Justifying Gender Inequality in the Church of England
An Examination of Theologically Conservative Male Clergy Attitudes towards Women’s Ordination
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.39231Keywords:
gender, sexism, benevolent sexism, Church of England, system justification, evangelicalismAbstract
Despite being a national institution, the Church of England is legally permitted to discriminate against its ordained female clergy in a number of ways, a phenomenon that is at odds with wider societal values in England. It is argued that this makes the gender values of this institution’s representatives worthy of examination. This article explores the gender attitudes of theologically conservative male clergy and the psychological processes that shape these attitudes. In order to do so, semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen evangelical priests in one diocese within the Church of England. A thematic narrative analysis was employed to interpret the data using descriptive, focused, and pattern coding. Three themes in particular emerged from the data, namely: “Theological parallel between the Church and the family”, “Created order of male headship and female submission”, and “Separation between Church and society”. The content of these themes reveals significant overlap with the contents of system justification theory, and so this was used to interpret the themes further. In light of this it is concluded that a perceived loss of social privilege and control shape participants’ traditionalist gender values.
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References
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1997 Hostile and Benevolent Sexism: Measuring Ambivalent Sexist Attitudes toward Women. Psychology of Women Quarterly 21(1): 119–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/ j.1471-6402.1997.tb00104.x
2001 An Ambivalent Alliance: Hostile and Benevolent Sexism as Complementary Justifications for Gender Inequality. American Psychologist 56(2): 109–18. https://doi.org/10.1037//0003-066x.56.2.109
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Grady, M. P. 1998 Qualitative and Action Research: A Practitioner Handbook. Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa International.
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Halualani, R. T. 2008 How Do Multicultural University Students Define and Make Sense of Intercultural Contact? A Qualitative Study. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 32(1): 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2007.10.006
Hoffman, C., and N. Hurst 1990 Gender Stereotypes: Perception or Rationalization? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 58(2): 197–208. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.58.2.197
Jones, I. 2004 Women and Priesthood in the Church of England: Ten Years on. London: Church House Publishing.
Jost, J. T. 2001 Outgroup Favoritism and the Theory of System Justification: A Paradigm for Investigating the Effects of Socioeconomic Success on Stereotype Content. In Cognitive Social Psychology: The Princeton Symposium on the Legacy and Future of Social Cognition, pp. 89–102.
Jost, J. T., M. R. Banaji and B. A. Nosek 2004 A Decade of System Justification Theory: Accumulated Evidence of Conscious and Unconscious Bolstering of the Status Quo. Political Psychology 25(6): 881–919. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2004.00402.x
Jost, J. T., C. B. Hawkins, B. A. Nosek, E. P. Hennes, C. Stern, S. D. Gosling, and J. Graham 2013 Belief in a Just God (and a Just Society): A System Justification Perspective on Religious Ideology. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology 34(1): 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033220
Jost, J., and O. Hunyady 2002 The Psychology of System Justification and the Palliative Function of Ideology. European Review of Social Psychology 13(1): 111–53. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203495537-4
Jost, J. T., and A. C. Kay 2005 Exposure to Benevolent Sexism and Complementary Gender Stereotypes: Consequences for Specific and Diffuse Forms of System Justification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 88(3): 498–509. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.88.3.498
Jost, J. T., B. W. Pelham, and M. R. Carvallo 2002 Non-conscious Forms of System Justification: Implicit and Behavioral Preferences for Higher Status Groups. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 38(6): 586–602. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0022-1031(02)00505-x
Kay, A. C., D. Gaucher, J. L. Napier, M. J. Callan and K. Laurin 2008 God and the Government: Testing a Compensatory Control Mechanism for the Support of External Systems. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 95(1): 18–35. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.95.1.18
King, N. 2010 Research Ethics in Qualitative Research. In Doing Qualitative Research in Psychology: A Practical Guide, edited by A. Forrester, 98–118. London: Sage. https://doi.org/10. 1080/14780887.2011.578541
Legard, R., J. Keegan and K. Ward 2003 In-depth Interviews. Qualitative Research Practice: A Guide for Social Science Students and Researchers 6(1): 138–69.
Maltby, Judith 1998 One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, but Two Integrities? In Act of Synod—Act of Folly? Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod 1993, edited by Monica Furlong, 42–58. London: SCM Press.
Maltby, L. E., M. E. L. Hall, T. L. Anderson, and K. Edwards 2010 Religion and Sexism: The Moderating Role of Participant Gender. Sex Roles 62(9- 10): 615–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-010-9754-x
Marsden, G. 1991 Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
McMurry, M. 1978 Religion and Women’s Sex Role Traditionalism. Sociological Focus 11(2): 81–95. https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.1978.10570310
Nason-Clark, N. 1987 Ordaining Women as Priests: Religious vs. Sexist Explanations for Clerical Attitudes. Sociological Analysis 48(3): 259–73. https://doi.org/10.2307/3711522
Peek, C. W., and S. Brown 1980 Sex Prejudice among White Protestants: Like or Unlike Ethnic Prejudice? Social Forces 59(1): 169–85. https://doi.org/10.2307/2577839
Riessman, Catherine Kohler 2005 Narrative Analysis. In Narrative, Memory and Everyday Life. University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, pp. 1–7. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/4920/ (accessed November 30, 2018).
