priest. Some, who have gone through enough experience, may leave to create their own coven.

Yoruba

The Yoruba people of western Nigeria practice an Yoruba religion, indigenous religion with a religious hierarchy of priests and priestesses that dates to 800–1000 CE. Ifá Oracle priests and priestesses bear the titles ''Babalawo'' and ''Iyanifa'' respectively. Priests and priestesses of the varied ''Orisha'', when not already bearing the higher ranked oracular titles mentioned above, are referred to as ''babalorisa'' when male and ''iyalorisa'' when female. Initiates are also given an Orisa or Ifá name that signifies under which deity they are initiated; for example a priestess of Oshun may be named ''Osunyemi'' and a priest of ''Ifá'' may be named ''Ifáyemi''.

Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrian priests in India are required to be male. However, women have been ordained in Iran and North America as mobedyars, meaning women mobeds (Zoroastrian priests). In 2011 the Tehran Mobeds Anjuman (Anjoman-e-Mobedan) announced that for the first time in Iran and of the Zoroastrian communities worldwide, women had joined the group of mobeds (priests) in Iran as mobedyars (women priests); the women hold official certificates and can perform the lower-rung religious functions including initiating people into the religion.