The ‘Great Offender’: feminists and the campaign for women's ordination
2014; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 23; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/09612025.2013.820606
ISSN1747-583X
Autores Tópico(s)Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment
ResumoAbstractFew scholars have investigated the relationship between feminism and religion in the aftermath of suffrage. This article explores how feminist organizations and individual feminists supported campaigns for women's ordination within the Anglican Church and their concern for gender equality within British churches more broadly during the forties and fifties. Focusing in particular on the 1944 ordination of the first female priest within the Anglican Communion (The Bishop of Hong Kong Ronald O. Hall ordained Chinese Deaconess Florence Li Tim Oi) and the institution of female chaplain's assistant positions in 1942, it argues that a full understanding of mid twentieth-century feminism requires consideration of the struggle for women's representation in their churches. The forties and fifties have often been portrayed by historians as the nadir of twentieth-century feminism, yet feminists continued their work for women's rights and religious identity and issues could be motivating factors for their activism. Feminists were neither anti-religious nor militantly secular and this article seeks to foster work which explores the connection between religion and women's political and social activism since the nineteenth century. Notes[1] Sheila Fletcher (1989) Maude Royden: a life (Oxford: Basil Blackwell), p. 281.[2] Edith Picton-Turbervill (1953) Should Women Be Priests and Ministers? (London: SEM), Foreword.[3] Equal Ministry in the Church, Women in Council Newsletter, May 1943.[4] Ashby to Sir/Madam, October 1948, 7/AMR, Women's Library (henceforth WL); Society for the Equal Ministry of Men and Women in the Church (Interdenominational), Women's Freedom League Bulletin (hereafter WFLB), 30 April 1943.[5] Women's Freedom League, Autumn Conference, 17 Oct. 1942, Women's Influence in Parliament & Local Government, 7/AMP/A1, Box 588, WL.[6] See, for example, Women and Holy Orders, A Ministry of Uncertainty, Church Times, 18 Aug. 1944, p. 436.[7] Jacqueline deVries (2005) Rediscovering Christianity After the Postmodern Turn, Feminist Studies, 31(1), pp. 135–155, p. 139 and p. 136. Also see, Jacqueline deVries (1988) Transforming the Pulpit: preaching and prophecy in the British women's suffrage movement, in Beverly Mayne Kienzle & Pamela J. Walker (Eds) Women Preachers and Prophets through Two Millennia of Christianity (Los Angeles: University of California Press), pp. 318–334; Sue Morgan (Ed.) (2002) Women, Religion and Feminism in Britain, 1750–1900 (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan); Sue Morgan & Jacqueline deVries (Eds) (2010) Women, Gender and Religious Cultures in Britain, 1800–1940 (London: Routledge).[8] On a feminist demise see Susan Kingsley Kent (1988) The Politics of Sexual Difference: World War I and the demise of British feminism, The Journal of British Studies, 27(3), pp. 232–253, p. 232; Elizabeth Wilson (1980) Only Halfway to Paradise: women in postwar Britain: 1945–1968 (London: Tavistock), p. 186; Olive Banks (1981) Faces of Feminism: a study of feminism as a social movement (New York: St Martin's Press), Part III; Martin Pugh (2000) Women and the Women's Movement in Britain, 2nd edn (New York: St Martin's Press), Ch. 10; Birmingham Feminist History Group (1979) Feminism as Femininity in the Nineteen Fifties?, Feminist Review, 3, pp. 48–65, p. 48.[9] Harold L. Smith (1996) British Feminism and the Equal Pay Issue in the 1930s, Women's History Review, 5(1), pp. 97–110; Alison Oram (1996) ‘Bombs don't discriminate!’: women's political activism in the second world war, in Christine Gledhill & Gillian Swanson (Eds) Nationalising Femininity: culture, sexuality and British cinema in the second world war (Manchester: Manchester University Press), pp. 53–69; Catherine Blackford (1995) Wives and Citizens and Watchdogs of Equality: post-war British feminists, in Jim Fyrth (Ed.) Labour's Promised Land?: culture and society in Labour Britain 1945–51 (London: Lawrence & Wishart), pp. 58–72; Caitríona Beaumont (2001) The Women's Movement, Politics and Citizenship, 1918–1950s, in Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska (Ed.) Women in Twentieth Century Britain (Edinburgh Gate: Pearson Education), pp. 262–277; Beaumont (1996) Women and Citizenship: a study of non-feminist women's societies and the women's movement in England, 1928–1950 (unpublished DPhil dissertation, Warwick University); Joyce Freeguard (2004) It's Time for Women of the 1950s to Stand Up and Be Counted (unpublished DPhil dissertation, University of Sussex).