Trinny and Susannah meet their match

Trinny and Susannah encounter clerical shirts!

It made for fascinating TV. Trinny and Susannah met a group of women, including a couple of women clergy, and selected a group of them for a make-over.

What made this programme different was that rather than just the usual make-over, first of all, some of the women 'met their match' in that they had to dress in the women's usual attire - clerical shirt and all!

I wonder what you made of it all? I'm one of those who before I was ordained vowed that I would not be seen dead wearing a clerical collar. But when I found myself in a context where that badge was really useful, I had to eat my words. Then the challenge was to find shirts which were decent and even remotely feminine.

The choice in 1994 was much more limited than it is now. I was disappointed that the looks Trinny and Susannah went for were not a great improvement on what the two women were wearing before. I was fascinated that one of the parishioners made the point that to wear a clerical shirt was important for many clergy women - a symbol of equality with men. Not to wear one was something of a cop out - and I think I would agree.

On the positive side, I felt that on this occasion the church came out well - Trinny and Susannah were clearly trying to understand what the women's lives were like, and it was a sympathetic picture of some aspects of parish life. But the fashion - for me, the challenge is still on.

I wonder what you think clergy women should wear?

Women ministers: growing numbers

A new year is one of those times for taking stock and setting aims, so - how are we doing when it comes to numbers of women ministries in different denominations?

The proportion of women ministers across the denominations has grown from 8% in 1992 (the first year in which the number was counted) to a projected 18% in 2010, assuming current trends continue. So which denominations actually have the highest proportions of women ministers?

The URC's percentage is growing rapidly, and will be nearly 60% by 2010 . In the Salvation Army, who have always emphasised women's ministry, the proportion is dropping: women ministers made up 56% of officers in 1992 and will be 52% by 2010. The Methodists will be then be third largest, with 40% women. The Baptist proportion of women is growing fast too, increasing five-fold in this period, the fastest rate of growth except for the New Churches.

(Source: Religious Trends 7, May 2008)

So how does the Anglican Church compare? The latest statistics compare 2007 with 1994 (the year in which women were first ordained priests). In that time the percentage of ordained women has risen from 10% to 27% - a lower proportion, but much higher numbers than in the Free Churches.

So what do we make of this? I'm not sure I'm that happy if a denomination now has more female than male ministers. For me, the aim is equality, not replacing one domination with another.

An equally important question is, what lies behind the figures? The Anglicans do not have many so-called 'dignitaries', but the male 3% is well ahead of less than 1% women. What does the proportion of area, district or other leaders of leaders look like in the denominations where the percentage of women is now approaching 50%?

And in the case of Anglicans, an encouraging percentage of 27% women hides the fact that of that 27%, only 14% are stipendiary (ie paid), while 13% (nearly half) are non-stipendiary or OLM. For men these percentages are 57% and 13%. So when it comes to leading larger churches, becoming dignitaries, or even being training incumbents or team rectors, women are much less likely than men to be in the frame.

Growing numbers of women ministers: good news if this means that women are taking their place as leaders alongside men. But behind the figures there are many other considerations, which may be less good news.