Robin, C. 2017 The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1537592719002536
Saldaña, J. 2009 The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Sani, F., and S. Reicher 2000 Contested Identities and Schisms in Groups: Opposing the Ordination of Women as Priests in the Church of England. British Journal of Social Psychology 39(1): 95–112. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466600164354
Schieman, S. 2008 The Religious Role and the Sense of Personal Control. Sociology of Religion 69: 273– 96. https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/69.3.273
Smith, C., M. Emerson, S. Gallagher, P. Kennedy, and D. Sikkink 1998 American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Thiselton, A. C. 2000 The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, vol. 7. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
Thorlby, T. 2016 Love, Sweat and Tears: Church Planting in East London. Centre for Theology and Community. Online: http://www.theology-centre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ChurchPlanting_Final_online.pdf (accessed July 7, 2019).
Witherington III, B. 1988 Women in the Earliest Churches. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Allport, Gordon 1979 The Nature of Prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books.
Ammerman, Nancy T. 1987 Bible Believers: Fundamentalists in the Modern World. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. https://doi.org/10.1177/004057368904500420
Appleby, R. S. 2011 Rethinking Fundamentalism in a Secular Age. In Rethinking Secularism, edited by Craig Calhoun, Mark Juergensmeyer and Jonathan VanAntwerpen, 225–47. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1537592712003246
Balmer, Randal. H. 2016 Evangelicalism in America. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press.
Balz, Horst, and Gerhard Schneider (eds) 1990 Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. 1. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
Bebbington, David 1989 Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s. London and New York: Routledge.
Becker, Julia. C. 2010 Why Do Women Endorse Hostile and Benevolent Sexism? The Role of Salient Female Subtypes and Internalization of Sexist Contents. Sex Roles 62(7-8): 453–67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-009-9707-4
Boone, Kathleen. C. 1989 The Bible Tells Them So: The Discourse of Protestant Fundamentalism. New York: SUNY Press.
Braun, Virginia, and Victoria Clarke 2006 Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3(2): 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
n.d. About Thematic Analysis.https://www.psych.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/our-research/research-groups/thematic-analysis/about-thematic-analysis.html (accessed November 30, 2018).
Brierley, Peter. W. 2005 Pulling out of the Nosedive: A Contemporary Picture of Churchgoing; What the 2005 English Church Census Reveals. Swindon: Christian Research.
Brown, Andrew, and Linda Woodhead 2016 That Was the Church that Was: How the English Church Lost the English People. London: Bloomsbury.
Bruce, Steve 2008 Fundamentalism. Cambridge: Polity. Bryan, J. 2016 Human Being. London: SCM.
Burman, E. 1994 Interviewing. In Qualitative Methods in Psychology, edited by Peter Banister, Erica Burman, Ian Parker, Maye Taylor and Carol Tindall, 49–71. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Cikara, M., T. L. Lee, S. T. Fiske and P. Glick 2009 Ambivalent Sexism at Home and at Work: How Attitudes toward Women in Relationships Foster Exclusion in the Public Sphere. In Social and Psychological Bases of Ideology and System Justification, edited by C. Kay, H. Thorisdottir and J. Jost, 444–62. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320916.003.018
Clarke, V., V. Braun and N. Hayfield 2015 Thematic Analysis. In Qualitative Psychology: A Practical Guide to Research Methods (3rd ed.), edited by J. Smith, 222–48. London: Sage.
Dilmaghani, M. 2018 Importance of Religion or Spirituality and Mental Health in Canada. Journal of Religion and Health 57(1): 120–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0385-1
Ellison, C. G., and A. M. Burdette 2012 Religion and the Sense of Control among US Adults. Sociology of Religion 73(1): 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srr035 Flying Bishops 2018 In Church of England Glossary. http://www.churchofenglandglossary.co.uk/dictionary/definition/flying_bishops (accessed January 29, 2019).
Francis, Leslie, and Mary Robbins 1999 The Long Diaconate, 1987–1994: Women Deacons and the Delayed Journey to Priesthood. Leominster: Gracewing Publishing. https://doi.org/10.2307/3712237
Glick, P., and S. T. Fiske 1996 The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory: Differentiating Hostile and Benevolent Sexism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 70(3): 491–512. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.70.3.491
1997 Hostile and Benevolent Sexism: Measuring Ambivalent Sexist Attitudes toward Women. Psychology of Women Quarterly 21(1): 119–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/ j.1471-6402.1997.tb00104.x
2001 An Ambivalent Alliance: Hostile and Benevolent Sexism as Complementary Justifications for Gender Inequality. American Psychologist 56(2): 109–18. https://doi.org/10.1037//0003-066x.56.2.109
Glick, P. et al. 2000 Beyond Prejudice as Simple Antipathy: Hostile and Benevolent Sexism across Cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 79(5): 763–75.