[10] For more on campaigns for ordination and Catholic feminism see Jessica Thurlow (2006) Continuity and Change in British Feminism, c. 1940–60 (unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Michigan).[11] These texts focus in part on the Anglican Church's main reports on women's ministry: The Ministry of Women (1919), The Ministry of Women (1935), Gender and Ministry (1962), and Women and Holy Orders (1966). On Anglican women's ordination, see Grace Davie (1994) Religion in Britain since 1945, Believing without Belonging (Oxford: Blackwell); Susan Dowell & Jane Williams (1944) Bread, Wine & Women: the ordination debate in the Church of England (London: Virago Press); Jacqueline Field-Bibb (1991) Women Towards Priesthood: ministerial politics and feminist praxis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press); Sean Gill (1994) Women and the Church of England: from the eighteenth century to the present (London: SPCK); Brian Heeney (1988) The Women's Movement and the Church of England, 1850–1930 (Oxford: Clarendon Press); Margaret Webster (1994) A New Strength, A New Song: the journey to women's priesthood (London: Mowbray).[12] Heeney, The Women's Movement, p. 134.[13] Field-Bibb, Women Towards Priesthood, p. 229.[14] Ibid.[15] Gill, Women and the Church, p. 242.[16] Thurlow, ‘Continuity and Change’, Ch. 7.[17] Ibid., Ch. 2.[18] Victoria Diocese, which included Hong Kong and Macao, was established in 1849 under the jurisdiction of Canterbury. The Anglican-Episcopal Province of China/Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui (included Hong Kong and Macao) was established in 1912. Li co-authored a book about this aspect of her life. Florence Tim Oi Lee & Ted Harrison (1985) Much Beloved Daughter: the Chinese Christian who became the first woman Anglican priest (London: Darton, Longman & Todd). Published and primary sources use different spellings of Li's name.[19] Fisher Papers (henceforth FP) 11 (1946), Document #80, Letter to Bishop of Hong Kong from Fisher, 31 March 1945, Lambeth Palace Archives (henceforth LP). Li's ordination occurred under Archbishop Temple who died soon after and, therefore, was less involved (FP 11 (1946), Document #85, ‘Second Draft letter to the Bishop of Hong Kong’ (from William Temple) n.d., LP.[20] FP 11 (1946), Document #113, Letter to Rt. Rev. Bishop T. Arnold Scott (Church of England Mission, Peking) from Fisher, 23 January 1946; and Document #98, Bishop of Hong Kong, July 1945, LP.[21] FP 11 (1946), Document #85, Second Draft Letter to Bishop of Hong Kong (from William Temple); also, see Document #91, Letter from Fisher to Rt. Rev. Bishop Andrew YY Tsu, 25 May 1945, LP; The Hong Kong Incident, A Call of Comment by the English Provinces, Church Times, 1 Sept. 1944, p. 463.[22] FP 11 (1946), Document #99, Letter from Hall to Fisher, Sept. 30, 1945; and Document #98, Bishop of Hong Kong, July 1945, LP.[23] English organizations which self-identified as feminist in the 1940s included at least: The Association for Moral and Social Hygiene, the Fawcett Society, the Women's Freedom League, St. Joan's Social and Political Alliance, the Six Point Group, the Open Door Council, the Married Women's Association, Women for Westminster, the Joint Standing Parliamentary Committee of Women's Organizations, and the Status of Women Committee.[24] The Society for the Equal Ministry of Men and Women, Wife and Citizen, March 1945, WL.[25] The MWA was originally founded as a SPG subcouncil, the ‘Housewives Group’, and became autonomous in 1938 (SPG 1936-1937, SPG/B, Box 525, WL).[26] Executive Committee Meeting, 11 August 1944, Book 1943-45, SPG Papers, WL; Evans, Equal Citizenship (Blanket) Bill, p. 4, WL.[27] Ibid., p. 39.[28] Field-Bibb, Women Towards Priesthood, p. 67.[29] Ibid., pp. 67 and 69.[30] Martha Vicinus (1994) Independent Women: Work and Community for Single Women, 1850-1920 (Virago Press), p. 46.[31] Field-Bibb, Women Towards Priesthood, p. 67.[32] Ibid., pp. 67–72.[33] DeVries, ‘Transforming the Pulpit’, p. 328; Picton-Turbervill, Should Women Be Priests.