Busy Women

December 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment

November 17th 2014 is a date that will be recorded in the history of the Church of England. It was the day when, after years of wrangling and discussion, the legislation enabling women to become bishops was finally signed and sealed.

I will remember the day, not because I whooped for joy and drank champagne (I’d done that in July when Synod passed the legislation), but because that evening I went to see Made in Dagenham the musical – a recent addition to the West End, and a story that has unnerving similarities with the women bishops campaign.

It was a free ticket courtesy of a friend who occasionally passes such things my way. Her greeting, as she joined me in our amazing, middle of the second row seats, was along the lines of: “isn’t this a good day!!” – and I, in my idiotic way, thought she was just talking about the imminent musical watching! But no, she was celebrating the demise of the stained glass ceiling!

Made in Dagenham backdrop

The musical is excellent – let’s get that out of the way first of all. I highly recommend it to all those of a feminist, musical loving persuasion. I’m often dubious about great films making the progression to the stage, but this one is up there with Billy Elliot – just replace tutu wearing Geordies, with overall wearing Essex girls. It’s the only musical I’ve ever come across to include a number on the subject of quantitive easing. A number featuring a toe-tapping Harold Wilson no less! It does the politics brilliantly – poking a lot of fun at the PM, but letting Barbara Castle be effortlessly wonderful.

Its final number probably would have had me standing up and cheering (appropriately, it’s called ‘Stand Up’) on any day, but on this day when the women of the Church of England had secured their own gender-based victory, it was all I could to stay in my seat and in control of my faculties! I wanted to shout to the entire theatre that I knew how these women represented on stage felt – we’d done it!! Nearly all my decorum vanished in that moment.

Made in Dagenham tweet

Even the star of the show appreciated the occasion! 

The events of Made in Dagenham occurred in 1968. Here I was FORTY-FOUR years later celebrating a victory of similar proportions! How did it take so long?? What on earth has the Church of England been doing all this time?? And, most importantly, when will this struggle get its own musical?!?

Of course, many of us know what the church has been doing over the decades. It’s been making progress – but slowly, so as not to cause alienation, division or schism. It’s been pondering theologically the question of whether women could hold this position. Its bureaucratic cogs have been turning slowly, first approving women priests twenty years ago, then battling over the episcopacy. Then, this week…

This week we’re celebrating again. On Wednesday, it was announced that Libby Lane will be the very first female bishop in the Church of England. When I started writing this post last week, speculation was rife as to who and where this would happen. [I’d hoped for Gloucester – purely because of my bias towards its cathedral!] The story isn’t over with the signing of the legislation or the first appointment – in fact, a new one is just beginning…

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Permission granted to wear purple (should I aspire to)

July 15, 2014 by Leave a Comment

I will never forget the evening of November 20th 2012. As I reflected on the morning of the 21st, I hadn’t expected the failure of the women bishops’ legislation at General Synod to hit me quite so hard, but it did. For me and for many within (and outside) the Church of England, that very public, very painful moment had a huge impact.

18 months ago, we didn’t quite realise that new legislation would get through quite so quickly – originally, it was believed it would have to wait until a new Synod was elected in 2015. But wisely, those in charge thought differently and enabled the revised measures to go through the system in (realistically) the shortest time possible for the government of the Church of England.

I’d love to be able to tell you that I had a great story of where I was when I heard the vote had gone through, but I don’t. I was in my bathroom, cleaning – or rather, I’d interrupted my cleaning to watch the live stream of Synod. A live stream that was too over-burdened by demand and didn’t finish loading until the results had been announced. The thunderous applause gave me a clue as to which way it had gone, as did the text I immediately received from my mother containing two words: “Deo Gratis!” [Yes, that is the way in which Clutterbucks like to rejoice.]

Yet again, I was surprised by my reaction – the hands holding my phone were shaking and when a good chum rang me minutes later (entirely unaware of what had just happened, she just usually rings me at 4.30pm on a Monday), I could barely hold a conversation together. Partly thanks to my excitement and partly because of social media’s explosion of joy. Finally, on paper, women are on an equal footing with men in the Church of England.

Episcopal PedicureIn 2012 I had an intentional episcopal purple manicure. Monday’s pedicure was entirely accidental, but welcomed!

Looking back, what has also surprised me is how much we needed that 18 months of delay. I know that I wouldn’t have said this at the time – and some may disagree – but I think its done the church an awful lot of good.

