Women as Anglican priests and bishops

About the Communion

The Anglican Communion consists of self-governing churches, commonly called provinces, joined by a shared Anglican inheritance and relationships of communion. Decisions about eligibility for ordination and consecration have generally been made by each province rather than by one worldwide authority.

This provincial autonomy helps explain why policies concerning women in ordained ministry changed at different times and at different speeds. Shared scripture and tradition did not produce a single conclusion: theological interpretation, local church governance and surrounding cultures all shaped the debate.

Historically, Anglican ordained ministry has included deacons, priests and bishops. Before the middle of the twentieth century, Anglican provinces did not ordinarily admit women to the priesthood. During the 1960s, changing views about women’s equality helped bring sustained theological and institutional discussion.

A timeline of changing policy

1. During the 1960s

   Debate becomes more visible

   Growing public support for equal opportunity prompted more extensive Anglican discussion of whether women could be ordained as priests or consecrated as bishops. Positions varied among and within provinces.

2. 1968 Lambeth Conference

   Five resolutions address women’s ordination

   The conference treated the theological arguments as unresolved and encouraged continuing consultation before provinces took major action.

   Resolution 34Described the theological arguments on both sides as inconclusive.

   Resolutions 35–36Encouraged provinces and the Anglican Consultative Council to exchange views.

   Resolution 37Asked a province considering ordination of women to seek the council’s advice first.

   Resolution 38Recommended fuller participation by women in worship while the ordination question remained open.
3. 1974

   Eleven women ordained in the United States

   Three bishops of the Episcopal Church ordained eleven women in a disputed action that had not yet been authorized by the denomination’s governing convention. The event intensified debate throughout the Communion.

4. 1975

   Canadian authorization

   The Anglican Church of Canada authorized the ordination of women to the priesthood.

5. 1976

   Policy changes in the United States

   The Episcopal Church adopted a policy that access to ordained ministry as deacon, priest or bishop should not be denied on the basis of sex.

6. During the 1980s

   More provinces admit women to the priesthood

   Additional provinces began ordaining women as priests. Attention increasingly turned to whether women priests could also become bishops.

7. 1988 Lambeth Conference

   Autonomy and communion

   By 423 votes to 28, with 19 abstentions, the conference adopted a resolution asking provinces to respect one another’s decisions about women in the episcopate while maintaining the greatest possible degree of communion. This recognized provincial authority without requiring every province to accept the same theological position.

   The conference also supported creating a commission to monitor developments and help preserve relationships among provinces. That body became known as the Eames Commission.

8. 1989

   Women enter the episcopate

   The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia consecrated a woman as Bishop of Dunedin. Later that year, the Episcopal Church in the United States consecrated a woman as bishop. These events moved an anticipated possibility into the lived governance of Anglican churches.

9. 1994

   Eames reports collected

   Three official Eames Commission reports were issued together. A successor monitoring group continued to observe how women’s ordination affected relationships within the Communion.

10. 1997

    A divided but continuing Communion

    The monitoring group described its task as balancing legitimate provincial autonomy with care for Anglicans who disagreed. Its report estimated that the Communion then had more than 4,000 women priests and ten women bishops, six of whom led dioceses.

    • Several provinces admitted women as deacons or priests.
    • Others had accepted women in principle across all three orders of ministry.
    • Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, Canada and the United States had women serving as deacons, priests and bishops.
    • Some provinces continued to reject the ordination of women.

    The report also noted that participants on different sides sometimes felt marginalized or treated dismissively. Its central institutional concern was how communion could continue amid firmly held disagreement.

What this history illustrates

The period shows how a worldwide communion can change without a centralized rule taking effect everywhere at once. Provincial autonomy allowed local decisions, while international meetings sought to preserve relationships between churches holding opposing views.

The history also demonstrates that “the Anglican position” was not one fixed policy during this era. The more accurate description is a collection of provincial decisions connected by consultation, debate and continuing communion.

For related context, see the site’s overview of women’s rights, its guide to religious institutions handling change, or the archived discussion of LGBTQ+ participation in Anglican church life.

References from the archive

The original essay identified the following materials. Some once-linked external pages are no longer included because availability may have changed.

1. An Episcopal News Service report dated 7 August 1997 concerning women’s ordination and provisions for opponents.
2. An Anglican Communion News Service report dated 3 August 1998 concerning the reception of women bishops at the Lambeth Conference.
3. The Eames Monitoring Group report issued in August 1997.

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