The Church of England is set to decide on whether to fast-track a vote for women bishops. This process that would bring to a head a debate that has been going on for two decades.
While that has been happening, the make up of the church has been changing quite drastically according to the latest ministry statistics published on the Church of England website. Between 2002 and 2012, the number of female full-time clergy has increased by 41% from 1,262 to 1,781.
Simultaneously, the number of full-time males has dropped from 7,920 to 6,017, meaning women now make up roughly one in five members of full-time clergy (but only one-in-seven of those in incumbent posts such as vicars and priests-in-charge).
Just under half of part-time clergy are women and over half of the 3,148 ministers who support themselves are too.
This has not been true all the way through the church. For one thing, there are only 39 female senior members of the clergy compared to 319 males. Yet these figures do show a church with an increasingly female face.
2010: a turning point?
2010 was the first year that the number of women ordained, 290, was greater than the number of men at 273, but that feat was not repeated in 2011 or 2012.
Although this made 2010 a very significant year, there were a number of problems with this figure. The most notable being that it combines both church funded (stipendiary) and self-supporting members of the clergy.
Since 1996, there have been consistently more women being ordained as self-supported members, meaning they provide their own financial backing through, for example, part-time work elsewhere.
However, there has never been a year with more female than male stipendiary ordinations.
In 2012, 162 males were ordained to stipendiary ministry as opposed to 94 women.
Does your area have female clergy?
One of the conditions that is expected to accompany any measure that green lights female bishops is that opponents will be able to opt-out. But where is there currently a skewed male-female split?
The diocese with the lowest percentage of female clergy is Chichester with a lowly 18%. However, perhaps surprisingly, the second worst location for female clergy is London where just 20% of all clergy are women
The area with the highest percentage of female clergy is Hereford where just under half, 47%, are women.
