Women's Ministry helps support women in their faith and relationship with God. To ensure that all gifts and ministries can flourish, we are committed to supporting women in our diocese to consider how they can serve.
Since the first ordinations in 1994, the Church of England has seen the number of women entering training for ordained ministry grow. However, there remain differences in the age profile of men and women entering training for ministry. Women have tended to be older, whilst the younger candidates have been predominantly men. The Church of England has committed to adopt good practice such as:
- Creating ways to develop women’s ordained ministries
- Challenging stereotypes
- Ensuring that women are given placements, curacies and developmental opportunities in larger churches
- Sharing good practice around maternity and childcare policies, part-time and job-share posts in large churches
- Watching the wording of job advertisements and how qualities required for a role are described, so as to avoid gender bias
- Training for those making appointments, particularly to be aware of unconscious bias
- Recruiting more women to plant and lead resource churches
Our current Dean of Women's Ministry is The Revd Fran Brealey will be able to share information relating to any legislation or issues relating to women in ordained ministry.
You can learn more about the variety of women's ministry opportunities in the Church of England online and read more about the Living Ministry research project.