The Gender Agenda: Three Years On
Was it really three years ago that General Synod rejected the Women in the Episcopate legislation? The national outpouring of grief, anger and bewilderment that we experienced in November 2012 doesn’t seem that long ago, even though events have moved with (for the Church) incredible speed since then. So it is with mixed feelings that I am looking forward to the inauguration of the 10th General Synod of the Church of England on Tuesday.
There is a danger that the Five Guiding Principles, put in place with the intention of keeping us working and talking together, might instead act as a brake on any discussion of gender issues.
I have heard them referred to several times in the last year in almost totemic terms, symbolising a done deal that cannot be discussed any more. Ordinands are being asked to assent to them as if they were the 39 Articles. To change metaphor, they seem to be treated in some circles like a delicate soufflé that might collapse if the oven door is opened. On the contrary, my vision for the Principles is that they will be more like the gluten in bread, that gets stronger and more flexible with a good kneading. I hope they function as a means of us remaining together, so that fruitful conversations can continue to be had, to the benefit of all.
Those of us who are passionate advocates of women’s equality are in an odd position at the moment. The narrative has moved on, and I have lost count of the number of times I have been told that the Church has sorted women out, and has moved on to ‘the gay issue’. It’s not that simple. Many, if not most, of the big issues that we will be dealing with over the coming years have a gender dimension. There is a real danger that we will be blind to this dimension, dismissing gender as so last year.
Most obviously, perhaps, ‘the gay issue’ itself is partly one of gender. It is surprising how often this gets overlooked. Same-sex attraction is discussed primarily through male eyes. This is yet another symptom of male normativity, so prevalent in our society that we barely notice it. Men’s experience is taken as normative, while women’s experience is seen as the exception to the norm.
Discussions of same-sex marriage are also troubling, because Church documents and pronouncements repeatedly refer to men and women in terms that assume some sort of doctrine of complementarity, without this ever being