Grady, M. P. 1998 Qualitative and Action Research: A Practitioner Handbook. Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa International.
Guest, M. 2007 Evangelical Identity and Contemporary Culture: A Congregational Study in Innovation. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock.
Halualani, R. T. 2008 How Do Multicultural University Students Define and Make Sense of Intercultural Contact? A Qualitative Study. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 32(1): 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2007.10.006
Hoffman, C., and N. Hurst 1990 Gender Stereotypes: Perception or Rationalization? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 58(2): 197–208. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.58.2.197
Jones, I. 2004 Women and Priesthood in the Church of England: Ten Years on. London: Church House Publishing.
Jost, J. T. 2001 Outgroup Favoritism and the Theory of System Justification: A Paradigm for Investigating the Effects of Socioeconomic Success on Stereotype Content. In Cognitive Social Psychology: The Princeton Symposium on the Legacy and Future of Social Cognition, pp. 89–102.
Jost, J. T., M. R. Banaji and B. A. Nosek 2004 A Decade of System Justification Theory: Accumulated Evidence of Conscious and Unconscious Bolstering of the Status Quo. Political Psychology 25(6): 881–919. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2004.00402.x
Jost, J. T., C. B. Hawkins, B. A. Nosek, E. P. Hennes, C. Stern, S. D. Gosling, and J. Graham 2013 Belief in a Just God (and a Just Society): A System Justification Perspective on Religious Ideology. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology 34(1): 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033220
Jost, J., and O. Hunyady 2002 The Psychology of System Justification and the Palliative Function of Ideology. European Review of Social Psychology 13(1): 111–53. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203495537-4
Jost, J. T., and A. C. Kay 2005 Exposure to Benevolent Sexism and Complementary Gender Stereotypes: Consequences for Specific and Diffuse Forms of System Justification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 88(3): 498–509. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.88.3.498
Jost, J. T., B. W. Pelham, and M. R. Carvallo 2002 Non-conscious Forms of System Justification: Implicit and Behavioral Preferences for Higher Status Groups. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 38(6): 586–602. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0022-1031(02)00505-x
Kay, A. C., D. Gaucher, J. L. Napier, M. J. Callan and K. Laurin 2008 God and the Government: Testing a Compensatory Control Mechanism for the Support of External Systems. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 95(1): 18–35. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.95.1.18
King, N. 2010 Research Ethics in Qualitative Research. In Doing Qualitative Research in Psychology: A Practical Guide, edited by A. Forrester, 98–118. London: Sage. https://doi.org/10. 1080/14780887.2011.578541
Legard, R., J. Keegan and K. Ward 2003 In-depth Interviews. Qualitative Research Practice: A Guide for Social Science Students and Researchers 6(1): 138–69.
Maltby, Judith 1998 One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, but Two Integrities? In Act of Synod—Act of Folly? Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod 1993, edited by Monica Furlong, 42–58. London: SCM Press.
Maltby, L. E., M. E. L. Hall, T. L. Anderson, and K. Edwards 2010 Religion and Sexism: The Moderating Role of Participant Gender. Sex Roles 62(9- 10): 615–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-010-9754-x
Marsden, G. 1991 Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
McMurry, M. 1978 Religion and Women’s Sex Role Traditionalism. Sociological Focus 11(2): 81–95. https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.1978.10570310
Nason-Clark, N. 1987 Ordaining Women as Priests: Religious vs. Sexist Explanations for Clerical Attitudes. Sociological Analysis 48(3): 259–73. https://doi.org/10.2307/3711522
Peek, C. W., and S. Brown 1980 Sex Prejudice among White Protestants: Like or Unlike Ethnic Prejudice? Social Forces 59(1): 169–85. https://doi.org/10.2307/2577839
Riessman, Catherine Kohler 2005 Narrative Analysis. In Narrative, Memory and Everyday Life. University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, pp. 1–7. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/4920/ (accessed November 30, 2018).
Robin, C. 2017 The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1537592719002536
Saldaña, J. 2009 The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Sani, F., and S. Reicher 2000 Contested Identities and Schisms in Groups: Opposing the Ordination of Women as Priests in the Church of England. British Journal of Social Psychology 39(1): 95–112. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466600164354
Schieman, S. 2008 The Religious Role and the Sense of Personal Control. Sociology of Religion 69: 273– 96. https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/69.3.273
Smith, C., M. Emerson, S. Gallagher, P. Kennedy, and D. Sikkink 1998 American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Thiselton, A. C. 2000 The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, vol. 7. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
Thorlby, T. 2016 Love, Sweat and Tears: Church Planting in East London. Centre for Theology and Community. Online: http://www.theology-centre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ChurchPlanting_Final_online.pdf (accessed July 7, 2019).
Witherington III, B. 1988 Women in the Earliest Churches. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Published
2019-11-08
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Articles
How to Cite
Fry, A. D. J. (2019). Justifying Gender Inequality in the Church of England: An Examination of Theologically Conservative Male Clergy Attitudes towards Women’s Ordination. Fieldwork in Religion, 14(1), 8-32. https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.39231