    • The revised legislation is better. That was clear from many of the speakers on Monday – hearts and minds had been changed and that was a very large step forward.
    • While many felt the issue would divide the church, I actually believe that if anything, post-no vote, church unity was more evident. On the one hand, different church denominations have come together in their condemnation of the No vote. But within the CofE itself, groups and traditions that would usually be miles apart from each other, came together in solidarity for women in the church. Personally, I’ve benefitted hugely from the Gathering of Women Leaders, an ecumenical group of women in leadership who have been hugely supportive of women across the board (not just us Anglican ones!).
    • Was the extra 18 months also required in order to fan the flame of flame of passion for the cause of women within the Church of England? Yes, there was already a fervent campaign for women bishops, but with many assuming Synod would pass the legislation in 2012, was complacency a problem? Have we now realised that we cannot afford to be complacent (on this or any other issue) and that there is actually a fight that needs to be fought? It may feel like a broken record, but as far as women in the church are concerned, numbers still need to be counted; inequalities noticed, reported and resolved; and voices shouted. There’s still a long way to go.

Yesterday, a new chapter in the Church of England’s history began. It’s an exciting one, but it doesn’t mean an end to the discussion of gender in the church. There are many who are not rejoicing today, and we should remember them. Just because women will soon join the episcopate does not mean there will now be equal representation of women throughout the church.

Yesterday, a good start was made, but it will need a lot of effort, co-operation and courage for things to change.

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Celebrating 20 years

May 3, 2014 by Leave a Comment

There are many things that happened in 1994 that don’t seem very far away – the release of Blur’s Parklife; Friends’ first appearance on TV; the Lillehammer Winter Olympics and Torvill & Dean’s semi-triumphant return; South Africa’s first free elections and Nelson Mandela’s election as President… I could go on.

But the ordination of the first women priests in the Church of England seems like a lot more than two decades ago. A Church of England without women priests seems like something that belongs to the Dark Ages. Where on earth would the church be?!?

In 1994, I was a 12 year old school girl at a church girls’ school in Westminster. The day General Synod voted in favour of the ordination of women, there was widespread rejoicing. I joined in, but at the same time found it slightly odd – why had it taken this long? I was from a Methodist family, knew plenty of ordained women and had never had it suggested to me that being a woman would stop me from doing anything at church (or anywhere else for that matter). To me, it felt as though an anomaly had been righted – and thought little else of it for quite some time…

…until, aged 24, I began worshipping at an Anglican church. Aged 28, I began exploring ordination and all of a sudden the question of women reared its head again. Progress towards women in the episcopacy was happening, but as we know, hasn’t happened smoothly. When asked by Methodist friends about why I was going into leadership in a denomination that didn’t fully support my gender, I responded that I felt part of my calling was to be a woman in that church, fighting for and supporting the cause.

I had no part in the battle that culminated in the 1994 ordinations – but I wouldn’t be where I am today without those that did. Today, I was reminded of all those who fought, all those who suffered, all those who rejoiced heartily twenty years ago. At St Paul’s, the ordinands of two decades ago gathered to celebrate, with their friends, families and representatives from across the dioceses. They processed from Westminster Abbey to St Paul’s [how I wished I’d seen that, but I had church commitments] and then gathered on the cathedral’s steps – a throng of white amongst the colours of the city.

The view from Ludgate HillA glimpse of the 1994 ordinands as I approached St Paul’s.

1994 ordinands on the steps of St Paul's The last of the 1994 ordinands entering the cathedral.

Thanks to some genius planning, those of us without tickets to the packed-out event were able to watch and participate from Paternoster Square – complete with subtitles and Eucharist. It wasn’t a dense crowd, perhaps a couple of hundred, but included families; dog-collars; cassocks; confused tourists and people with folding chairs. I’d been taking the whole thing rather casually (apart from a rush of excitement approaching St Paul’s when I caught sight of the white cassocks) until the Eucharist was celebrated.

Canon Philippa Broadman did an amazing job of presiding over the service, but it was when she lifted the wafer aloft and spoke the Eucharistic prayer, that I noticed people – both women and men – around me dabbing their eyes with hankies. By and large, these people were older, in 1994, they were probably at the height of their career, potentially leading lights in their congregations. I realised that these people had probably longed for the day when a woman would be able to say that prayer in the Church of England, who had rejoiced wholeheartedly in 1994 while I was semi-oblivious to events. For them, seeing a woman perform this rite in St Paul’s Cathedral twenty years later must have brought home to them all that had changed. A sight that, no doubt, even two decades ago, might have seemed impossible.

