Church of England synod votes to allow women bishops

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The Church of England synod has voted on Monday in favour of allowing women to serve as bishops, changing the centuries’ long tradition of the church.

After five hours long debate, the General Synod – the governing body of the Church of England, have approved the proposal to allow women to take up senior roles in the Church.

Almost one and a half years ago, an attempt to approve the ordination of women bishops was blocked by a few members of the house of laity. Despite the approval of legislation by the houses of bishops and clergy, it failed to reach a two-thirds majority among the General Synod’s lay members.

Since then the issue of female clergy has divided Anglicanism globally.

In other western countries like United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, women are appointed as bishops but Anglican churches in many developing countries do not even ordain them as priests.

After the rejection of legislation through voting, Anglican leaders, including Archbishop Justin Welby, had warned that the church risked looking out of touch, and Prime Minister David Cameron had also given his backing to the move.

The move to allow women bishops comes two decades after the church approved the appointment of women priests – the number of which has now reached 1,781 as full-time female priests, just under 23 per cent of the total.

In his Sunday’s interview, Mr Welby has told that he would be “delighted” if a woman Archbishop of Canterbury were appointed in his lifetime, adding that the continued exclusion of women from the top jobs in the Anglican Church was “incomprehensible” to the general public.

The Prime Minister has hailed the new move as he has stated: “I warmly welcome today’s vote formally approving women bishops – a great day for the Church and for equality.”

Mr Cameron had also praised Mr Welby earlier by indicating that he had “shown great leadership” on the issue.

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