[34] Picton-Turbervill (1939) Life is Good, An Autobiography (London: Frederick Muller), p. 132; Fletcher, Royden, p. 179.[35] Report of the Joint Committee on the Ministry of Women (1919) The Ministry of Women (London: SPCK), p. 2.[36] Margaret J. Roxburgh (1958) Women's Work in the Church of England, A Consideration of the Last Hundred Years (London: AGOW), p. 6, WL.[37] Resolution 47, Lambeth Conference Resolutions (1867–2008) at www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/archive/ (accessed 10 June 2013).[38] Fletcher's Royden offers a history of early campaigns.[39] AGOW, The Question of Women and Holy Orders, A Memorandum to the Committee set Up in 1963 by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to examine the whole question of women and Holy Orders, September 1963, p. 3, Pamphlet Collection, WL; The Ministry of Women, Report of the Archbishops’ Commission (1935) (London: Church Assembly Press and Publications Board).[40] OWAHC, A Memorandum to the Lambeth Conference from the Ordination of Women Ad Hoc committee, 1948, in support of the Resolution on the Ordination of Women to the Priesthood submitted to the Conference by the General Synod of the Chung Hu Sheng Kung Hui, WL; M. Nunburnholme to Sir/Madam, October 1948, 7/AMR, WL; FP 11 (1946), Document #119, Letter from Chairman of the House of Bishops of the Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui to Fisher, March 13, 1946, LP; FP11 (1946), Document #241, Letter from the Right Rev. Bishop T. Arnold Scott to Fisher, Sept. 3, 1947, LP. For the proposal's text see SWC Papers, B8/2, WL.[41] A full discussion of the arguments against women's ordination (e.g., theological, biological, psychological) is not possible within this article's scope; however, the literature on this is extensive (sources on the campaigns noted above are a good start). For some mid-twentieth century sources see Kathleen Bliss (1952) The Service and Status of Women in the Churches (London: SCM Press, Ltd.); M.E. Thrall (1958)The Ordination of Women to the Priesthood: a study of the biblical evidence (London: SCM); Picton-Turbervill, Should Women Be Priests; O. Jessica Lace (1958) The Ordination of Women to the Historic Ministry of the Church considered in the Light of Scripture (London: AGOW), Pamphlet Collection, WL; Charles E. Raven (1928) Women and Holy Orders, A Plea to the Church of England (London: Hodder & Stoughton); TV Interview on—Why Anglicans Do Not Admit Women Priests, Church Times, 16 Jan. 1959.[42] Letter from The Diocesan Synod of the Diocese of Kong Yuet to All Diocesan Synods of the Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui, n.d., Royden Papers, Ministry of Women, WL.[43] The Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui and the Ministry of Women, p. 1, WL.[44] Acres (c. 1940s) The Mission Field and the Ordination of Women (London: AGOW), p. 3, WL.[45] Field-Bibb, Women Towards Priesthood, pp. 92 and 117; The Methodist decision was revoked and reinstated in 1960.[46] Jean Soward, A Woman Against the Tide, The Guardian, 11 April 1962, SPG, B541, WL; Decisions to ordain women did not immediately lead to women ministers (Field-Bibb, Women Towards Priesthood, p. 117).[47] Constitution and Aims of the Committee, SWC, Minutes, 1945–54 WL; also see, There is a Place For You: Particulars of organizations working for the equal status of women as citizens, p. 3, SWC, c. 1947, WL.[48] On ‘mainstream’ and non-feminist organizations see, Beaumont, ‘Women and Citizenship’, and Freeguard, ‘It's Time for Women.’[49] Women's Committee Renounces Sex Equality, Proposals that do Not Go Far Enough, Wife and Citizen, August/September 1948, WL. Equal ministry was removed as a distinct agenda item in the mid-1950s after several affiliated organizations complained and considered resignation. They were appeased when it was consigned to the category of ‘Equal Opportunities in Employment’ (SPG Newsletter, 1956, Box 538, WL).[50] General Election, 1950, Manifesto of the Status of Women Committee, 7/AMP/B7/1, WL.[51] Lead article, WFLB, 7 June 1940.[52] Jane Lewis (1992) Women in Britain Since 1945 (Cambridge: Blackwell), p. 65.[53] David Doughan and Peter Gordon's (2001) Dictionary of British Women's Organisations, 1825–1960 (London: Woburn Press) provides an excellent introduction to this topic.