A glorious end

Canon Philippa Boardman leaves the cathedral, with the Archbishop of Canterbury just behind.
Tourists near me asked what was going on, and when I explained, they commented “Oh, so she’s like the lady Pope??” Explaining the eccentricities of the Church of England’s ecclesiastical orders went slightly over their heads, but they were excited to have witnessed a bit of the event!

Today was a day of looking back, remembering and rejoicing. It was also a day for looking forward. Somehow, my phone autocorrected the day’s hashtag from ‘womenpriests20′ to ’20womenbishops’ – perhaps getting a little ahead of itself! There was much talk of women bishops today. There is much hope that by next year’s anniversary, General Synod will have approved the legislation that will make them possible. If a similar service takes place at St Paul’s on the 30th anniversary, perhaps a female Bishop of London will be present? Alongside numerous other female bishops? There is hope…

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Women in Waiting

March 12, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Today is the 20th anniversary of the ordination of the Church of England’s first female priests. Last night, I listened to a debate on whether gender is relevant in the question of church leadership, where many of the same issues and disagreements overcome in the ordination of those women arose again in the questions of women in the episcopacy and women in the Roman Catholic Church.

Prejudice against women is still very much in evidence, despite the progress that has been made. There’s still a long way to go…

The debate was part of the launch of a new book celebrating women in the church. Julia Ogilvy’s Women in Waiting: Prejudice in the heart of the church is a collection of interviews conducted with a collection of women in the church over the last year. It’s a diverse group – lay and ordained; married and single; academics; senior clergy; parish priests… and this diversity helps the book paint a broad picture of where women in the church were at during 2013.

Women in Waiting

The timing is an important factor in the book, coming just a few months after the failure of the women bishops vote in November 2012, but prior to the quick progress that has been made at the November 2013 and February 2014 General Synods. In the years to come it will be important to have a record of how people (especially women in the church) felt at that moment of time and not to lose the memory of it in what we hope will be a yes vote next time around.

Being a collection of interviews, this is not a demanding read, but it is an inspiring one. As a female ordinand, it was fascinating to read of other women’s journeys towards ordination – including the barriers they had to overcome and what encouraged them along the way. It would be a perfect book for anyone exploring a call to ministry, regardless of their gender. It also serves as an important reminder that women do not need to be ordained to have a voice in the church (Elaine Storkey’s story is particularly significant for this reason) and that those outside the Church of England can have a voice in the campaign too. Having read Baroness Helena Kennedy’s interview and heard her speak passionately last night, I am very convinced that this is important.

Personally, I was incredibly affected by Lucy Winkett’s re-telling of what she faced when she became a minor canon and chaplain at St Paul’s Cathedral. Back in 1997, when the press were covering every element of the debate regarding her appointment, I wasn’t terribly aware of what was going on. [In 1997, I was a lot more concerned with the general election; the plot of Friends; my GCSE’s; and whether Keanu was hotter than Alex James – big issues!] But, as a woman facing the fact that in a few short months I’ll be ordained and potentially facing opposition from those who are not in favour of women’s ordination, her stories provided much to think about. It wasn’t doom and gloom though – there was certainly hope, as this story shows:

“There’s another amazing story of one of the servers, Ron, who was incandescent that I was there, and he started this thing of the servers all coming up and then refusing communion… It was absolutely horrible and all done very publicly. But after five years of me being there and getting on quite well personally, something happened. It was communion one Sunday morning, with hundreds of people milling about and everyone there under the dome. And I go along the row and I’m just about to miss out Ron. And I see these little tremulous hands held out like this, so I just…I was completely overwhelmed and so was he… It was just a miracle.”

(Women in Waiting, pp.17-18)

Don’t be fooled into thinking that a collection of interviews will be theologically light though. One of the most helpful interviews was with Sarah Coakley – an ordained academic who is writing some of the most exciting systematic theology of the moment. [‘Exciting systematic theology’?? Those words belong more to my tutors than me…] I heard her speak at Heythrop College last term and struggled through a chapter of Powers and Submissions for an essay on gender – but reading her explanation of how she came to study this area of theology really gave me an insight that encourages me to get stuck into more of her work, which is definitely no bad thing!

While this isn’t a book that theologically lays out the arguments in favour of women leading in the church, [there’s an imminent book that does just this that I will blog about as soon as I’ve got hold of a copy & read it!] it is a book about women. It’s about sharing the experiences, feelings and hopes of those who have sought to overturn prejudice in the church and get on with what God has called them to do.

First Women Priests 1994The Times reports the momentous day 20 years ago. Here’s to another momentous day in the near future. 

*Disclaimer: Bloomsbury Books sent me a review copy of the book – but my views on its contents are entirely my own opinions. 

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