Last year, according to BBC, 244 women and 234 men were ordained to the Anglican priesthood and now women make up a quarter of the Anglican clergy in Britain. Without this increase in the ordination of women, BBC reports that Anglican puplits would become “depopulated.”

However, this does not mean that controversy over gender has ceased within the church. According to the TimesOnline,

The Synod is now locked in contentious debate over whether women should be ordained bishop, an issue that insiders fear could be as divisive as that of homosexual ordination, even though some provinces such as the US and Canada already have women bishops.

The General Synod first voted to ordain women in 1992, but some say that despite the increase in female priests, women have had very little impact on the church since then because, according to the University of Manchester, the church is still “far from being an equal opportunity employer.”

The Reverend Rosemary Lain-Priestley, secretary to the National Association of Diocesan Advisers in Women's Ministry, said, “Many women priests feel that until women can become bishops they will not be taken seriously in other senior roles, despite the success of women deans and archdeacons.”

Posted by Kristen Scharold on November 14, 2007 9:37AM