Will Church Vote Pave Way For Female Archbishop?
Updated: 2:50am UK, Monday 14 July 2014
By Vicky Beeching, for Sky News
Today, the Church of England will take what could be a historic vote - it's most significant in 20 years.
If the vote passes, women will be able to become Bishops for the first time.
The Church of England has had female priests, or vicars, since 1994, when the first 32 were ordained at Bristol Cathedral.
But they couldn't be promoted to higher levels of leadership; a stained glass ceiling existed for them and it remains today.
You may have a sense of déjà vu about this. Didn't the Church already take this vote? Yes, in November 2012 - and it failed to pass.
So how does all of this work? The Church of England has a governing body called the General Synod.
It's made up of three Houses, a bit like Harry Potter with the Houses of Griffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, the General Synod has the House of Bishops - the senior leaders, the House of Clergy - the priests, and the House of Laity - the churchgoers, known as lay people.
To pass the legislation on women bishops, each House has to vote in favour with a 2/3 majority.
In November 2012, the House of Bishops and the House of Clergy both voted in favour. The reason it failed hinged on a small margin - just six votes in the House of Laity - so it was the churchgoers who voted it down.
The same people who voted in 2012 will sit at this Synod, so there is still a chance it could be a 'no' again. But most are quietly hopeful that it will go through, albeit with close numbers.
The vote happens this afternoon in York. First there will be a debate, then voting is carried out electronically and in total silence. This will take place by 6.15pm at the latest.
If the outcome is a 'no', it's likely that Parliament will want to to step in, as they were keen to do so back in 2012. Since then, the Church has had almost two years to try and fix the issue themselves, so it seems conceivable that the Government might want to push through the legislation themselves.
If the vote is a 'yes' it then has to go through Parliament, and get Royal Assent, but these should happen quickly and would enable the first female bishop to potentially be appointed early next year.
Each Bishop looks after an area known as a See.
To appoint a Bishop, first one of these Sees has to become available. Then, as there are no plans within the Church for "all women shortlists", a candidate would need to prove they were the best person for the job, regardless of gender.
Once women can become bishops, there's no limit to how far they could progress in church hierarchy.
If the vote passes, it's possible we could even see a female Archbishop in our lifetime. Now that would truly be an achievement for gender equality and the Christian faith.
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