3.2.2 - Female ordination in the Church of England

Ordination and the three orders of ministry

Female ordination means admitting women to ordained ministry. In the Church of England, ordained ministry is normally discussed through three orders: deacon, priest or presbyter, and bishop.

The AQA wording names 1994 because that was the year the first women were ordained priests in the Church of England. Women had already become deacons in the Church of England in 1987, but priesthood was the decisive disputed step because priests preside at the Eucharist, pronounce absolution and blessing, preach, teach, and exercise pastoral leadership.

The later debate about women bishops belongs here because the Church of England understands deacon, priest and bishop as connected holy orders. Strictly, bishops are consecrated to the episcopate, but the argument about whether women may hold priestly authority naturally continued into whether women may exercise episcopal authority over priests, parishes and dioceses.

The lesson therefore asks two linked questions:

Before 1994 Debate

Before 1994, the debate was not simply "women are capable" against "women are incapable". Serious Christian arguments on both sides were arguments about authority: how scripture, tradition, church order, reason, experience and social change should be weighed.

Arguments against ordaining women often appealed to 1 Timothy 2:8-15, where women are restricted from teaching or exercising authority over men. Some Christians read this as an apostolic rule for church order. Others linked it to a wider view of male headship, where men and women are equal before God but have different roles in church and family life.

Opponents also appealed to tradition and catholicity. Jesus chose male apostles; the historic episcopate and priesthood had normally been male; Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches did not ordain women priests. From this angle, the question was not only "could a woman do the work well?" but "does the Church of England have authority to change a pattern received from the wider historic Church?"

Arguments for ordaining women usually replied that scripture should be interpreted through the whole Christian message. Supporters pointed to women's discipleship, women's witness to the resurrection, the gifts of the Spirit, and baptismal equality in Christ. Galatians 3:28 was often used to argue that Christian identity cannot be finally organised around male privilege.

Supporters also argued from vocation and justice. If God calls women to priestly ministry, and if women already teach, lead and serve faithfully, then excluding them because of sex may be a failure to recognise God's gifts. The growth of women's public roles outside the Church made this exclusion harder for many Anglicans to defend.

The 1994 Turning Point

The path to 1994 was institutional as well as theological. The Church of England is governed through synods, bishops, clergy, laity and Parliament, so a change to priestly ordination needed formal approval, not only a shift in opinion.

The first ordinations did not mean that every parish or priest accepted the decision. The Church had to manage conscience, pastoral care and possible departures. The 1993 Act of Synod created provision for those unable to receive women's priestly ministry, including alternative episcopal oversight, often described as "flying bishops".

This matters because 1994 has two meanings. For supporters, it was a long-delayed recognition of women's vocation to the priesthood. For opponents, it was a profound rupture in received church order. For the Church as an institution, it forced a settlement: women could be priests, but some provision would remain for those who could not accept this.

After 1994 And Women Bishops

After 1994, the question changed from "may women be priests?" to "how far is women's ordained ministry fully received?" This is why women bishops became central. If a bishop ordains priests and oversees a diocese, then accepting women priests but rejecting women bishops leaves women inside priesthood but outside the Church's highest order of ministry.

In 2012, proposed legislation for women bishops failed because it did not gain the required two-thirds majority in all three Houses of General Synod. That failure showed that the post-1994 debate still had force. It was not merely theoretical: it affected the Church's public credibility, internal trust and sense of justice.

In July 2014, General Synod approved new legislation enabling women to become bishops. The 2014 Bishops and Priests Measure opened the episcopate to women and removed gender distinctions in the canons relating to bishops, priests and deacons. Libby Lane became the first woman bishop in the Church of England in 2015.

The 2014 settlement included the House of Bishops' Declaration and the Five Guiding Principles. These principles try to hold together two commitments: