Of Deans and Dignitaries

I was very excited to hear a few days ago that a third woman has been appointed to the position of dean.

Canon Catherine Ogle has been appointed as the next Dean of Birmingham Cathedral. Catherine is currently vicar of Huddersfield, and has previously been vicar of three parishes outside Barnsley, and also religious affiars editor for BBC Radio Leeds.

This brings the number of women deans to three: the other two are Vivienne Faull, Dean of Leicester, and June Osborne, Dean of Salisbury.

It's not hard to count to three! It's not so hard to count to 15 (the number of women archdeacons). It is, however, difficult to keep track of how many women hold other posts which are regarded as 'dignitories', or as 'senior posts' in the Church of England.

This is a sad state of affairs. The statistics are hard to find; and there seem to be few people who are interested enough in the progress of women in the Church to keep up with noting who is appointed. The Revd Dr Sr Teresa CSA is a notable exception, but (in the very valuable Distinctive News of Women in Ministry) she notes appointments rather than numbers.

So let me recap on the latest stats I've got. in 2007, or a total of 359 dignitaries, 31 were women. The percentage of women who are stipendiary clergy has grown to 19%, and the percentage of women when NSM and OLM are included is 28%.

Going back to deans and other dignitaries, not all women (any more than all men) would want to be a dean or any other kind of dignitary. Most clergy are inevitably going to be in parish ministry, perhaps including some kind of specialist role as part of this. But in my view, the Church of England will only look like a whole church when the proportion of women and men in any particular kind of post looks much more equal.

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.

Good news about numbers

I've just been doing my sums!

I never thought statistics could be exciting, but here are some good news numbers.

According to the latest C of E statistics (2006), women now make up 25% of the total number of clergy in Church of England. What is perhaps more surprising is that they now make up 22% of stipendiary clergy.

How does that compare to numbers of clergy leading the 540 churches where CPAS is involved in the appointment?

Four years ago, only 38 of those 540 clergy were women. The number now is up to 54 - that's 10%. What is even more encouraging is that in 74 appointments over the last 2 years where CPAS has been involved, 19 of the appointments have been women - that's 25%, which is slightly higher than the percentage of stipendiary women clergy!

So yes, there may be a long way to go - but women are being appointed to evangelical churches.

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