Today is a good day for women who want senior roles in the Church of England – after recent laws were passed to allow women a way to progress to senior roles, the Church is about to name its first female bishop.
Sure, feels a bit ‘Er, hello it's 2014’, but better late than never, right?
The first female priest will become the bishop of Stockport after the General Synod (best name for a governing body ever) of the Church voted in favour of female bishops back in July – ending hundreds of years of male leadership. Gloucester, Oxford and Newcastle are thought to be the next to get female bishops, and the Archbishop of Canterbury is very happy about the whole thing. ‘It has taken a very, very long time and the way is now open to select people for the episcopacy, to nominate them on the basis simply of our sense that they are called by God to be in that position without qualification as to their gender,’ he said when the proposal was approved earlier this year.
Not everyone is super happy, though – Anglican traditionalists have expressed their upset at the thought of a woman being a bishop (ER, HELLO IT’S 2014) with 45 voting ‘no’ – but the ‘yes’ votes took it and the Church has now made some important, progressive steps.
Reports say that the announcement will be made at Downing Street today, but nothing’s been confirmed as of yet, so watch this space as history gets made.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.