#dnaEdit: Stained glass ceiling broken

In many ways, the established Church of England has been among the last male preserves. But a historic decision on Monday has finally breached this bastion of entrenched patriarchy. The decades-long campaign for opening up top posts for women in the Church has come to fruition. After a protracted tussle and bitter internal strife, England’s Church has freed up the highest offices within for women. Two days ago, the General Synod in London signed the historic change into law. The first women bishops are likely to be appointed by the year-end. There are between 20 and 30 active Anglican women bishops in the world 
The change comes 20 years after the Church allowed women to be ordained as priests. Hilary Cotton, chairwoman of Women and the Church, encapsulated the moment in expressing the hope that the reform would eventually lead to “changing the culture of the church”.  A tireless advocate for opening up the highest positions for women, Cotton said, “It is not just about having women wearing purple, it is about changing the culture of the church to be more equal.”

It’s been a long and hard-fought battle for gender equality in the Catholic order. At the end, nearly all opponents to the proposal have come to accept there will be women bishops alongside men. Concerns though still abide. Advocates for change fear that given the scale of male resistance, a woman bishop may still end up without having full authority in her own diocese. After all, the roots of opposition go down deep as is evident from the time it has taken to accept women in the highest positions of authority in Church. The resistance — stubborn as it is — stems from pure orthodoxy and an ingrained belief in male supremacy. Some evangelicals believe that the Bible preaches that male headship is ordained and willed by God. Not just in individual families — but also in the family of the Church. But such regressive reasoning did not go uncontested. The subject of women bishops has been second only to gay marriage in splitting opinion down the middle and stoking debate in the Church of England in recent years. 

Sustained interventions from the pro-women bishop groups kept the demand for gender equality in the Church, alive. Resistance was whittled down — inch by inch. In November 2012, the Houses of Bishops and Clergy passed the proposal for women bishops, but failed to manage the necessary two-thirds majority in the House of Laity, which consists of elected members. Significantly, the margin of the defeat — at 6 votes — was narrow, but the debate was full of recrimination.

Ordained in 1994 in the Church of England, these women now make up about a third of clergy’s total numbers. According to reports, a string of senior female priests have been given special training to become bishops. The Rt Rev James Langstaff, the Bishop of Rochester, has talked about a serious effort to ensure that any female candidates interviewed for the top position have the same opportunity as their male counterparts, many of whom have been undergoing training for years. 

The endorsement of women bishops is undoubtedly a milestone in history of the Church of England. But the battle is yet to be won fully. Some Church members continue to dispute the authority of its women priests. They resent women bishops exercising authority over them, which according to some, is not merely unacceptable, but theologically impossible. Many Anglo-Catholic opponents of women bishops have already left to join the Roman Catholic Ordinariate. That is not to deny that a huge step forward has been taken.