[54] See, for example, SPG News Clippings, B541, WL, and radio transcripts at the BBC Written Archives Centre (WAC).[55] See SWC Minutes, 22 May and 17 June 1947.[56] Secretary, SEM, Equal Ministry in the Church, Women in Council Newsletter, September 1942.[57] Ibid; The NCW had over 100 member organizations in the 1940s and 1950s.[58] Belfield, Status of Women in the Church of England, SWC Papers, B9/1, WL.[59] Ibid.[60] DeVries, ‘Transforming the Pulpit’, p. 318.[61] Ibid., p. 320.[62] M. I. Corbett Ashby to Sir/Madam, Oct. 1948, 7/AMR, WL.[63] Ibid.[64] Thirty-Fourth Annual Conference, Report of the Hon. Political Secretary, WFLB, 13 June 1941, WL.[65] Women's Freedom League, Autumn Conference, 17 Oct. 1942, Women's Influence in Parliament & Local Government, 7/AMP/A1, Box 588, WL.[66] Women's Freedom League Autumn Conference of Women's Organizations, WFLB, 30 October 1942, WL.[67] WFLB, 16 October 1942.[68] The Woman of the Future, WFLB, 2 Jan. 1942.[69] When the Men Come Home, Church Times, 11 Aug. 1944, p. 426.[70] Ibid.[71] Quoted in Roxburgh, Women's Work, p. 14. The report was titled Women's Work in the Church, Being the Report of a Committee appointed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in 1942 (pub. 1943).[72] Ibid., p. 14.[73] Ibid.[74] Women's Work in the Anglican Church, WFLB, 18 February 1944; also, see NCW's comment in Women's Work in the Church, Women in Council Newsletter, March 1944, p. 6.[75] On women's wartime church work, see, for example, Lang 94, 1939–42 (Ministry of Women), Fisher 22, 1946 (Churches’ Committee for Women Serving with HM Forces), and Temple 3, LP; and AIR 19/436-37, National Archives.[76] On the first appointees see Workers Passed by Executive Committee Since July, 1944, Fisher 22, 1946, LP.[77] D.B. Why Not Women Chaplains?, WFLB, 15 May 1942.[78] Ruth Adam, Why is an Educated Woman Denied a Place in the Anglican Ministry?, Church of England Newspaper, 1 Aug. 1958, AGOW Papers, WL.[79] Bliss, The Service and Status of Women, p. 125.[80] Roxburgh, Women's Work, p. 20.[81] Bliss, The Service and Status of Women, p. 186.[82] SPG memo, c. 1951, SPG Newsletters, WL; also see, Dorothy Evans (updated by Claire Madden), Six Point Group, A Brief Account of its National and International Work, 1954–64 File, SPG Papers, WL.[83] Ibid.[84] SPG Newsletter, February 1959, WL.[85] Stella Hayward, Sex Bar, Evening Standard, c. 1960s, The Church and Women Ordinands, Box 541, SPG Papers, WL. Hayward's papers contain many references to ordination.[86] Mary Stocks, Josephine Butler and the Moral Standards of Today (delivered at Caxton Hall, 21 Feb. 1961) (London: AMSH, 1961), WL.[87] See, for example, SPG News Clippings, B541, WL; also, BBC radio shows such as ‘Women's Work in the Church of England’, Work and Worship, 4 Dec. 1957, Film 89/90, and ‘Way of Life’, Woman's Hour, 23 Dec. 1960, BBC WAC. For discussion about opposition or silence on the topic within the women's movement (e.g. Mothers’ Union, St Joan's Social and Political Alliance) see Thurlow, ‘Continuity and Change’, Ch. 7.[88] See, for example, Jean Soward, ‘A Woman Against the Tide,’ The Guardian, 11 April 1962, SPG, B541; Miss Kenadijan to the editor, The English Churchman, 1 Jan. 1958, AGOW Papers, WL. News reports indicate that some women left the Anglican Church in order to become ministers.[89] Elsie Camberlain (1968) The World in Which We Worship, in Hazel Hunkins-Hallinan (Ed.) In Her Own Right, A Discussion Conducted by the Six Point Group (London: George G. Harrap), pp. 121–132.[90] Jean Bishop, Women in the Pulpit?, Sheffield Telegraph, 23 January 1959, AGOW Papers, WL.[91] Maureen O'Connor, Pawns to the Bishops?, The Guardian, 15 April 1971, SPG News Clippings, WL.[92] Way of Life, Woman's Hour, 23 Dec. 1960, BBC WAC.[93] Woman in the Pulpit, Woman's Own, n.d., SPG News Clippings, B541, WL; Way of Life, Woman's Hour, 23 Dec. 1960, BBC WAC.[94] Hulme (1956) The Nun's Story (Boston: Little, Brown and Co.); Baldwin (1951) I Leap Over the Wall: a return to the world after twenty-eight years in a convent (London: Readers Union).[95] For Times reviews see: Conflict of Loyalties, 23 Nov. 1956; Into the World Again, 16 Dec. 1949; Primrose Paths, 12 July 1957.[96] SEM Newsletter (1) c. 1953, Royden Papers, Ministry of Women, WL.[97] AGOW, The Question of Women, WL.[98] Gill, Women and the Church, p. 270, fn35.[99] Our 33rd Annual Conference, WFLB, 24 May 1940.
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